Chapter 22

Realising his position, Phileas' face turned red. He hurriedly removed himself from Sarah and held her head in his hands, as if though nothing happened. His heart still pounding in him, he began transferring his life magic into her. His hands began to glow blue where they touched her head.

"Phil?"

Phileas had his eyes closed in concentration. He remained silent.

"Are you sure you should be doing this? You will drain yourself".

Phileas kept at his work regardless. The transfer started to calm him down as well.

Sarah kept feeling the ringing in her head as she watched him at work. With the black orbs of eyes hidden behind smooth eyelids, he looked human. She watched his hair sway slightly as they floated amidst a blue glow; by now almost all of him was glowing as he transferred life out of his entirety. Sarah found it hard to put it into words how she felt about this sight, but she subconsciously felt her hands rise and touch the back of his. Smooth skin on slender fingers, prominent veins, a strong wrist. One hand wrapped in gauze. The ringing was starting to lessen, but remained. She closed her eyes feeling calm from the life magic; her fingers still brushing against Phileas'.

What am I doing? This is weird...but I feel...good? She thought.

She began to have visions. A person wearing golden attire. It was blurry, but judging by the outline of the attire, it was a woman. Perhaps she is beautiful too, as beautiful as the dress she walked in. She was doing something, perhaps calling out to her. Sarah felt like following her into the light, so she raised her hand and reached for the lady's fingers.

Her hands touched fabric. Her vision vanished. She opened her eyes. She was touching Phileas' uniform. How long has it been? She looked at the clock on the wall behind Phileas. It had been an hour. Perhaps she had fallen asleep. The ringing in her head was gone, but Phileas was still at work.

"Phileas? Are you okay?"

Phileas remained silent. Sweat beads had started to form on his face.

Sarah pulled out her handkerchief, careful not to move her head, and reached at his face. His face was too far for her to reach.

Ugh, tall people, she complained to herself.

Staying very careful not to move his hands or her head too much, she slowly stood up from the couch. Phileas was already standing too close to the couch so she found very little space for herself. Without thinking much, she steadied her 5' 2" frame by wrapping one arm around his waist and proceeded to dab at the sweat on his face.

Her handkerchief wiped his forehead and then his eyes. She slid it close to his nose and then his cheeks. When she brought it near his lips, she felt her heart skip a beat.

Excuse me? What was that, Sarah?

Ignoring the feeling, she brought the hanky down to his throat.

Okay now it's worse.

She could feel her pounding heart a lot now. At this very awkward point in time, Phileas finally decided to open his eyes and stared directly at her. They held their gazes for a while before Phileas pulled his hands away from her head. When he tried to take a step back, he felt one of her arms around his waist and the other on his neck. Now his face only showed panic.

Sarah quickly pulled away and dropped back on the couch, apologising.

Phileas cleared his throat and asked, "How do you feel now?"

"The uh r-ringing is gone and I feel good, I guess, yeah," Sarah replied stuttering, "how about you? You have been at it for over an hour".

"I will be fine. Don't worry".

Sarah glanced at Phileas who was busy rubbing the spot on his neck where she was wiping.

"I am sorry. I thought that I could help a little and well...I didn't mean to -"

"It's okay, it's okay," Phileas ruffled his hair nervously, "it's okay. I do not mind".

He was being a little weird in Sarah's opinion. Messing up his hair was not his usual behaviour. Perhaps he panicked a bit too much from that close contact, she thought, he is a very reserved and conservative kind of person. She attempted to steer the topic.

"Did you manage to force all the darkness out of me? I think I feel better".

"I think so. It seemed to me like there was a resistance to my magic at first. I made sure to keep going until all of it was gone. We should go to the forest again to check if that is the source".

Yes, now he will be serious again and forget about it, she thought.

"I believe you should rest first and restore your life magic. I am sure you lost a lot. You used up a lot to heal your hand before," she glanced at his hand where Jake had stabbed him during the duel.

The bandage was still there. Did it not heal fully? She thought.

"Do you still need that bandage? Your wound was already healed. It was a temporary patch up".

"No, it still needs to be there".

"Let me take a look. You should at least redo the dressing," she left the couch and reached for his hand, but Phileas snatched it away.

Sarah looked at him with confusion.

"I can take care of it. You should go back to your studies for now. We will visit the forest two weeks from now".

Before she left him, she once again glanced at his bandaged hand. He was okay when I was wrapping it, she thought. I guess he is still in panic. I kinda like this side of him. She smiled to herself.