Chapter 84
Bran ached all over.
The flaming wings on his back hadn’t burned him but they’d used massive amounts of energy from him and all he could do was lie on the bed Morgan had laid him down in.
Some time had passed since the man had carried Bran from the stage to this small resting room backstage but Bran still didn’t feel like himself. Not only had that Arthur caused flaming wings to sprout from his back, but he’d also commanded Bran to fly, to actually fly around the auditorium. Bran could remember it but in a detached sort of way like he’d watched a first-person film of someone flying instead.
It wasn’t the first time he’d felt so out of control, but it had been a long time since the last and this time it had not been among friends. The whole thing from being grabbed by Arthur to having magic worked directly on him without him giving the go ahead all filled him with anger. And fear. Then there was the whole deal of having that puppet string forced on him.
He raised a hand and ran it over his neck. The string was gone now, yet the memory of it remained vivid in his mind.
There was a blanket on the bed and he wrapped this tightly around himself and tried to pretend that Misha was there with his arms around him instead.
But no matter how hard he tried to imagine it, the feeling of being together did not last and he was left feeling hollow and lonely instead. Surely it hadn’t been that long since they’d been together, so why could he not remember?
Doubts and fears emerged in his mind in increasing intensity so Bran forced himself to sit up against the wall.
The room was similar to the one he’d woken in earlier, the one where he’d had that bizarre dream about the little Mikhail and the Nameless Beast, though this room was void of boxes. Instead, it was outfitted much more like a normal office that happened to have a simple metal bed pushed against one wall like the place belonged to a workaholic.
Unlike a workaholic’s office however, there was no computer on the desk, no files crammed with paper, not even a pen - the desk and chair were bare except for a small black rectangle.
After staring at the smartphone for a while, Bran finally rose slowly and picked it up then returned to the bed to sit, wrapping the blanket around himself.
The screen lit up as he looked at it, something that would be normal for any one else but was novel for him. He swiped at the screen to unlock it.