I rip my hand away and turn in the opposite direction as him. He doesn’t finish what he was saying. Good. It would probably just make me mad anyway.
“You could always pay me back if you wanted to later,” he tries. When I don’t answer he sighs and doesn’t reach for my hand again. “You were only out for about thirty minutes, but the healers want you to stay for the rest of the day to make sure you’re alright. They said you should also stay the night but they can’t force you.”
Only thirty. . . ? That means it’s around seven thirty – maybe. I could technically just show up late to Magic History and then go to the rest of my classes. That way today wouldn’t be counted as an absence.
Throwing the sheet off me, I push myself up and will myself to make my feet move. Callahan jerks back and out of the corner of my eye I see him glare at me.
“Don’t even think about it, Mavyn. You’re still practically paralyzed.”
Except I won’t be.
Taking my wrist, I pull up my sleep shirt and bite myself. I’ll have to run back to my room to change and then run to class. How freakin nice would it be to shadow twist right now. That or fold.
The pricks of pain don’t register, but my venom does.
Because of how hungry I was during that party I had attended, I wasn’t able to control my venom when I bit the demigod. However, normally, I have excellent control of it. Both the aphrodisiac aspect as well as the defensive aspect.
Like with other creatures who inject venom into their prey, it’s usually something that either neutralizes or strictly kills them. If I injected enough of my venom into someone I could eventually kill them, but right now I measure the dosage for a paralysis effect.
On anyone else it would do just that – paralyze them. But because it’s me and with the help of the blue belladon in my blood, it becomes a counter antidote to both poisons and venoms. Meaning it will neutralize the effects of whatever drugs I was given.
Needles of pain begin stabbing my legs as it begins working. My blood drips from my tongue to the side of my mouth. I let it waste. My poison infused blood that tastes like the best thing you could ever taste. Then I remove my wrist from my mouth and wipe the rest of my blood on my face onto the sheets.
Berries with a hint of floral clog my nose and I even scrape the sheet against my tongue to try and get the taste out of my mouth. But it worked. I can now move my toes and while pain slices along my feet and legs, I let it.
At least I’m alive.
Throwing my legs over the bed, I stand and turn towards the door. Callahan is standing in front of the pathway with his back straight, shoulders wide, and arms crossed. As if he could stop me.
“You need rest.”
“I need to get to class.”
He glares at me. “Your body was put through extreme trauma the last couple days. Class can wait. Varian won’t fail you.”
This is going to be fucking annoying.
“Move, Callahan.” I take a step towards him but he doesn’t budge. I contemplate comparing him to the sun devil with controlling my life, but that would be a step too far. There is too much self-loathing and hatred within him, I don’t want to break him.
I do, however, do the next best thing.
I roll my sleeves up and hike my shirt up and barrel straight for him. Immediately he moves out of the way, his arms going in the air so as not to touch my bare skin. Since he’s only wearing a short sleeve shirt and not his uniform he isn’t as covered.
“Mavyn what the fuck!”
As soon as I pass him I bolt for the exit. Pulling my shirt down and not bothering about my sleeves because I can’t have him catch me and I’m also on a time crunch. Students walk here and there, most of them turning towards me as I run and Callahan bellowing my name behind me.
Regulating my heartrate and blood flood, I up my pace and focus on my breathing instead of the pain shooting up and down my legs.
Rounding one of the corners I see Jullia with her arm linked with Asher. Her face lights up when she sees me and opens her mouth to speak but I’m already past her.
“I’M COMING TO CLASS,” I shout back with Callahan yelling after, “NOT A FUCKING CHANCE!”
Ignoring him, I make a beeline straight through the courtyards until I get to the west side of the building and I can see the dorm rooms. I don’t have the longest legs, but when allelse fails, run. After the sun devil I made sure I was able to run faster and longer than anyone if I needed to.
Sometimes that’s the only thing you can do. And I don’t mean it just because of the devil or the shitty foster houses. You could be the strongest, most powerful being known, but even then there are times when all you can do is run.
It’s not weak. People associate running with fleeing and cowardness and self-preservation in a negative aspect. It can be – to a certain point. But facing the monsters, bravery, selflessness. . . children shouldn’t have to do that. People as a whole shouldn’t have to only endure.