Page 94 of Enchanting Her Monsters
I will have lost a potential mate and partner. Someone I was growing too fond of. Someone who I was spending my nights with during the sleeping hours. Talking and making love in his shadowscape world.
Tears stain my face. I’ve been so lost in grief that I didn’t even realize I’m crying.
I wipe my tears from Osen’s bare arm and find a current of something.
Him. His magic. His soul. But sluggish. He isn’t stuck as I thought. He needs something to stir his life force.
An image of an old movie pops into my mind.
“Do you know one of the first science fiction books was written by a woman?” I ask.
“Mary Shelley,” Maxum says confidently.
I eye him. “Knew her too, didn’t you?”
Maxum shrugs. “Met her in passing.”
This guy… acting like that isn’t a big flipping whoop.
“We’re talking about that later.” I refocus back on the thread. “Frankenstein’s monster was based on an idea at the time, bio-electric Galvanism.”
“Don’t they use a gigantic bolt of lightning in the movies?” Arran asks.
I hold up my hand, electricity sparks off my fingers. I reach down over with both hands, palms flat on Osen’s broad chest, and send a bolt of electricity into him.
His body arcs and shakes. It looks more like I’m hitting him with a defibrillator than magic, but that’s exactly what I’m hoping to do. Restart his heart.
I remember in medical dramas, they sometimes have to try a few times.
I stop the flow of electricity. “Maybe someone can breathe life into his lungs?” I look at Calder. Life-giving air from a phoenix seems fitting.
He rushes over and pinches Osen’s nose, and blows a deep, intentional breath. He releases him, and I shock Osen’s chest again.
Then we do it again.
His body arcs and rattles.
Then a gasp. An intake of air.
It’s the most wonderful sound. I release my magic, and Osen flops back flat against the bottom of the coffin.
His eyes barely open. He takes in another ragged breath.
“Water!” Flint calls.
Maxum throws him a bottle from their stockpile down here. Flint splashes some over Osen’s closed eyes and then tips the container to Osen’s lips while Calder lifts his head.
They only wet his lips, then when Osen seems to be aware, they allow a few drops, then a mouthful into Osen. Finally, Osen swallows down the water.
His limbs don’t seem to be working, but I’m hopeful about his ability to drink.
Osen blinks a few times, then gazes up to Calder’s face, who’s still hovering. He smiles, then turns his head toward me. Our eyes lock, and I feel the weight of the connection between us.
We have something few people, if any, have experienced. His hands lift slowly from his sides. One for Calder and one grasping for me.
“Thank you,” he croaks out, his throat still horribly dry and his vocal cords unused.
“We have a modern-day Prometheus amongst us,” Maxum says as he comes up behind me, kissing the top of my head. “Good job, my little demon.”
