sat up, holding my throbbing head, "You have no idea what you did." My voice was level and unfeeling. I didn't know how he healed me, who he was, or what to do next. Shit! This wasn't supposed to happen. I effonated to the Lorren because I was the only one who survived it. No one else could enter without the magic of the Lorren screwing with them and eventually killing them. And yet - here was black-haired boy looking at me in all his Goth glory.
"Yes, I think I do." He answered. He smiled that smug smile again, "You just made the biggest mistake of your life. And I fixed it." Walking towards me, he carelessly twirled the blue rose between his fingers.
I glared at him from my place on the golden slab. "Who are you? What'd you do to me?" I wished I was able to stand, but I couldn't move. My head felt large and too heavy to remain upright on top of my shoulders. It felt like a lead balloon and I was having issues holding it up. I blinked hard and felt the room sway. Apparently I swayed, because the boy caught me in his arms and laid me back down.
"Easy there. Quit trying to get up. You're too weak. And I'm not quite done yet." He reached for my neckline and I swatted at him, slapping his hands away.
"What are you doing? You can't grope me, you perv." I couldn't believe this was happening. This insane boy had revived me and was trying to grab a feel. My head throbbed so badly that I wanted to close my eyes and stop thinking. As it was, it felt like rusty gears scraping against each other in my brain just to form a sentence.
He laughed, shocked, and shook his head. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm using this to make a sieve and draw the poison out of you. Where'd you get this wound, anyway? It was pretty nasty." Feeling confused, I swatted him away again as he reached for my neckline. "I liked you better asleep." He frowned at me and folded his arms.
My jaw was hanging open. "I was dying. I wasn't asleep. And you screwed me over."
He laughed, "You mean you wanted to die? There's no way you're that stupid. I mean, I've heard things about the awesome Ivy Taylor, but that would be truly idiotic. There's no way you would have tried to kill yourself. " He slid up onto a golden ledge similar to the one I was laying on and looked at me.
I have no idea what expression was on my face, but his words made me pause. He knew who I was. And he seemed to think my death would be a bad thing. My eyes became narrow slits as I growled, "Don't pretend you know what you're talking about or what just happened to me. You don't know! You just came along and screwed it all up."
Slouching, he gestured toward my chest - ignoring my comments - and tilted the flower toward me. "Can I finish this or not?"
Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, I pressed my lips tightly and didn't respond. The boy was leaning forward, dangling his legs over the edge of the golden slab he sat on. Suspicion raked me. Maybe I was horrible, but there is no way anybody who chose to be in the Lorren was up to anything good.
His words bounced around in my brain until I was asking myself questions; what did he do to draw out the poison? How did he do it? I didn't think it was possible. Everything I heard about sapphire serum said it was lethal. I never heard of someone removing the poison from infected blood, but I was new to all this. So maybe he could. But the thought that clattered the loudest as it bounced through my head was this one: why did he think that sacrificing myself was a mistake?
From his comments, he seemed to think it would be utterly stupid. And that I should have known better. But I didn't. There was no mistake in my mind - removing me from the equation was the only option. No more Ivy, meant no more prophecy. At least I thought it did, but now I wasn't so sure. Not with this arrogant boy sitting here inferring otherwise.
He stared at me until I finally nodded. Part of me was curious to see