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They had come back to Sherwood Forest. They needed somewhere to hide, and morale was pretty much nonexistent.
They'd been travelling to the school to prepare for their next fight with Rhian. Agatha, Tedros, and Sophie led the group, followed by Beatrix and the other evergirls, and William and Bogden. Hort and Nicola flanked the back with Hester. They were three days away from the school when they were intercepted by a number of the pirate "soldiers" Rhian had doing his dirty work. They'd only surrounded Hester, Hort, and Nicola. The others were ideally moving forward.
Hester's demon fought half of them, while Nicola and Hort's man-wolf worked together to fend off the others. Hort narrowly dodged a knife, and Hester had a very close call with a scim. When she saw it, she turned to the others to warn them. Japeth was nearby. Before she could say anything, the snake walked calmly into their circle. Hort turned on him, ready to fight, until he saw who Japeth was dragging behind him. Anadil. There were three scims hovering in front of her heart.
No one moved. Hester felt her stomach drop, making brief eye contact before Japeth spoke. He looked uninterestedly at Hester. "The demon's killed a number of my men now, and your friends unholy rats have as well. Rhian wanted me to dispose of you, specifically. I myself am rapidly losing interest in fighting you. So I'll cut you a deal. If you come with me, I'll let her go." He pointed at Hester, though it was already obvious who he'd been speaking to.
Anadil and Hester reacted at the same time. Anadil shook her head, wide eyed. Hester nodded immediately. She made eye contact with Anadil, and they had one of those silent conversations they were so good at. Hort and Nicola glanced at each other, slightly paniced. The air was thick with suspense.
"Well, you have to pick one. One of you dies either way, so I'll leave happy." Japeth's sick laughter reminded Hester of Aric. The way he'd smiled as he tortured students. His face when he stabbed her. She felt shivers go down her back, and felt the all-consuming need to get Anadil the hell away from him.
Hester called back her demon, and said "Let her go." voice calm, but tinged with fear. Japeth hummed in agreement, scims gliding slowly across his body. Just when Hester took a step forward, Anadil shouted "NO!" and shot the strongest stun spell she could manage. Hester made a sound of shock at the impact, the vibrant green glow of Anadil's spell meeting her chest. She was blasted back twenty feet, and Anadil heard the rustle of leaves when Hester's body hit the ground. Silence ensued, and she felt Nicola's and Hort's worried stares. She knew what was coming.
Anadil took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.
The three black scims tore through her heart.
----
Nicola saw it go down, and made herself focus on what needed to happen next. She grabbed Hort by the sleeve and ran to where Hester was lying, silent. When she looked back, Japeth was gone, and she could see the pirates turning to run. Hester had been unconsious when they got to her. Hort tore his arm away from Nicola's grip and ran back to where Anadil had been, morphing out of his man-wolf form. Nicola checked Hester's pulse, before sitting back and closing her eyes. Everything had happened so fast, and she could feel herself trembling from adreneline. When Hort came back, he had blood on his hands. Nicola glanced up at him, and he shook his head.
Nicola exhaled shakily, and yelled for the others, knowing that Japeth and the pirates had left. She felt her eyes grow hot. Hort was looking down at the blood on his shaking hands.
Agatha, Tedros, and Sophie ran back, with Dot stumbling to catch up.
"We couldn't find you!" Tedros said, out of breath. He saw Hester on the ground, and his eyes widened. "Hester- what happened?"
Nicola wiped her eyes, and Hort looked away. Agatha had knelt down, checking Hester over, glad to see that she while she was badly stunned, she was still breathing.
Dot arrived and made a distressed sound at the sight of her friend. Her eyes drifted from Hester to Nicola, spotting the tears in the reader's eyes.
"Where is Anadil?" Her voice was quiet. She had noticed that Anadil was missing, but assumed she'd been with Hester. Now... there was a cold feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. No one responded. Agatha stared at Hort and Nicola from her spot on the ground. She spotted Hort's blood-stained hands, and her eyebrows drew together.
"We need to move." Hort rasped. Tedros watched him carefully, putting the pieces together. Hort saw things click when the prince's eyes flashed with pain, before he looked away.
"Do they know where we were going?" He asked.
Hort nodded. "We can't go to the school. We have to find somewhere else to hide for now."
"Sherwood forest." Nicola said. Tedros and Hort nodded their agreement, muttering something about 'safety'. Sophie was staring at the forest floor, emerald eyes clouded. She'd recognized the look in Hort's eye. Grief.
Agatha watched Tedros kneel down and pull Hester up in a princess carry. She thought distantly about exactly how pissed Hester would be at him for doing that. (She could already see the demon chasing her prince from here to Gavaldon.)
She and Dot only realized why Nicola hadn't responded to Dot's question when two small rats scampered forward to run up Tedros's leg. They crawled from his shoulder onto Hester's chest, where they settled. Agatha's eyes widened, and she put a hand over her mouth. Dot stared at the rats, and whispered "Anadil..."
----
Hort and Sophie had run to find the others and tell them about the change in plans. Agatha put her arm around Dot's shoulder while Hort recounted the story to them. Guenevere, Beatrix, Reena, Kiko, William, and Bogden returned solemnly. Their silence told Tedros that they knew what happened.
They'd only been thirteen hours from Sherwood, which was part of why they chose it for their destination. They travelled quickly, keeping a careful eye out for any of Rhian's men. The rest of the journey was uneventful, but poisoned by the afternoon's events. Dot cried silently the whole way there, and kept watching to see if Hester had woken up. She didn't. And in all honesty, none of them wanted her to wake up soon.
They didn't want to tell her what happened.
----
Robin and the merry men had welcomed them back into the forest. They'd be safe there for now. Sherwood was decidedly cut off from the rest of the woods, and felt like both a safe-haven and a cage. Tedros carried Hester to an empty room in one of the vacant treehouses, and Dot waited vigilently by her side for her to wake up.
----
Hester woke up an hour after they got there. The first thing shes saw was Dot sitting on a chair by her bed, munching on a chocolate leaf. She'd been crying on and off for the past while, and Hester could tell. She couldn't remember what had happened, but the view from the window told her where she was. And it wasn't the school.
"Dot?" She asked, voice raspy from unuse. Dot looked up at her, eyes wide. She dropped her half-eaten leaf on the wooden floor, and stood up.
"Hester! You're awake!" Dot felt excited for aproximately two seconds before everything inside her deflated when she remembered what she had to do. She sat back down.
"What happened?" Hester asked. Dot looked back at her, eyes sorrowful. Hester racked her brain for any memory of where she'd been before this. It came back to her slowly, then all at once. She shot up to a seated postion, and stared at Dot.
"Where's Anadil?"
Dot started to cry again, and Hester felt her stomach drop. "Where is she?" Dot just cried harder, trying to catch her breath, but failing miserably.
"DOT! WHERE IS ANADIL???"
Dot inhaled shakily, before managing to get the words out. "She's gone." Hester stared at her, face unmoving. Dot wrapped her arms around her own waist, sobbing. Hester's demon started to twitch on her neck.
The door creaked, and Hort and Agatha walked in. "We heard-" Agatha started, before seeing what was happening. Dot wailing, and Hester staring at her.
"Oh..." She whispered.
Hester shook her head slowly, eyes not moving off of Dot. "No. I remember. I was going to go with him. He was going to let her go." She said, voice confident and steady. She waited for a response, but Dot wouldn't look at her. After a moment, Hort stepped forward.
"She shot you with a stun spell so Japeth couldn't take you." He said, eyes unwavering. He could tell that no one else was going to be able to get the point across to Hester. Softening the blow wouldn't help her right now. Hester looked away, eyebrows knit together. She remembered saying "let her go."... and then Anadil screaming "No!" Then everything went bright- her eyes widened. Oh... I was stunned.
Hester shook her head again, before glancing up at Agatha, who now had tears in her own brown eyes, and wouldn't look at Hester.
She turned to Hort, who did meet her eyes. "She's gone, Hester."
"No." Hester said. She couldn't think of anything else. Agatha took a step forward, and held a hand out to her. Hester looked up, confused. In Agatha's hand were two rats, looking up at her. Rats 1 and 3. Maybe it was something in their little red eyes (the same color as Ani's), or the way they jumped on her shoulders they way they normally would Anadil's. But seeing them made her denial melt away, leaving a cold empty space in it's wake.
"Ani..."
----
Before that day, many of her friends were convinced that Hester was incapable of crying. They'd seen her take a knife to the gut without shedding a tear. She'd faced countless life-threatening situations, seen people killed, and fought terrifying enemies without breaking down once... but once she understood exactly what had happened to Anadil, Hester sobbed for three hours until she cried herself to sleep. She didn't want anyone to comfort her. She didn't want a hug, and she didn't want someone sitting next to her. Dot had to leave after the first fifteen minutes because it hurt too much to see Hester like this.
After Dot left, Agatha came in. Hester screamed at her to leave, and she obeyed. Sophie returned thirty minutes later, and was met with the same treatment. Only after she went quiet did they anyone dare enter the room. It was Guenevere who came in and found Hester curled into herself, fast asleep. Her face was stained with tears, and one of Anadil's rats was sleeping on her shoulder, the other on her head with it's tail curled around her ear. Guenevere pulled the blankets over the young witch's shoulders, and used her fingerglow to darken the room, before leaving as silently as she'd come.
----
Hester emerged from her room the next afternoon, and wouldn't speak a word. Most of them had expected her to come out spitting fire, ready to murder Japeth. It was a testament to just how much she had loved Anadil when she wandered around like a ghost, silent, with no fire left in her dark eyes. Her demon was faded on her neck, and it didn't look like it'd be able to fight anything any time soon. She didn't eat much, and avoided anyone else like the plague. Tedros walked passed her room and heard her crying again. Sophie saw her feeding Anadil's rats and whispering something to them. She didn't insult anyone ever. Even Tedros, Beatrix, and Dot.
Agatha had been trying to come up with another plan for fighting back, but they were short on resources and even shorter on motivation. She couldn't come up with anything. She was still grieving for Dovey, and it felt like everything was getting worse and worse. Even her hope was dwindling.
Tedros tried to help, but he was so angry at this point that he couldn't see sense. He spent most of his time thinking about everyone he'd cared about and lost to the snake. Lady Gremlaine, Lance, Professor Dovey, and now Anadil. He'd seen his mother age ten years a day, and he'd watched Hester slowly lose the fight she was so famous for, both of them having lost their reason for living. He wanted revenge, but like Agatha, he had no idea how to move forward.
Sophie was trying to decipher all the things she'd heard from Rhian and Japeth. Trying to figure out what about her blood was so special, and growing even more confused as she thought in circles around what she knew. (She also watched Hort and Nicola with a criticizing eye, keeping track of all the things she disliked about the reader.)
Dot turned anything in sight to chocolate, and hadn't stopped sniffling for days. She spent a lot of time with Robin, the merry men, and Kiko who all tried desperately to help her think on the bright side. She tried to talk to Hester, but whenever she got close the other girl would seem to disappear.
Hort excercised and trained, grieving silently. He'd grown up with Anadil, and she was one of the only people who hadn't actively tried to make his life miserable. He tried to keep his mind off of her, but that meant he started thinking of Sophie. Trying to keep his mind off of her made him think of Nicola. All in all, Hort failed at keeping his mind off of anything.
Nicola spent her time analyzing everyone else, debating who was causing the biggest problems, and how they could fix them and keep working. She hadn't ever seen someone die right in front of her like that, and the memory kept replaying through her mind. She kept it at bay by planning, strategizing, and avoiding Hort.
Beatrix and the other evergirls enjoyed having thier first break in over a month, and avoiding the weighted gloom that had fallen over everyone. (Kiko also spent a fair bit of time around Dot, trying to help cheer her friend up.)
----
At first, Hester kept waiting for the whole thing to be fake. A dream. She'd wake up and Anadil would be laying right there with her, safe. On the third day she wandered, hoping Anadil would walk up with a smirk. She'd tease Hester for getting so emotional, and everything would be okay again. On the fourth day, she was waiting for a rush of anger, a smile, anything. But nothing came. The world started to feel lifeless.
Some nights she was haunted by nightmares, watching Anadil die on repeat. She hadn't seen it in real life, and her mind kept supplying different ways it may have played out. And other nights, she dreamt of Ani's cackle, her scarlet eyes. She grew tired of falling asleep cold, and waking up alone.
She began to notice all the things that felt so wrong without Anadil. Making jokes about Tedros wasn't fun if Anadil wasn't there to laugh at them. Creating despicably evil plans wasn't useful if Anadil wasn't there to carry them out with her. Getting up in the morning never felt worth it without Anadil laying next to her. And most of all, she'd lost the will to fight.
The world didn't feel worth fighting for when Anadil wasn't in it.
----
Anadil woke up in a pool of her own blood, half dead. The first thing she felt was the pain. So crippling that she wished she'd never opened her eyes. The second thing she felt was the cold. She was shivering, and desperately wanted to curl in on herself to create warmth, but the pain made that idea seem laughable. She racked her mind to remember what had happened, but her head was pounding. She closed her eyes, and it was almost too late when she caught herself falling asleep.
It took her three minutes, but she forced herself into a sitting position, gasping at the shot of pain in her chest. She was in the woods, naturally, but she couldn't tell where. It was dark, and so cold. She reached a hand up to rub at her temples, desperately trying to figure out what was going on.
Where's Hester?
The thought drifted into her mind, and suddenly, she remembered. Running from the snake. The scims hovering in front of her chest. Shooting Hester with a stun spell. And then darkness... She glanced down at her chest. Her dress was stained with near-black blood, not yet dried, and there were three small tears in the dark fabric.
She shivered from the cold air while she slid the top of her dress down her left shoulder to see the wounds more clearly. They were all positioned less than an inch from where her heart should be. She thought for a moment about the chances that this was just luck. Unlikely.
Anadil knew she needed to get up, but she wasn't exactly sure how she was going to do that, or where she was going to go. Since she'd woken up alone, she assumed that the others thought she was dead. She'd been sure she'd die.
Did they go to the school? She wasn't sure she could make it there, and the idea of the journey made her heart sink. Her breath was labored, and the pain was causing her eyes to water. (She was sure there was a medical explanation for that.) It would've been idiotic for them to continue travelling to the school. Japeth knew they were going there. Anadil couldn't imagine Agatha letting the others walk into that death trap. So where would they go?
She coughed into her hand, and pulled it away to see a spot of crimson blood. She wasn't sure if it was from the wounds in her chest, or from her coughing. Either one was less than ideal.
Think, Anadil.
She had likely fallen backwards. That was the only visual clue she had for which way she may want to move. The biggest issue was deciding where to go. The woods may be crawling with Rhians men, and the school was at least three days away. Longer with her injuries. Much longer. She needed to go somewhere closer.
They'd left Camelot that morning. How long was I out?
Where in the woods was safe, outside of the school? She shut her eyes, trying to focus her thoughts.
And then Anadil remembered something. That night in Sherwood Forest, where she and Hester had sat together by the fire. They'd finally had a chance to relax, and to be together. Just them. Hester and Anadil. She'd felt safe for the first time in what felt like forever.
Sherwood Forest. As long as she hadn't been moved, and she guessed the right direction, it should be much closer than the school. There was a lot of risk. One wrong move and she was dead. Even if she went in the right direction, she could easily run into danger. Or she could bleed out. Or collapse. Anadil shook her head. It wasn't the time to think about that. She needed to get up.
It took her at least five minutes to stand up. She'd held onto the nearest tree (around two feet away) to pull herself up. Her hands slid down the bark and she could feel the sting of new scrapes. When she was on her feet, she leaned on the tree to catch her breath. Her legs felt weak, but otherwise unharmed. She lifted her head to the endless stretch of trees in front of her, and took her first step.
----
It took multiple days. Anadil was fairly sure it was four. She'd killed and eaten a bird... thing? She couldn't remember. It wasn't very good (in fact, it was vile), but she'd been starving. She used weather spells (she'd been fairly good at them in school) for water until she was too weak for her magic to function correctly. She was terrified of sleeping because she was afraid she wouldn't wake up, and let herself have sporadic five-minute naps only as often as necessary.
Towards the end, she was relying on the trees to keep her standing. She fell hard three times. The first, she landed on her side and cried out in pain when she heard an audible crack from her elbow. The second time was while she'd been carefully avoiding a briar patch. She tripped onto a root and fell directly into said briar patch. She let out a string of curse words that would put Hester to shame, and it took her thirty minutes to get back on the move. The third time she fell, she finally broke down. She was covered in cuts, bruises, and scrapes. She had three open stab wounds in her chest, and a most-certainly broken arm. She wanted to sleep. She wanted the whole thing to end, and she wanted to see Hester. In the end what got her back up was the simple logic that crying would dehydrate her and make the whole thing worse.
When she stumbled into the forest, saw the collection of treehouses and heard the cacophany of voices from The Arrow, she almost sobbed with relief. She was here. She heard the door to the arrow open, followed by laughter. And with the knowledge that someone would find her, she collapsed to the ground.
----
It was Beatrix and Reena who found Anadil. They'd walked out of The Arrow after dinner, when Beatrix saw something in the corner of her vision. Someone was laying on the ground around fifteen feet away. She was on her side, her face hidden, but Beatrix only knew one person with hair that color. She gasped, and Reena followed her gaze to where Anadil was laying. They shared one look, and ran to get the others.
It was late at night, and many of their friends had already gone to bed. Beatrix went to Tedros and Agatha's room and threw open the door, praying that she wasn't walking in on anything she didn't want to see. She was relieved to find that Tedros was sleeping, and Agatha was up, staring at Dovey's broken crystal ball. She looked up to see Beatrix standing out of breath in her doorway, flanked closely by a wide-eyed Reena.
"Wha-" She started to ask, before Beatrix almost shouted, "I think I found Anadil!"
Agatha smacked Tedros on the side of the head to wake him up. He sat up ready to complain about it before he saw her face. She explained the situation, and soon both of them were running behind Beatrix and Reena back outside.
There was an unspoken agreement to wait before getting Hester. They didn't know for sure who it was, or whether or not she was alive. They didn't want to risk breaking Hester's heart again.
When they got there, Agatha reached the figure first, and knelt down to gently turn her onto her back. Anadil looked back up at her, scarlet eyes half closed. Agatha saw her arm bent at an unnatural angle, numerous gashes and wounds littering her pale skin, and the dark bloodstains on the front of her dress. It was clear that she was in terrible condition, but she was breathing.
"Agatha?" It was barely audible, and her voice was even raspier than usual. Agatha nodded, and she could've sworn she saw Anadil smile.
----
Tedros had taken one look at Anadil, and picked her up the way he'd carried Hester five days before. Anadil was at least partly awake, and made a few noises of either protest or pain before going limp. Agatha called for help, and Marian ran out of the Arrow, eyes wide. She led them to the same treehouse Hester was staying in, and they made sure to be quiet. Marian told Beatrix and Reena to go find Robin and ask for a medic. Tedros set Anadil on the bed, and Agatha helped her lean against the wooden headboard. The medic arrived shortly after, and began a long examination and treatment session. Tedros left to tell the otheres, but had recieved instructions to keep them out of the room for now.
Thirty minutes later, Anadil was significantly more lucid, and answered Agatha's questions as best she could. The medic had given her some sort of horrific potion to help something or other. He'd left to find something to lessen the pain, which the potion apparently couldn't do. Halfway through one of Agatha's think-out-loud sessions, Anadil interupted saying, "Hester?"
Agatha's eyes widened, as though she'd forgotten all about Hester. She jumped up, glancing at Anadil and saying, "I'll go get her!"
----
Hester was pretending to sleep when Agatha burst into her room. She was hoping the princess would leave if she thought Hester was sleeping, but had no success. Agatha asked her name a few times, and she didn't respond. She just wanted to curl further into the blankets until Agatha left- and then she heard the words "Anadil's alive!"
Hester felt like she'd just come up after being underwater, met with sensations she didn't know what to do with. She bolted upright, staring at Agatha. "Agatha, if this is a joke I will kill you." She said, trying to pretend her hopes weren't up. (They were pretty much in space, though.)
"It's not, I swear. Follow me- she's pretty banged up, but she'll be overjoyed to see you." Agatha couldn't help but smile. She'd seen few things as heartbreaking as what had happened to Hester when she thought she'd lost Anadil, and was very relieved by the idea of Hester being herself again.
----
Anadil was exhausted, and could feel sleep trying to pull her down. She was sure part of it was because of the vile concotion the medic had forced her to drink. Hester had to be here. She vaguely remembered asking for her, and hearing Agatha respond with something. All she wanted was to see Hester again, and then sleep until she could forget about this entire miserable experience.
She heard thumping footsteps coming to her door. It blasted open, revealing Hester. Her black and red-streaked hair was a mess. There were dark shadows under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in years. She was staring at Anadil with wide eyes. Anadil felt herself smile, and failed to be frustrated when she noticed her eyes welling up.
"Hester." She whispered. Hester took three steps before she reached Anadil, sitting down on the side of her bed and reaching out to touch her cheek, as though unsure she was real. She held her hand there for a moment. Her hands were always warm, and Anadil breathed a sigh of relief at the contact.
Hester looked Anadil over, still silent. Her chest was heavily bandaged, and her arm was in an odd sort of makeshift sling. She was covered in cuts and scrapes, some worse than others, and everything about the way she held herself screamed exhaustion. But she was alive. Hester felt her eyes start to burn, but it didn't even register.
Agatha almost wanted to stay, but decided this was too private for her to intrude on. She walked out to find Tedros and the others. She was already excited to hear what Dot would say.
"Ani." Hester's voice broke halfway through the word, and then she burst into tears just like she had when she found out Anadil was "dead"
"I am s- so fucking mad at you right n- now, Anadil. W- why did you stun me?" She asked while moving her hand from Anadil's cheek to angrily swipe at the tears streaming down her face. Anadil knew why she was pissed. She wanted to feel guilty for stunning Hester, but couldn't find it in her. If she hadn't, Hester might be dead right now. She pushed that thought out of her mind. It didn't matter anymore. But her heart ached when she saw how hard Hester was crying.
"I couldn't lose you." Anadil whispered, annoyed with her voice for refusing to be audible.
"Yeah, but now I had to lose y- you. I thought you were d- dead." She was glaring at Anadil through her bloodshot eyes. Anadil wasn't sure how to respond, so she reached out to gently hold Hester's warm hand in her own cold one.
"I'm so glad to see you." Anadil felt tears drip down her own face as she said it. Hester met her eyes, and in any other circumstance she would of laughed at the both of them for getting so emotional. Instead, she leaned forward and kissed Anadil, softer than she ever had before.
Anadil used her good hand wipe away the tears on Hester's face. Hester leaned into Anadil's hand. She felt like an evergirl, but found she didn't really care.
Hester took a few steadying breaths, trying to even her voice, before asking, "What happened? How did you..."
Anadil's eyebrows drew together, and she looked down, lowering her hand to nervously twist at the fabric of her dress. "I don't know. I woke up in the woods."
"You just woke up? Right where you'd been?" Hester asked, wiping her nose with her sleeve.
"Yes. I don't know how long I had been out. The scims just... missed, I guess." Hester raised an eyebrow.
"How did you get here?" She asked.
"I flew." Anadil deadpanned, before saying, "I walked, dumbass." Hester flipped her off, before thinking about what Anadil had said.
"Wait, you walked the whole way here? Didn't he stab you?" She sounded surprised, and a little bit incredulous.
"What else was I supposed to do?"
"What happened to your arm? And all the other shit?" Hester gestured at Anadil's entire person, and Anadil looked down at herself, finding numerous cuts she hadn't been aware of.
"I fell down. A few times. In my defense, I had lost a lot of blood." Anadil said matter of factly.
"You fell down?"
"In a briar patch."
Hester opened her mouth, and Anadil cut her off saying, "Not a word." Hester chuckled in response, before holding Anadil's hand between both of her own.
When Anadil heard Hester's next question, "How did you know to come here?", she remembered how many things had been complete luck. How if she'd gone in any other direction, she may have never made it back to Hester. She probably would've died.
"I guessed. You guys wouldn't have gone back to the school. I just tried to think of another place in the woods that was safe." Hester shook her head a little in response.
"So you walked all the way here with three major wounds and a broken arm? On a guess?" Anadil just shrugged.
"Well that whole thing's insane, but I'm really glad you made it back." Hester felt herself choking up again, and scowled. Anadil snickered, which morphed into a cough. Hester was startled when Ani made a loud, excited sound, until she saw the two rats jumping out of her own pocket. She laughed while Anadil hugged her rats. She smiled and whispered something to them, and they squeaked back in response.
"Glad to see that you don't look like a corpse anymore." A voice interupted.
Anadil responded with, "Rude." and Hester turned to see one of the Merry Men in the doorway. His feathered hat slightly crooked on his head. He walked over to her and handed her a cup of something foul smelling. Hester took it, looking up at him, confused.
"Make sure she drinks that, and then both of you should sleep for God's sake." And then he left, whistling an annoyingly cheery tune. Anadil eyed the concoction in Hester's hands distrustfully. She'd already tried it, and she'd like to avoid repeating the experience. Hester started by simply asking Ani to drink it, but in the end it required a great deal of threatening.
After Anadil had finished the potion, Hester looked her over again. "You look like shit, Ani."
Anadil gave Hester an unimpressed look. "Why don't you spend a week in the woods while you slowly bleed out, surviving on nothing but weather spells and some weird bird. I'm sure you'll be just beautiful after." (Anadil was actually serious when she said that, but would never admit it out loud.)
"Bird?"
"Don't ask." Anadil yawned, and Hester felt the floatly feeling that always happened when Anadil was around. It drove her crazy. "How long has it been since you slept?" she asked, eyeing the dark shadows under Ani's eyes.
"I fell asleep a few times in the woods, I think. And, by the way, you look like you haven't slept in years." Anadil responded, stroking Rat #2's head.
"In other words, we should go to sleep."
----
Ten minutes later, Dot burst into the room shouting "Anadil!" She was grinning like a madwoman, and holding onto the doorframe, having run the whole way there. She immediately went silent when she saw Hester and Anadil.
Anadil was laying on her back to avoid hurting her wounds, and her broken arm was gingerly crossed over her chest, her other arm wrapped around Hester's. Hester was curled on her side next to her, with her arm slung over Anadil's stomach. Ani leaned her head on Hester's shoulder, and Hester rested her head above Ani's on the pillow. They were both fast asleep, and wearing small smiles.
Dot felt tears well when she saw her friends. The coven was whole again, and she wasn't sure she'd ever been more relieved than she was when she saw Hester's smile.