Chapter 26

Although every fibre of her being told her to stay put, April knew she had to investigate. She might jump at her own shadow but she had never been the hide beneath the covers type. She would rather meet the source head on, know what it was, than have to wait in terror for it to come and seek her out. Though she very much doubted it would be a fallen picture or Sasha's nighttime shenanigans on this occasion.

Scrambling out of bed, she quickly moved the chair blocking the door and snatched up one of the large pillar candles from her dressing table, the only thing close at hand that was heavy enough to lob at a head should the need arise. Peering tentatively out into the dark she fumbled across the wall for the light switch, sighing her relief when illumination flooded the landing.

She could hear fast breathing - panicked breathing - coming from the spare bedroom. Taking a deep breath of her own to bolster her courage, she held the candle aloft, pushed open the door, and with lightning speed and an equally racing heart, switched that light on too.

Of all the terrifying scenarios she had envisaged, it wasn't the sight that met her. The sorcerer was hunched and cowering in one corner of the room, head bowed, body trembling. He wore only the emoji pyjama bottoms, his chest and arms glistening with sweat, his skin disturbingly pale and with an alarming tinge of blue.

She also noticed the source of the crash. The bedside lamp had been knocked to the floor and smashed into a jigsaw of pieces.

"What is it?" she whispered, though she could kinda guess. Nightmare, a very bad nightmare by the looks of it, that had triggered some sort of panic attack. "What's wrong?" Slowly putting the candle down onto the chest of drawers beside her, she took a step towards him.

His head snapped up, eyes wide with fear, long damp hair plastered to his face. But it was as if he was looking right through her, as if she wasn't there at all.

"It's ok. It's ok," she tried to sooth, and he suddenly looked bewildered, blinking rapidly as if coming out of a trance, registering her for the first time.

"What's wrong?" she repeated softly. "Bad dream?"

He seemed perplexed by his location. "Nothing…" he groaned, rising shakily. "Please go away."

To April's relief, the colour was gradually creeping back into his face, and his eyes were less glazed and disorientated now.

But as he stumbled back to the bed, narrowly avoiding the broken porcelain littering the floor, she registered the scars on his body for the first time. Wounds that covered almost every inch of skin that was visible, literally his entire back and chest, though his arms remained unmarred. What was even worse, there seemed to be scars overlaying scars, creating a grotesquely warped pattern, indicating that the mutilations hadn't been a one off, that they had been inflicted over and over again. Most were pale pink and almost healed, but some of the larger ones were still red and inflamed.

"My god," she choked, feeling nauseous. "What happened to you?" Though it didn't taken an Einstein to know that he had been tortured. She trod carefully around the broken lamp and reached out to him. "Who did this?"

He turned wildly, his eyes positively feral. "I said leave me!"

She staggered back, startled by his outburst, and immediately met with excruciating pain. Screaming out, she crumpled to the ground and cradled her foot, staring in horror at the shard of broken lamp deeply embedded in her heel.

"Oh god…oh god…it hurts…it hurts…!"

She forgot all about the sorcerer in her distress but suddenly felt his presence looming over her.

"Let me see," he demanded, evidently recovered from his night terrors. The hundreds of emojis on his pyjama bottoms came into focus as he knelt down in front of her but she was in too much agony to see the funny side.

"Mind the broken bits!" she warned, hissing through the pain.

He looked at her with something akin to disbelief as he reached for her foot, lifting it gently. "Sentimental even with a punctured foot?" he despaired, but there was warmth in his tone. "I am touched."

"Ow…ow…ow…ow..-"

She stopped suddenly as his magic enveloped her injury, the iridescent green vapour coiling, snake-like, around her foot. It felt warm and comforting and she whimpered in relief as the pain mercifully eased.

"I am going to remove the piece now," he said evenly. "I won't be able to banish all of the pain."

She nodded and gritted her teeth in anticipation, watching with morbid fascination as he carefully eased out the shard. She winced at the gush of blood that followed but the pain was bearable and still not as bad as when she had first been impaled. As he held his hand over her foot, her fascination turned to amazement as the gash slowly sealed and disappeared, along with all traces of blood.

Overwhelmed, she burst into tears, and to her embarrassment she just couldn't stop. She felt herself being lifted but didn't protest, wrapping her arms around his neck, crying into his chest, as he carried her across to the bed and sat her down.

"I am sorry I shouted at you," he said gently as he sat down beside her. "I was not myself."

"And…I'm…sorry…I've turned…into a…blubbering baby!" she sobbed.

He chuckled. "I think you are justified under the circumstances." Turning to the mess on the floor he summoned his magic a second time to restore the broken lamp and set it back upon the bedside table.

"Now that's…a handy talent…to have," April sniffed. "Thank you."

She was very conscious of his nakedness, so lean and sinewy, and so close. But when she thought about his scars and how he must have suffered, the floodgates opened again.

He conjured a large green handkerchief and handed it to her.

"I'm sorry…I can't help it…it's not just…my foot…it's everything…I just don't know which…which way is up anymore."

"I know," he said regretfully. "I am sorry I brought this to your door."

Taken aback by his words she met his gaze and he gave her a sad smile. "Comfort eating?" he suggested lightly.

"Huh?"

"Iced cream?"

She laughed through her tears. "Ice cream," she corrected.

"How about it?"

She nodded, wiping the dampness from her face. "Some ice cream would be nice."

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