Chapter 7 - Unraveling the Darkness
"A life sacrifice?" Mark's voice rang out.
I turned my head. Mark was standing behind Julian. His forehead was bleeding heavily, but his eyes were filled with a terrifying, unyielding resolve. In his hands, Mark held a heavy stainless-steel defibrillator paddle he had pulled from the medical cart.
"How about yours?" Mark growled.
Before Julian could react, Mark slammed the defibrillator paddles onto both sides of Julian's neck. Mark smashed the 'CHARGE AND SHOCK' button with his thumb.
THUMP.
A massive surge of electrical energy arced through Julian's body. Julian's spine stiffened violently. A blinding blue light shot out of his eyes and mouth as he let out a choked, silent scream. The electric current surged not just through him, but through the copper box in my hands.
The box hot-wired. The copper gears inside shrieked as they reversed direction.
"Sarah! Hold on to it!" Mark yelled.
The box opened with a loud CLICK.
Inside was not a dark heart or a curse. Inside was a spool of razor-thin silver wire, attached to a tiny, pulsing black crystal. The moment the box popped open, the dark energy feeding the wire snapped.
On the exam table, Chloe let out a sharp cry.
"Look!" Dr. Vane shouted.
The dark, charcoal line beneath Chloe's chin didn't break. It began to retreat. Like a parasite being dragged out of a hole, the metallic thread pulled out from beneath her skin, retracting upward, sliding out through the microscopic entry point near her ear.
It slid through the air like a living, metallic snake, drawn helplessly back into the open chamber of the wooden box in my hands.
Chloe gasped, rubbing her throat. "It's... it's gone!" she cried. "Mommy, it's out! It doesn't hurt anymore!"
The last inch of the dark wire snapped back into the box. I slammed the wooden lid shut and latched it tight.
Julian collapsed to the floor, motionless. His skin, once smooth despite his age, withered in seconds, turning gray, dry, and brittle like old parchment. The dark magic keeping him alive had fled along with the wire.
Silence returned to the ER. Only the sound of the emergency alarms blaring in the distance broke the quiet.
I dropped the wooden box onto the floor. I ran to the gurney and pulled Chloe into my arms, holding her so tightly I thought I might crush her. She wrapped her little arms around my neck, sobbing hysterically into my shoulder.
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"I've got you, baby," I sobbed, kissing her wet cheeks, her hair, her forehead. "I've got you. You're safe. Mommy's here."
Mark collapsed onto his knees beside us, wrapping his arms around both of us. We held each other in the middle of that ruined, shattered room, trembling, crying, and breathing together.
