Blood on the Floor

*Maddy*

Cassian is in pieces. That’s the only way I can describe him. His chest is flayed open, the bandages holding him together are soaked through with blood.

Isla’s magic isn’t working fast enough. She’s leaning over him, her face stained with fresh tears as she pours a fourth vial of that precious liquid onto his dry and cracked lips.

I watch in awe as the slices covering his legs slowly, miraculously, knit themselves together.

“Get her out of here,” Trinity says somewhere behind me, where a frantic Hannah is having a panic attack. I feel someone–likely Rosie–come up behind me, her shoulder brushing against my back as she forces Hannah from the room.

My heart is lodged in my throat as I count every breath Cassian struggles to take. My eyes slide to the place where his right ar……