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Needing Cassidy Chapter 23

Writer's picture: Lacey St. SinLacey St. Sin

I hope everyone is having an amazing Friday! Hope you all enjoy chapter 23!



CHAPTER 23


Cassidy fiddled with the child’s toy, a habit she’d come to posses over the days of quarantine upon waking. Each day learning just a little bit more about Callaphria. Like Earth, Callaphria had seven continents. Unlike Earth, none of them were at the poles, so the mass of land was spread like a bracelet around the planet’s center, though Cirril, a small, almost heart shaped continent had drifted quite a ways north. The continent that Virkaith existed on, Livaris, was the largest. It was spread along the equator, but not incredibly far north or south. The other continents were spread outward from it, a map of the world looked a little like an explosion with Livaris at the center and chunks of land flying away.


She pushed the little sliver of the cube back in place, shutting off the imagery it was projecting. Something was bothering her and she frowned at the toy, turning it over and over in her hands. After recovering from Tor’s kiss and the wild tangle of emotions it brought on her she’d finally managed to fall asleep. She might have expected to dream about him, or even the fear filled dreams of the mystery illness that had been plaguing her. Instead she had dreamed of mushrooms. The mushroom from the garden, in particular. It was an odd dream, even more than dreams usually were and when she woke she felt like she had come to an important realization and then promptly forgotten it. Hence why she lay in bed, ten minutes later, fiddling with the cube and wracking her mind to remember.


It was no use, however, whatever the thought had been it was long gone. She pulled herself up from the cot and poked her head out the door, checking if the bathroom was in use. The medical building was eerily silent, no murmured conversations no hint of movement at all. Quiet as a tomb.


She gathered a change of clothes and slipped into the shower, the hot water washing away her fatigue and rejuvenating what was left of her energy. They might have lost a day or two to the contamination, but she refused to give up. She dressed quickly and then did a quick sterilization of the bathroom, before slipping down the hall into the lab.


Tor sat on the stool before the bench, tapping the screen of his tablet. He looked up as she entered and his gaze warmed, flushing heat to her cheeks again. She couldn’t help but recall, vividly, what had happened the last time they had been in this small space together.


“What can I help with?” she aimed for a professional tone, but her voice had other ideas and the question came out rather husky. She cleared her throat.


“Do you think it’s odd that neither you nor I have yet to experience symptoms of this disease?” Tor asked, surprising her.


Cassidy tapped her chin, her thoughts pulled away from Tor and his magical lips. “Well, maybe it takes time to transmit, like an incubation period.”


“Gorth and Emily fell ill rapidly after Becky. We’ve been trapped in the same building with them for a week. There isn’t even sign of a rash.”


That was true. While the others seemed to be deteriorating rapidly, she felt relatively fine. Tired, stressed even, but medically fine.


“You’re thinking it’s not contagious?”


Tor shook his head. “We cannot be certain yet, but it seems that by now something would have shown up.”


Cassidy thought about that, it seemed legitimate. But then what?


“So what does that mean then?”


Tor looked at her. “If it isn’t contagious, then there must be a common factor why the three of them became ill around the same time. Some sort of exposure. It isn’t likely to be bacterial since the antibiotics did very little against it, so I am researching into other options.”


“The only thing they have in common is each other,” Cassidy frowned. “I mean, Becky and Emily both work the gardens, but so do I and a lot of the other women, and Gorth doesn’t. Other than that the things they share in common are shared with the rest of the compound. Food, soaps, clothing. I can’t think of anything...”


She froze. There was one thing. Becky’s recent project. The rare and beautiful mushroom. Gorth had retrieved it from somewhere, and both Becky and Emily had been responsible for its care.


“Tor,” she said suddenly, urgently. “Could a mushroom cause this? Like an allergic reaction or something?”


Tor’s brows rose. “A mushroom?”


“Specifically the Horthang.”


Frowning Tor tapped rapidly at the tablet, his brows puckered. After a moment he leaned back, a look of...something...concern?...relief?...on his face.


“Not the Horthang, no. That fungus is completely innocuous. However, the Tri’kyani a very similar looking species is known for its toxic spore production.”


He turned the tablet toward her, a picture of both species displayed.


“They are rarely confused because while the Horthang is native to Livaris, the Tri’kyani is only found in one small region of Cirril, though somehow they have evolved to look nearly identical.”


“If they were mixed up somehow, could it cause the symptoms we are seeing?” She’d been going through her translated database every time she had a chance and she knew that it contained a lot of information about how each illness presented in different cases. If there was information about the Tri’kyani’s toxic spores in there, then there should also be descriptions of the presentation of symptoms in those exposed.


Tor took a deep breath. “Down to the exact pattern, described here.”

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5 commenti


Rebecca Klitscher
Rebecca Klitscher
30 apr 2022

Hahaha I'm so glad it's not just me!

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Stacey Manning
Stacey Manning
29 apr 2022

I have to quit doing this to myself. Reread all of the Amber Aerie series since book 4 was coming out and inhaled book 4. Reread Taming Tiana and Keeping Mia (for the 8th time). Have devoured every blog with Needing Cassidy as I love me some Livarians and cannot stop checking every Friday for Protecting Livie. Ah Lacey, you ensnare me.

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Stacey Manning
Stacey Manning
08 mag 2022
Risposta a

It is on the AnyStories app along with Keeping Mia and Taming Tianna. If you have not read those, they should be added to your MUST READ RIGHT NOW reading list. Especially Keeping Mia if you are reading this story. Protecting Livie is released each Friday like the blog (one chapter per week). If you devour her writing like I do, you may want to wait until it’s complete. You will be left jonesing, much like Cassidy’s story.

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