She was standing in a strange field, sunlight illuminating grass endlessly in all directions, but when she slowly lifted her head, moving as if she was in an ocean of molasses, the sky above was black and featureless.
She opened her mouth to cry out or sing her way back, and was surprised to find that she was entirely mute. It should have alarmed her, but everything felt impossibly heavy and meaningless. She wanted to lie down and sleep, but even that much motion seemed like too much effort.
Then she was blinking in the brilliant tropical sunshine again.
“Gizelle, honey, what are you doing?”
Saina shook her head and staggered a few steps away. She felt drunk and tingly, as if all of her limbs had been asleep. She recognized Tex’s voice, and then Laura’s.
“Are you alright? Saina?” There was an odd clicking sound, and Saina realized that Laura was snapping her fingers in front of Saina’s face.
“I, ah, what happened?”
Gizelle was still looking at her, but from behind a curtain of her salt-and-pepper hair now, a shy smile blooming on her face.
“Gizelle, sweetie, you’re not supposed to do that to people,” Tex was scolding her gently.
“It’s okay,” Gizelle told him, cocking her head at him. “I like her now.”
Then she was scampering away.
“This is a very strange place,” Saina said in confusion.
“You’ve only seen it on a slow day,” Laura said wryly.
Chapter 34
Bastian’s head hurt.
The sunset sent stabbing rays of light into his eyes and he squinted at it with a draconic scowl. The last of the beach sunbathers and swimmers were packing up their bags and returning to the resort for their dinners and drinks, and he was glad to see them go.
He shifted to human to collect the chairs and the minor litter they’d left behind. The beach bar was briefly straightened, and Bastian bundled up the trash to take with him. It felt impossibly heavy.
Saina was waiting for him at the top of the beach steps, and his heart lifted.
In the last rays of the sun, she was a dark-haired, golden goddess, all curves and swirls. She took the bag of trash from him and took his hand in her own. Her fingers were strong and his skin against hers was like the touch of a unicorn’s horn in tainted water; he could feel the headache ebb away and the black mood that had haunted him fade.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, after she had tossed the trash and helped him pick up all the towels on the pool deck and reorder the chairs.
“Better,” Bastian said stoically.
“Liar,” Saina scoffed.
“Why’d you ask if you knew the answer?” Bastian sulked. They were standing at the far end of the pool deck, looking out over the dark beach, and he leaned down on the railing.
Saina answered with a kiss on his cheek. “Being grouchy is totally normal for goldshot withdrawal,” she said with understanding.
“It’s awful,” Bastian admitted. “I have never felt so weak and useless and hungry.”
“Dinner is being served now, but we could grab something from the staff house or the back of the kitchen.”
“That’s not the kind of hungry,” Bastian complained.
Saina put an arm over his shoulder, pressing herself against his side. “I’m so sorry,” she said, leaning her head against him. “This wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for me.”
“I’m not sorry,” Bastian said swiftly. “I mean, this is
awful, but I will get over it eventually. I would take this a hundred times over for the chance of meeting you.”