Dribbles - 29. Dragonfly

My head pounded, and lights swam around me. A face coalesced in the darkness. “What did you do?”

“Me?” Tinker pointed at his chest. “Nada, boy. Enjoy the Dragonfly.”

The tethers holding me spread-eagle tightened, and I rose above the man I thought of as my father, arms and legs splayed as I swooped back and forth sickeningly. “No! Put me down.”

Silence.

I wanted to call for help, but I couldn’t.

“You’re the weak link.” Link echoed around the vortex, waves of blood-red acid bouncing from the whisper, eating inside me. Tears streamed down my face, but I couldn’t close my eyes. They’d been pinned open. Tinker's favorite game was to see how many doses it took to trip a human to death, but I wasn’t just a human anymore.

Rainbows haloed the lights, a torrent of colors melting together until they morphed into my forbidden lover’s face. No!

Tinker’s cackle filled the air, bitter as poison on my tongue. I heaved, but there was nothing in my stomach. Ages passed since the light consumed me as I flew in a drug-induced haze. The voice swam around me, throbbing in a two-tone beat. “Tell me his name.”

“Never,” I groaned. Sweat dripped off my body, shattering against the ground and creating bottomless craters. The light became lasers, burning into my brain. I shrieked my throat raw until my voice was gone.

I was devoured, a husk all that was left behind.

“Whit?”

He couldn’t be here. “Go away.” I mouthed the words, struggling weakly. Tinker would kill him and take over the coven. My master must flee before I could reveal his presence in my mind.

“What did he do to you?”

I gathered the last of my will and shoved him out.

Now I was truly alone.