Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 166 Lisa: Fevers and Dreams

LISA

How long has it been?

A few days?

Weeks?

The sun should keep me oriented, but a fever gets me the first night I'm there.

The girl, Marisol, comes by every so often. Always with food. A few times with bowls filled with some noxious liquid that has my nostrils trying to close, avoiding the smell coming from within.

She's expressionless as she shoves it down my throat, and I'm too weak to fight her off.

It's medicine, I think.

I think that because I slowly get better after the third bowl.

In between moments of lucidity, I dream.

Normal life. Home. Mom and Dad.

Working with Ava at Beaniverse.

Flirting with that cute guy who accidentally wandered into our professor's Eng Lit class instead of some sort of philosophy class two doors down.

Cozy, happy dreams, of a place far from here.

An escape from the reality that chains me.

At some point the dreams turn from happy comfort to something uneasy and dark.

lattes and chatting. For a moment, the world feels right again, like I'm back where

then the

try to warn Ava, but my voice won't work. She keeps talking, oblivious, until the

but no sound comes out. The shadow reaches for Ava, engulfing her, dragging her away as she kicks and struggles. I lunge for her, but my feet are rooted. Darkness

on a plane, Ava beside me. She's gripping the armrests, making a joke about the turbulence. I reach

I'm screaming. The world outside the windows is a blur of sky and ground, rushing

Impact.

erupt. Pain sears. Ava's

Ava, drowning in a sea of blood. Ava, burning alive. Ava, torn apart by unseen monsters. And always, I'm helpless to save her, forced to

I can't wake up. The horrors play out again and again, an endless

mercifully, I do wake

my limbs heavy and weak. Marisol kneels beside me,

she commands, tipping the

bitter liquid hits my tongue, but I force myself to swallow. Anything to chase away

with a curious intensity. "How often has the Master fed from

stare at her, surprised by the question. "Just once," I rasp out, wincing at the pain in my

head. "The withdrawal shouldn't be this

an undercurrent of emotion I can't

"He must favor you greatly, for a single taste

that. The idea that this monster might favor me fills me with nothing but a sickening

her lips moving but no

energy to engage with Marisol's odd behavior. My body aches, my mind feels fuzzy, and all I want is to curl up and sleep until this

seem to care about my discomfort. Marisol crouches next to me again, her hands prodding at my skin with a clinical detachment that makes me

my ankles. It's only when she peers down at my shoulder that I realize what she's looking

any," I rasp out, my voice rough from disuse and screaming. "He only bit me

me with a strange intensity. "Only once," she repeats, as if tasting

his fangs sinking, the agonizing pain, and the sickening rush of pleasure that followed, makes bile rise

trying to push

strange girl settles back on her heels, crossing her arms and resting her cheek on them as she stares at me. There's something

leaving mine. "When did you