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Scarlet's POV:

Revelations

I keep my hoodie tightly wrapped over my bleeding hand, trying to ignore the coppery smell of my own blood. Or maybe it's the smell of that lady's blood still lingering in my nostrils? What did the others say her name was? Sybil? Whatever, it's still sickening. Almost as sickening as the thought that I apparently was the one who cut my finger off.

I can sort of remember it, but it's fuzzy, like trying to recall a dream. I had been so happy, so eager to please that lady. I can sort-of remember the glint of the knife and putting my hand against a tree, but that's it. The rest I know from what my friends have told me and from what I'm seeing with my own two eyes.

"You doing okay Scarlet?" Cinder asks me.

I shrug. "I'm not dizzy with blood loss yet, so I guess so."

"We'll be at the hospital soon. Just hang in there."

I huff a sigh and adjust my hoodie so it's squeezing my hand even tighter.

Kai turns his head to look at me. "Do you know how that woman was able to control you? Like, did you eat something that tasted funny or…?"

I cock my head to one side. "I can sort of remember, but it's all fuzzy. I was walking down a street, and this lady came up to me. She grabbed my shoulder and I think… I think she bit me on the neck."

Thorne raises an eyebrow at me dubiously. "She… bit you?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but I just clearly remember her lunging forward suddenly and a sharp pain in my neck."

"So, you think your eyes turned black because she bit you?" Thorne asks incredulously, "That lady sure seemed weird, but not that weird!"

I glare at him. "Look, that's just the last thing I remember before everything becomes foggy. I'd love to hear your theories! I suppose you have so many totally genius, totally plausible ideas as to why I cut my own finger off!"

He throws his hands up in surrender. "Yeesh, no need to get mad Little Red, I'm just saying that it's pretty weird. Are there even any markings on your neck?"

I open my mouth to reply, but Cinder beats me to it. "There won't be, even if Scarlet's right."

Cress frowns at Cinder. "But if that lady bit Scarlet, then there must be markings."

"Not in this case."

"And here I thought we were done with ladies saying stuff that make no sense." Thorne mutters.

"I promise I'll explain everything later." Cinder says, "But first, Scarlet's in serious need of a doctor."

The receptionist is reading the newspaper when we come into the hospital, and I'm starting to feel sick. I guess the blood loss is finally catching up to me. Is this how Wolf felt after he fought that giant wolf?

Cinder rings the bell on the desk impatiently and he looks up, brow creased with annoyance.

"We need to see Dr Dmitri Erland." Cinder tells him, "My friend here has a serious injury."

The receptionist glances at me sparingly. "She looks fine to me."

"One of my fingers has been cut off." I tell him dryly.

His eyes widen and he slowly looks down at my hand, finally noticing the hoodie wrapped around it.

He gulps. "I'll get Dr Erland for you."

I grit my teeth as Dr Erland peels the blood soaked fabric from my skin keeping my gaze trained resolutely at the ceiling, unwilling to look at the thing that was my hand.

Finally, the doctor manages to remove my hoodie and he studies my bloody hand.

He clicks his tongue. "And you did this to yourself?"

I shoot Cinder a glare. "Of all the doctors in the place, you had to pick my shrink?"

She shrugs.

"Squeeze the wound as tight as you can." Dr Erland instructs, "That's slow the bleeding while I get some bandages and antibiotic cream."

I do as he says, my fingers slipping slightly on the blood.

He opens a cupboard and takes out a roll of bandaging. "Tell me what happened. Every detail."

The others tell him for me, describing how they found me in the woods with my eyes completely black, about Sybil Mira and the strange things she said, about the wolves that formed a circle around them so they couldn't escape, how Sybil made me cut off my own finger and how one of the wolves killed her. And my spectacular vomiting episode.

By the time they finish, the doctor's cleaned the blood off my hand, slathered my missing finger in cream and wrapped my hand tightly with bandage. He has also gone unusually pale and shaky.

"And this woman, Sybil Mira was it?" He says, his voice slightly faint, "What did she call Cinder again?"

"Selene." Kai answers, "And she called Iko and Cress a fairy and an elf."

Dr Erland huffs a sigh and rubs his forehead worriedly. I can just hear him muttering to himself, "This is bad, this is very, very bad…"

I narrow my eyes. I had just brushed off what the others told me Sybil had said as the crazy mutterings of a lady who's been reading too much fantasy, but the way Dr Erland's acting, and Cinder's weird certainty that I'd have no bite marks on my neck…

"Cinder, all that stuff that lady was saying, was that just her being crazy?" I ask coldly.

Kai gives me an incredulous look. "Scarlet, of course it was just her being crazy! She thought Cress was a fairy for God's sake!"

Iko raises a finger. "Actually, Cress is the elf. I'm the fairy."

Cress stares at her. "What?"

Iko grins sheepishly and shrugs.

A soft, pale yellow light glows on the wall behind her and I frown. Where's that coming from?

The answer turns out to be something I never would have thought of.

Pale yellow tendrils of light stretch out from Iko's back, waving slightly in a breeze that I can't feel, tinting the room with their warm glow.

She gestures to the… whatever it is dramatically. "Behold, my wings!"

Thorne slowly shakes his head. "And just when I thought today couldn't get any weirder."

Kai gapes at Iko, pointing dumbly at her "wings". "Wha-but-how-"

"Well, technically it's my soul." She continues, apparently not noticing that Kai's already completely dumbfounded already, "But that wouldn't be nearly as poetic, don't you think?"

"Iko, I think you're frying their brains." Cinder deadpans.

She looks around, taking in Kai's hanging jaw, Thorne's raised eyebrows, and Cress's wide eyes.

Eventually, she gestures to me. "Scarlet's fine!"

"I'm steadily losing blood." I remind her, "My mind's not quite up to scratch."

"If Iko's the fairy, then that means Sybil thinks I'm the elf." Cress murmurs, "B-but I'm not an elf! Elves have pointy ears!"

"No they don't." Dr Erland corrects her, "And you're not a full-elf Crescent, you're still half-human."

She stares at him, her big blue eyes strangely shiny. "Dad… you're an elf?"

He flinches. "I'm sorry I never told you My Little Crescent Moon, but it was for your own safety. Trust me."

Cress doesn't seem to hear him. She clutches at her thick blonde hair and falls to her knees. Thorne hurriedly crouches down and places a gentle hand on her back, but she doesn't react at all. The revelation of what her father is, what she is, has made her completely shut down.

Kai slowly turns his head to look at Cinder, the desperation and hurt clearly written across his face.

She winces and I can't help but feel a pang of sympathy. I know what she's going to say. Kai knows what she's going to say. And she knows how he's going to react. And she obviously doesn't like it.

She gives a tiny nod. "Yes, my real name is Selene."

A/N: So much for keeping secrets.

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