Page 65 of Scars Like Wings

And waited some more.

And waited more still.

We waited until I had to release the breath I didn’t even know I was holding in anticipation. We waited until I tightened my grip on the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders to stave off the cold trying to settle within me again. We waited until Simone shifted on her feet from standing so long. We waiteduntil Simone started pulling at a loose thread on her tank. We waited until worry became a pit in my stomach.

Suddenly, Maisie gasped. Her eyes scrunched up, and she almost bent in half. Her grip on the book tightened, but her hand on the inside cover looked like it was clawing at it, clutching or trying to grasp something. Her nose began to bleed. Bloody tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. My stomach sank. I wanted to throw up and cry all at once.

“Maisie? Maisie, what’s wrong?” I cried out for her, but I only received more bloody tears and gasps of pain from her.

“What’s going on with her? I’ve never seen her react like this while doing a spell!” Simone’s eyes were the widest I’ve ever seen them, her hand covering her mouth.

“Neither have I. Maisie, are you okay? Can you hear me at all?” I begged her. With my words failing, I went to touch her arm, to bring her back to us from wherever she was. I immediately had to pull my head back and hissed at the stinging pain I felt on my hand. My hands swelled with blisters and blood as if I had touched a hot stove.

“Byrd! ” Simone rushed over to my side. She motioned her hand toward the open bathroom door. I heard the sink faucet turn on and water came rushing from there into the bedroom just shy of where we stood. She swirled her hands over mine so the cool water engulfed them, taking some of the painful edge off instantly. She hovered her hands over the water, making it glow bright and aquamarine. As it did glow, it was like time reversing backwards as my hands returned to normal, like nothing had happened. In no time at all, my hands were fully healed, albeit wet. Simone sent the water back to the sink basin to go down the drain, and she held the back of my hands while we both saw how her magic had worked.

“I always forget how cool that power is. Thank you,” I said.

She gently smiled at me before turning back to Maisie. “I can’t believe she did that to you. What’s happening to her?”

“I don’t think it was on purpose. Whatever is happening to her did this.”

Simone squeezed my hands. “I’m worried about her, Bee. What do we do?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure what to even suggest. She couldn’t hear us calling for her. We couldn’t touch her without getting hurt. The blood from her eyes were forming streaks going down her cheeks. She wasn’t coming out of this. We wouldn’t be able to pull her out of this.

Something wasbeyondwrong.

Maisie dropped the book, and it bounced onto Everett’s bed. Closed shut.

Then Maisie fell to the ground.

Her body convulsed on the floor. Purple smoke formed from nowhere to take over the floor everywhere, except for in a circle around Maisie. Her body floated up to our eye level. Candles lit up throughout the room. A wind picked up, blowing my and Simone’s hair back behind us. Suddenly, a bright light blasted out from Maisie. I had to squint to see past it, but from what I could see, something appeared to be growing from Maisie’s back. They were purple, just like Maisie’s eyes, and like a design made of neon light, like a street sign. They looked like…

Moth wings?

Just as quickly as it all transpired, the light dissipated along with the smoke into nothingness. The candles went out. Maisie fell back to the ground then.

Hardas fuck.

Silence fell on us again for a beat.

“What thehelljust happened?” Simone asked, her hands shaking as they still gripped my own. I squeezed her hands before pulling her down with me to Maisie’s side on the floor.

“Maisie? Maisie, can you hear us?” I asked, touching her shoulder to test that it was safe to do so this time. When I realized it was, I tried to shake her awake. Maisie didn’t stir. Her breathing was shallow, slow, soft, and barely there.

Too quiet. It’s too quiet.

I was on my feet in an instant, rushing to the kitchen. I snatched open a drawer to find my organizer full of essential oils. There were at least a hundred glass bottles stored there with colorful labels on top of their lids to identify what they were. I closed my eyes, trying to remember all the times Auntie Max’s light brown hands picked up a similar dark brown bottle, and she listed what the oil inside was good for. My eyes snapped open. I pulled out three bottles: jasmine, citrus, and peppermint. I quickly grabbed a shot glass from a cabinet and poured a few drops of each inside. The smell of them all combined was enough to make my eyes water.

Auntie Max would be proud. She had taught me well.

I picked up the shot glass and hurried back to Everett’s room. I sat on the floor and lifted Maisie’s head onto my lap to prop it up. I swirled the shot glass underneath Maisie’s nose to encourage her to breathe it in. I counted her breaths as I waited for any sign for her condition to change. One. Two. Three. Four. Just when my heart was beginning to sink, Maisie gasped, taking a deep breath in. Her eyes fluttered. She was awake.Finally. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hey, kiddos! I’m back—” Uncle Everett entered then, leaning against the door. He looked like he was back to normal now, no more glazed look in his eyes. I turned around as he took in the scene before him. “Everything okay?”

I opened my mouth to answer him, but Maisie stirred fully and cleared her throat from my lap. “We’re fine, Everett, but we could really use that coffee.”

Everett raised an eyebrow. “Are y’all doing thatCraftbullshit again?”