赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Ashleigh stared up at Bell.

"What happened?" she asked. "Are you ok?"

Bell turned back to the IV line, ensuring everything was working correctly.

"I am transfusing my blood to you," she said. "We both know what it will do for you."

Ashleigh swallowed and nodded.

"It will heal me."

Bell nodded.

"Something has happened to the communication lines between the packs," Bell said. She clenched her jaw and paused her movements. "We can\'t reach anyone."

​ "What do you mean?" Ashleigh asked. "Here in Winter? You can\'t reach Summer?"

"We can\'t reach anyone," Bell said, turning to face Ashleigh, new tears welled in her eyes. "No one has a signal, our phones, computers, the damn suits! None of them work! We cannot talk to anyone without using the damn walkie-talkies!"

She took deep breaths, holding herself steady against the cart. Finally, she swallowed and stood up straight.

"I can\'t…" she whispered. "I can\'t reach Galen or any of his men."

Ashleigh swallowed.

"I\'m sure he\'s ok…." Ashleigh said softly. "He\'s an amazing soldier. He will be fine."

"The last time I talked to him was two days ago," Bell continued. "He was leaving to find missing soldiers in a place far from anyone who could help him if something happened."

Ashleigh looked away, thinking of Caleb in the South Lands.

"Now, I can\'t even call Fiona to ask if he has checked in."

The blood moved down the tubing of the IV line.

"You are the Summer Luna," Bell began, taking a deep breath and wiping her eyes. "If there is a communication network problem, that problem is in Summer. So do your duty and fix it."

"Bell…"

"It will take an hour for it to finish. However, based on previous transfusions, your healing should kick in about halfway through. So you should be ready to go within twenty minutes after it has finished."

Bell finished setting everything up and then turned to leave.

"This is all I can do," Bell stated without turning around. "My husband is out there, fighting to keep our son and me safe from harm. Your husband is guiding an entire pack through lands filled with enemies. And you just faced down a malevolent faerie queen, for fucks sake."

Ashleigh swallowed, feeling tight in her chest as she listened to Bell.

"But all I can do is give you my blood," she continued with a bitter laugh, "from the start, Autumn knew what I was good for."

Bell reached for the door.

"Bell, wait!" Ashleigh shouted.

Bell kept her hand on the handle but did not turn it.

Ashleigh took a deep breath.

"I have been out there, alone and fighting to survive," she said. "I have come close to giving up and laying down in the mud and the muck, waiting for the elements to take me."

Ashleigh paused, sniffling and letting out a shaky breath.

"Sometimes, the only reason to get back up again is knowing that there is someone who misses you, who is waiting for you to come back," Ashleigh continued. "And Galen is not the only one that thinks of you for the strength to get back up again. You do a lot more than you know."

Bell lowered her head, squeezing her eyes shut as the tears fell and the pain in her chest gripped tightly. She sniffled and nodded but said nothing as she hurried out the door.

Ashleigh sat silently in the dark as the blood pumped into her veins.

Bell was right. Within half an hour, Ashleigh could already feel her wound stitching together and her energy growing.

Ashleigh got out of bed and pulled her IV when the hour was up. She found her clothing and her pin put away neatly in the closet. After getting dressed, she hurried out of the room and down the hall until she found the nearest exit.

The alarm on her phone went off. Bell quickly went to Ashleigh\'s room, taking a deep breath as she opened the door.

She let out a soft chuckle at what she saw.

"Guess she didn\'t need the twenty minutes…." Bell whispered. "Good luck, Ash."

***

\'I assume you have a plan?\' Lily asked as Ashleigh ran from the hospital into the trees.

"Sort of," Ashleigh replied, careful to avoid being seen.

The last thing she needed was for her mother or brother to see her leave the hospital when she was supposed to rest for a few more days. She shifted into her wolf, moving faster and blending better into the snow.

\'Sort of?\' Lily asked. \'Sort of seems like less plan and more figuring it out as you go.\'

\'No,\' Ashleigh replied. \'I have a plan. I just don\'t think you will like it.\'

Ashleigh could feel the distrustful gaze that Lily looked at her with.

\'And what is that?\'

\'You said that my power is in my blood, right?\' Ashleigh asked, moving quickly between the trees.

\'Yes…\'

\'And my blood has pure fae in it, right?\'

\'Yes…\'

\'Well, I once heard my father say that the fae magic in the history books, like the way gate at the Blood Moon, could only be controlled through their blood.\'

\'Ashleigh…\' Lily whispered with a tone of uneasiness.

Ashleigh hurried through the trees and up the road leading to the mountains.

\'It hasn\'t been used in millennia!\' Lily shouted. \'There is no way to guarantee it will work or that if it does, you will make it through safely!\'

\'When you were alive, was there much danger in using the way gate?\' Ashleigh asked.

\'No, but I never used it after we were changed,\' Lily admitted. \'I have no idea how the wolf in you will affect the gate.\'

\'It is our best and quickest option to make it to Summer and find out what has happened.\'

Ashleigh arrived before the gate. Shifting back to her human form, she summoned one of her karambit.

"What do I do?" Ashleigh asked.

\'A small cut with suffice,\' she sighed with annoyance. \'We carried necklaces with pins to break the skin. A drop is more than enough to open the gate.\'

Ashleigh made a small cut on her fingertip. The blood swelled from the wound.

\'Drop it into the snow below you.\'

Ashleigh did as she was told. Lily whispered words that Ashleigh could not understand but found her lips moving to say them aloud.

\'You will forget them,\' Lily said as the drop of blood in the snow sunk to the ground, and a soft glow reached out to the mountainside.

"Why?" Ashleigh asked as she watched the moss and vines move away as the circle etched into the mountain crumbled. Then, a bright blue portal appeared before her eyes.

\'Because,\' Lily whispered. \'These gates, this power. They belong to the ley line. My mother pulled and stretched it for our convenience. She never should have done that. The Dark Queen would never have understood its potential if she hadn\'t. So, I will keep those words with me in the land of the dead.\'

While it would have been handy to have a quick route between Summer and Winter, Ashleigh understood Lily\'s reasoning, so she said nothing.

\'Now,\' Lily whispered. \'Let\'s go through and hope we come out on the other side.\'