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Jacqueline Pierre and the Basilisk

Chapter 1

Pounding footsteps, barely heard over the roaring of blood in my ears.

I cursed myself for agreeing to wear these vexatious things. Bloody trickster, he knew it would cut off my connection with the earth. I didn't need my connection to hear the thundering footfalls of the beast. Yanking trees out viciously, roots dangling, to hurl at me.

Not everything likes people like me. Definitely not that creature. I cursed as I lost my footing and paused to tear off a suffocating boot ('help me!' I snorted 'more like slow you down so the monster can kill you').

I stifled my gasp as I heard it roar angrily and start snapping at anything and everything. It was so close... my senses begged me to check how close, but I knew better. The moment I looked, I was as good as dead.

Stone, really.

I ripped off the other boot and chucked it into the shrubbery, hoping it would deter the basilisk. It worked.

It even flew a good 300 yards before smacking against a tree. What luck.

I shimmied up the tree my back had been pressed against with more grace than any gazelle could ever muster. Screw gazelles and their so-called grace.

I was nearly knocked off my perch by a blast of breath by the thing. It's like being smacked in the face with a furnace!

I leapt off my branch onto the next, a good 50 ft. away. I heard the basilisk give chase and smirked grimly.

I knew I was going to die.

I gasped, my breath coming in icy pants. I screamed as the talon tore through my shoulder.

I ripped myself off the curled claw painfully.

I kept running even when it spat fire at my legs and hit its target.

I let my instincts take over when everything turned red.

All I can say is- my instincts made me look.

Preserved in stone, eyes open wide in defiance, glaringly beautiful, burning red even after death.

At least, it WOULD have been death, if I hadn't been brought back to life because of why I led the beast deep into the heart of the forest for hundreds of miles, days and nights, without rest.

All for little Katia.

I gasped and sat straight up. I sighed in relief. Just a nightmare. An incredibly vivid nightmare.

I got up and brushed myself off. Silly Jacky. I hummed I stood up. My scream ripped the surrounding trees out of the ground, leaving their roots dangling.

After actually looking around, I noticed the blood. I have no idea how I missed it. It was everywhere, coating the trees and the ground. A bloody trail ran over a boulder, leading all the way to-

I cried out weakly, falling down. I stared at the blood that ran all the way up to my feet. I patted around my shoulders and my nimble fingers found a bloody hole that was closing up rapidly.

I got up, and ran along the blood trail. I finally found a - sleeping basilisk. My stomach turned as I put two and two together. I sobbed, burying my face in my hands.

Something was scratching my face. I pulled my hands away and saw large patches of grey covering my hands. I clawed at the stony patches, desperate to get them off. They wouldn't come off, they just grew slowly until they covered my entire hands and stopped at the wrists. I looked up and was met with the eyes of the basilisk.

I sucked in a breath, then realized- shouldn't I be a statue by now? I tentatively reached out with my stone hand to pet its muzzle. The creature stretched out its snout to meet my palm.

'I THOUGHT I KILLED YOU.' I heard the voice of the basilisk in my head.

'I THOUGHT YOU DID TOO.' I responded. It nodded and curled up next to me. I noticed its scarlet claws. They looked wet... I turned away and asked, "What other parts of me are stone?"

It sniffed me, up and down, and responded, "YOUR HANDS. YOUR EYES ARE STONE GREY AND THERE ARE GREY STREAKS IN YOUR HAIR."

I nodded and leaned against its broad side. I'll just close my eyes for a little… I was exhausted.

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