Chapter 9
Darcy's head ached. Not to mention the rest of her. She slowly sat up, even though it hurt like hell. She saw that she was lying on the floor of Magus's room, on a few folded blankets. Darcy looked over, and saw Magus on his bed sleeping, and snoring loud enough to wake the dead. She stood up, and began to walk over to him. However, she hadn't recovered much, so she faltered after a few steps, fell, and brought a table with several glasses on it with her.
All the noise woke Magus up. He got up, and went over to Darcy. "What are you doing out of bed? Going to spy on the rest of my things? You should be resting!" he said.
"I'm up because you were snoring! You sound like you got a chainsaw up your nose." She looked him over. His face was stern, but not mean. For some reason he was now wearing the pendant. "And noooo, I wasn't. I just did that because I got bored waiting for you to come back. I'm sorry, though. Anyway, I'm going back to my room. And there's no way you're going to stop me." and she stood back up.
Magus dashed over to the door and stood in front of it. "Over my dead body. I spent the last 7 hours trying to keep you alive, and I won't lose you in 5 minutes. You can't possibly make it to your room." he said.
Darcy gave Magus a cold stare and said "You CAN'T keep me here against my will. I have no intention to stay in a room with...with..." How could she phrase not wanting to stay near him because of the dirty dreams he had about her? It really made her uncomfortable.
Magus looked at Darcy and said "The hell I can! Now go, lay down, and get some rest!"
Darcy walked over to Magus and tried to push him out of her way. Magus was a lot stronger than she was, so she wasn't getting anywhere. Then, all of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain shoot through her body, and she collapsed on the floor. "Ack...ok, you were right..." Darcy admitted to Magus. She tried to crawl over to the pile of blankets, her so-called bed, but only managed a few inches before her limbs gave, and she fell over, completely helpless.
Magus, once again, picked up Darcy, and placed her on top of the blankets. Darcy protested loudly all the way, but it didn't stop him. "You are not moving from that spot, even if I have to post a guard." Then he realized that she could hardly move, and said "...Not that you can."
Giving him a look, she replied "Funny...you should be a c...comedian." Darcy shuddered in pain, and said "You know, this whole t...trip has been very bad for my health...Mentally and ph...physically." She stopped. A racking cough siezed her body. Darcy could taste blood in her mouth.
Quickly, almost without thinking, Magus placed one hand on her back, and held a cloth in front of her mouth with the other hand. He softly said a few words that Darcy couldn't understand, and a pale glow surrounded her body. The coughing stopped, and Darcy sighed. "Wha...what did you do?" she asked
"I transfered some of my strenght into you." said Magus. "I'ts just a temporary solution." Shaking his head and blinking, he continued "I've also placed a spell on you to help you regenerate quickly. But..." he yawned, and then said "... but you have to rest for it to work."
"Alright..." said Darcy, lying down. She closed her eyes, and listened for Magus to walk back to his bed. He didn't. She opened her eyes a crack, and saw him looking at her. "What is it...?" she asked uneasily.
His eyebrows raised, and he said "Nothing...nothing at all."
"Sure...Magus...why are you doing this?" Darcy asked.
Magus blinked, and said "Doing what?"
Shifting her head to face him, Darcy said "You know...taking care of me... It.. it's not like you have to..."
Magus was silent. Why WAS he doing this? "I'm not sure myself." he said after a while.
"If you ever f...figure it out, tell me..." said Darcy sleepily.
He nodded. "Darcy... how much did you read?" he asked quietly.
"Huh? Oh.. not much... Just the first page, t...two others, and... the last one. But not all of it. I...I said I was sorry..." she answered, yawning.
"Yes. I know." Magus said. "So, you know about the dreams...?"
Darcy nodded, then mumbled "I don't mind... but don't try anything funny when I'm asleep."
Laughing a little, Magus said "On my honor."
"...does this mean that we're friends?" she was saying.only semi-consious, and not sure about what she was saying.
Looking at Darcy and smiling, he said softly "...Yes. That would. Get some sleep."
He didn't have to ask Darcy twice. She was out like a light the instant she closed her eye.
Magus woke up the next day, believing that no one was there. For some reason, his head was pounding like someone was using it as a drum. He looked on the floor for his boots, and saw Darcy sleeping there. He had no recollection of what had happened the day before, so he blew a head gasket. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!?" yelled Magus. Darcy woke up abruptly and turned around.
"Huh...? What are you talking about? Last night you wouldn't let me leave, so I was stuck on your stupid floor!" said Darcy, sitting up, and holding her neck.
"I did no such thing!" said Magus, looking at her evily.
"Don't lie, Magus." said Darcy.
"I'm not lying! Hey, what the HELL happened to my room?!" said Magus, as he looked around. It looked like a large army had been fighting there.
"You mean you don't remember the battle, and me almost biting it...?" she asked.
Magus looked at her funny and said "Battle?"
"That answers my question." said Darcy. "Well, can you remember ANYTHING?" asked Darcy, getting angry.
Magus thought hard. "I caught you reading my diary, you...you gave me the pendant, and... the rest is a blank." he said.
Darcy stood up, and said "Well, I guess it's for the best." She was feeling much better than before, so she got to her feet. Then yawned. "I'm going to my room." and limped out the door.
Something made Magus look at the pendant that he now wore. It was glowing, but the light was a sickly green color, not a bright red. In fear, he tore it from his neck, and tossed it on his bed. It stopped glowing. "It was the pendant... It still thinks it belongs to HER! It started to erase my memory! I have it, and I can't use it! DAMN!!!"
(A/N: Attention readers Due to a sudden lose in my family, the next chapter of Cracking the Shell will only be up Sunday night. Me GrandMum passed very suddenly at the the age of 85. She lived a great, long life and will be missed! I asked for patience, and I promise the next chapter will be a good one.)
