CHAPTER I5

Creatures and Fire

     When they finally found a room suitable for Genya's tailoring, Sasha found Brynn a small, comfortable settee from another room and had Jesper haul it into the chilly white room that they had decided upon. Brynn didn't need to be told twice to sit before she slumped in the settee, her eyes already half-closed.

Genya eyed the girl. "She doesn't look too well."

Sasha shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"She's getting over the parem withdrawal," said Wylan as he settled into a chair across from the Tailor.

Her eyes widened as she studied Brynn more closely. "Parem? As in the drug jurda parem?"

Jesper nodded. "As in the Grisha drug," he confirmed. "It's been making her look worse and worse since she took it."

"I don't know what they're talking about," murmured Brynn. "Every time I look in the mirror, all it does is tell me how gorgeous I look."

Sasha smiled. "But it hasn't yet taken away her sarcasm."

"And it never will."

"Rest, Brynn. This might be your last chance before the auction."

She rolled her eyes. "One might think you're the older sister," she muttered. But soon enough, her soft snores filled the room.

Genya stood up and walked over to her, mouth pressed in a thin line, a divot between her eyebrow and her eyepatch. Her red kefta had blue embroidery on it, in beautiful one-of-a-kind patterns. Sasha had to look away from the scars on her face, wondering quietly what kind of weapon could do such a thing that at Tailor wouldn't, couldn't, heal them.

"How long has it been since she consumed parem?" asked Genya.

"About a week," Sasha answered. "Whenever she eats something, she either won't take more than one bite or she can't keep it down. If she keeps on going this way, parem won't be the thing that will kill her."

The Tailor examined her sister silently for a few more minutes, before turning back to Sasha. "I'd like to help bring her to her full health, as much as I possibly can. And if I can't do that, I would like to at least do something to make her look like she's not on her deathbed."

"You can try," said Sasha. "But I have no idea if she'll let you."

Genya scoffed, rolling up her sleeves, and sat across from Wylan. "She'll let me if I tell her to let me."

And so the tailoring began. Sasha watched the complicated and confusing process of slowly mending Wylan's skin back to what it had been like before, his hair back to his normal ruddy curls, the golden eyes of Kuwei back to Wylan's bright blue irises. Eventually, Sasha sat down in a chair in the corner and dozed off.

When she woke up again, afternoon light was streaming through the windows. Brynn was still sleeping on the settee in what looked like an uncomfortable position, but she was out cold. And then Sasha looked over and there was Wylan, eyes wide as he stared at himself in the mirror.

"Wow," breathed Sasha. "I don't think I've ever been more glad to see your face again."

"Thanks?"

"It was a compliment, take it as such."

Their heads turned when Jesper walked back into the clay-smelling room with two mugs in his hands. He stopped short, gaze roving over Wylan's figure bathed in light.

"Well?" Genya said.

"That's him," said Jesper. "That's our fresh-faced runaway merchling."

Genya stretched and said, "Good, because if I have to spend another minute smelling that clay, I may go mad." Sasha recognized the way her face glowed and how her amber eye sparkled despite her fatigue. It was the same way Brynn looked every time she used her Grisha abilities. "It would be best to revisit the work anew in the morning, but I have to get back to the embassy. And by tomorrow, well..." She shrugged.

By tomorrow the auction would be announced and everything would change.

After Genya had finally managed to push the two boys out of the door, she walked over to Brynn. Sasha put her hand on her sister's shoulder, shaking her slightly to wake her up.

Brynn's eyes fluttered open and narrowed at Sasha. "Why can't you let me sleep for once?"

"Is there any chance you'll let me tailor you to not look so... fragile?" asked Genya.

She sighed. "There were possibly a hundred better ways to put it."

Sasha raised a shoulder. "No, there really wasn't."

"I'm guessing you won't let me leave until you've had your way?" Genya merely smiled, a twinkle in her eye. Brynn exhaled. "As long as I get to sleep, I don't really care what you do."

Genya frowned. "Well, it would be preferable if you were awake, but I guess I can do that, too."

Brynn settled back down in the settee. "Good."

As Sasha watched, Genya's hands hovered over Brynn's skin, covering up the sickly green tint and her many bruises and cuts that she had yet to get healed. The dark circles under Brynn's eyes disappeared, the sweat sticking her hair to her forehead faded.

"What kind of Grisha is she?" Genya finally asked.

Sasha glanced at Brynn for a second before she answered. "An Inferni and a Healer."

Genya frowned, her hand pausing. "I've never heard of a Corporalki and an Etherealki before."

"Our mother was a Heartrender," explained Sasha. "Brynn could never really stop or slow down a heart, but she was the best Healer I'd ever met."

"And and Inferni," muttered Genya as she continued to work. "Truly one of a kind."

"That's my sister you're talking about, not some piece of expensive jewelry," Sasha said indignantly.

"Apologizes, I just meant that she's so different, even before parem. I can't imagine what it might do to her after the withdrawal."

Sasha didn't want to imagine. Even if she did survive the withdrawal, there was no telling what Brynn might be able to do afterwards. Maybe she wouldn't even be a Grisha anymore.

Don't think about that, Sasha told herself. If Brynn wasn't a Grisha anymore, she'd be devastated.

As if hearing them talk about her, Brynn's stormy eyes fluttered open, a breath escaping her mouth. Genya leaned in closer. "Don't move, please."

Brynn gave her a curt nod, then her face fell. Sasha had never seen such fear in her eyes, her face as pale as the midnight moon. She stood up, scrambling as far away from the Tailor as she could, her breathing labored. She was shaking like crazy, as if she'd seen something she couldn't unsee.

Genya frowned. "Brynn? Are you alright?"

She clearly wasn't. But Brynn took a deep breath, only slightly calming herself down, before nodding. "Yeah, sorry. I just need a moment. Could you...?"

"Sure." Although she looked confused, Genya backed out of the clay-smelling room and shut the door behind her.

~~~

Brynn didn't know what she'd seen in Genya's eyes. They were like memories, but even though they felt familiar, Brynn had no memory of any of them. And while some of them were happy—standing at the altar with an unknown man across from her, spending the night with that same man, drinking with a group of people that Brynn could have only assumed were friends—a great number of them were terrifying.

Fear filled Brynn as the memories flashed through her mind. Death. Pain. Terror. Black creatures wrought from shadows, shifting and changing, screams not quite human as they attacked.

When the door closed behind Genya, Brynn collapsed on the floor. Sasha ran towards her older sister, trying to keep her awake with soft slaps to her face.

What was that? Something Brynn had forgotten? No, she could never forget something like those... things. So where did the memories come from? They couldn't have been Brynn's, and certainly not Sasha's, so...

But how is that possible? Brynn wondered. Did I... did I see Genya's memories?

"Brynn? Brynn, what happened?" Sasha's delicate voice brought Brynn out of her thoughts.

Despite her aching, Brynn let Sasha help her sit up.

"What was that?" demanded Sasha. "Are you okay?"

Brynn met her eyes, and it happened again. Flames. Screaming. Chains. There was nothing Brynn could do to get away from her sister faster. Her back touched the wall behind her and she slid all the way down. When Sasha made a move to step closer, Brynn shook her head.

"Don't," she croaked. "Please."

You better start believing in the impossible. Even now, Kaz's words came to her. They were almost comforting.

Nina was changed after the parem withdrawal, there was no reason why Brynn wouldn't have been going through a change, too. But this didn't make sense. What exactly was she seeing? Other people's past? Their fears? Both?

Genya's past had been full of pain and suffering. Sasha had to go through a long few years all alone. And Brynn had seen it all in a matter of seconds.

She needed time to clear her thoughts. Alone. But after that, she needed to talk to Kaz.

a/n— Sorry this took so long, I sprained my ankle at soccer and now I'm just depressed in general so please don't hate me for the late update. Let me know what you think.