Grey IV - Chains

Chapter 25 - Three By Three

I woke to my brother shaking me, panic filling his amber eyes. He recovered quickly once he saw I was rousing, giving me space and sitting back before looking unsure for a moment, like he didn't know where we stood.

I realized I was nearly as bad as he was at this, but before the silence could stretch on, I saw his chest still quickly rising and falling, his hands trembled slightly, his fingers stiff, beginning to curve in like his muscles were contracting of their own accord. When I looked up to his face, the panic was back as he stared at his own hands like they were a stranger's.

I saw him force a slow swallow, like it was difficult, and then he started panting, gasping for breath. His fist flew to his chest as he tried to pull in more air, one hand on the ground, steadying himself as he swayed. He looked like he was dying, being attacked somehow, and when his chest started to spasm as he clutched it, when he looked up at me through his sweaty hair with shining, scared eyes brimming with tears, I screamed for Ailech.

Ailech blinked into existence before his name had even fully left my mouth. Immediately, Malachi grabbed his arm with white-knuckles, pulling him down as he tried to speak.

"I-I can't- breathe. Fuck, I really- I can't. Shit. My heart's going to- explode. I'm going to die. This is how I die? Fuck. No. I can't- I'm dying. Help me."

Ailech's eyes looked rounder than the hazy full moon that hung somewhere above us, but he was used to life and death situations, and his training took over. He knelt next to Malachi and placed both hands on his heaving, shaking chest. Ailech's eyes were closed, but a moment later his brow furrowed in confusion, I stepped in to give any information that might help.

"He was fine just before, he found me in a vision, he woke me from it, then he was shaking, and his breathing, and then his chest - it all happened so fast. A curse or a poison, a spell, maybe Baraqiel still has a hold in him?"

I was almost stammering now too, my words tumbling into one another. A cold fear slid through my veins as I watched Malachi's chest continue to convulse, his breaths more and more distressed, quick and shallow, the sound painful. His eyes flickered between yellow and black as he tried to pull a Shift that wasn't enough to fight off whatever was bombarding him.

Thoughts of Malachi dying while I helplessly watched flooded my mind, of him dying afraid, begging for help when I couldn't give it. Then I saw James, a hole in his chest, the shock on his face, flashes of every gruesome image I could imagine from his last months, his hands worshipping Ambriel even as she ripped him apart, his blood sliding between their bodies. And then I saw Syn, his accusing stare, his gold-flecked eyes open wide, his throat split open wider...

"Jordan!"

Ailech's voice broke me out of my horrible thoughts. He must have been repeating my name for some time and was nearly shouting it now, even though I was only a foot away. My eyes snapped to his and the rush of relief I felt at seeing his calm face almost made me cry. He wasn't afraid. Before he even said anything, I knew Malachi would be okay.

"Stay with me, he needs you here," Ailech spoke to me so quietly, I could barely hear him over Malachi's hyperventilated gasps. But his words were enough to clear my mind and show me that my rising panic was from Malachi's Gift, his terror leaking from him like fog slipping down into a valley.

I nodded and Ailech's jaw clenched under his short beard as he turned back to his patient. His eyes looked profoundly sad as he lifted Malachi's chin. My brother's usually pretty features were twisted in fear and sweat plastered the colorless wisps of his hair that had escaped his ponytail to his forehead and neck.