The Lunar Witch

Chapter 3

*THUMP*

I startled awake and sat up in bed.

“What was that?” I asked, while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My room was dimly lit by moonlight shining through the window. House creaked for a moment. My door opened, and the hall light turned on.

I sighed and climbed out of bed, putting on a silk nightgown. Standing in my doorway, I yawned and tried rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“House, do I need to investigate this right now? Can I go back to bed? It’s freezing.” The dining room light turned on downstairs. “Fine. But if this is another raccoon rummaging through the trash, we are gonna have a serious talk.” My bedroom door closed behind me, and the door locked.

“Alright, you don’t have to throw a big hissy fit.” I went down the stairs and into the dining room. Nothing was out of place. The back patio light was on, but the dining room light caused a glare, making it hard to see outside. Thunder cracked outside.

“I don’t see anything. Is it outside?” The patio light began blinking on and off in response. Yawning again, I opened the back door.

Terror crept up my spine as I stared at the grisly scene before me. A man lay limp on the patio, his body covered in crimson mud. A deep pool of blood seeped into the fresh claw marks on the patio tile. Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach. Is he dead?

“Hello?” my voice shook. I bent over and poked him. I wanted to shake him, but most Magic Folk don’t react well when startled. I didn’t want him to mistake me as his attacker.

“If you can hear me, I’m here to help. I don’t want to harm you. I assume that since you’re here, you want my help.” He didn’t budge. I shook him, and when he remained still, I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him with all my strength. Finally, he lay inside.

The only injury visible was his leg. It was mangled, degloved from below the knee, with most of the muscle tissue missing.

“That’s a lot of blood just for that leg. Let’s see what’s going on with the rest of you.” Grabbing his shoulders again, I strained to push him over onto his back. He flopped over, revealing a cut from his collarbone to his pelvic bone, and a cut underneath his rib cage. The skin covering his abdomen was just flaps, hanging open, revealing an empty cavity. He’d been disemboweled.

The dread in my stomach turned to liquid fire, and I ran to the sink. I puked in the sink, and my head felt fuzzy. I went to wipe my mouth, but realized my hands were covered in blood. My hands shook and went numb, and my knees felt like they might buckle. I stood over the sink, bracing myself with it. Is he dead? He must be dead!

Taking a deep breath, I stood up straight and tried to collect myself. Calm down Pepper. You’ve seen blood before. But I’ve seen nothing like this… Rinsing my hands, I fought away the panic attack that wanted to happen. Taking a final deep breath, I braced myself for what needed to happen next.

“Focus on the task at hand, Pepper!” I approached him, trying not to look at his wound. I grabbed his wrist and began feeling for a pulse. It was silly to feel for a pulse, there was no way he could still be alive. But I had to be sure he was gone before calling a time of death. I checked the clock for the time of death. 3:37 AM.

*BUM-BUM*

Was that a heartbeat? It can’t be!

*BUM-BUM*

I dropped his hand and felt for a pulse in his neck.

*BUM-BUM*

“You’re alive!” I jumped up and recoiled away from him. How can he still be alive? Is there even anything I can do? Looking down at him, my stomach twisted again. But it wasn’t the disgust from before. Who’s done this to you?

“That won’t matter soon if I don’t do anything to help him, Pepper!”

My heart pounded as I raced to the medicine cabinet, searching for something that would work. We don’t have medicine to bring people back from the dead! What do I give a man who’s been disemboweled? He can’t even digest anything! Rummaging through the cabinet, I grabbed a small bottle filled with a shimmering yellow liquid. It was Gran’s strongest healing potion.

This could work. But I’ve no idea what kind of magic folk he is. What if this is too strong? My heartbeat was deafening. He doesn’t have time for me to stand here and decide.

I grabbed the healing potion and a suture kit and went back to him. I checked his pulse again. How are you still alive? I opened his mouth and poured the liquid in.

“I don’t know if this will work if you’ve got no stomach, but it’s the best chance you’ve got.” I looked back at his abdomen. He’s been out in the rain and is covered in mud. What if he gets infected from it? What else might have gone in there? The thought made me shiver. I grabbed two more potions, one for cleaning wounds, and another for preventing infections.

The mud and blood dissipated when I poured the first one. When nothing crawled out, I poured in the second potion. Hopefully that helps. There’s nothing else I can do.

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to put something in there, but if your organs are going to regrow, they need to have space to do it, you know?” I began stitching the opening in his abdomen closed with the suture kit. Talking to patients always helped calm my nerves, even if they couldn’t hear me.

“I promise I’m going to do everything I can to help you. Just stay with me, okay?” After I had sewn his abdomen shut, I poured an ointment onto the suture. It would help his skin regrow and fuse together. But the skin covering the abdomen sunk down where his organs should be. I fought against the urge to puke again.

“Well, that’s as good as I can do for that. Let’s look at your leg.” His leg was mangled, missing skin from below his knee. Most of the muscle tissue was missing, leaving mostly bone. “That looks bad. It might have to go.” I stood up and checked him again. His features were well hidden under the blood and mud. But I could see that he had a strong build, with scars. He was a powerful man. A man that would not be happy if I removed his leg.

Think Pepper think! What can you do?

Going back to the medicine cabinet, I grabbed a basic healing salve. I scooped it into a pestle and grabbed a few potions from the cabinet. I poured a bit of each into the pestle and began mixing. Mixing potions was frowned upon and often done with poor results. But none of the options I had readily available would work. And since I wouldn’t use a spell to heal him, this was my next best option.

I scooped the salve back into its pot, grabbed a cloth, and walked back to him. House had cleaned the blood off the floor. I used the same two potions from before, one to clean the wound, and another to stop infection. Then I spread the salve on the cloth and wrapped it around his leg and fastened it so it wouldn’t shift.

“Pepper? What is going on?!” Chrys was standing in the entryway with Oliver. Their eyes were wide, and Oliver was covering his mouth.