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Kiffen was holding a butterfly in his outstretch hands, it was about a third of his size and it's wings almost blocked his face entirely. At first, Goldie thought she was imagining it, since she hadn't seen it before now.
"This is him. One of the Psycotropic Lady Killer Spider Butterfly species. I've never seen one in these parts before. He must have landed on you as you were walking and bit you."
Goldie wanted to scratch her forehead. It was itchy. And, she was confused. She couldn't move her arms. She wiggled her nose, hoping that would help some.
It didn't.
"What is psycotroffic and paralytical?" she asked.
"It means you are probably seeing and hearing things that aren't there right now. And, also, you can't move." Kiffen tucked the Lady Killer Butterfly under his arm.
Goldie sniffled and tried to hold back tears. She didn't like not being able to move.
"Am I going to die 'cause it's a lady killer?" She started to sob and choked on the sob, then she started to cough and cry at the same time. She was pitiful. Poor thing.
"No, Goldie. That's just its' name. We just have to wait for you to be able to move."
"Kiffen?"
"What? Stop crying."
She took a deep breath and tried to stifle the tears. She couldn't even wipe her nose. Oh, how she wished she could move.
Frustration set off another round of sobs, but she choked out a question anyway.
"Are you holding a butterfly or is that just part of my psycho tropical reaction?"
"I'm holding a butterfly."
"Kiffen?"
"What?"
"Did you actually say, 'I'm holding a butterfly?' because you said I might be hearing things."
"Kid!"
She giggled. Maybe Kiffen was a figment of her imagination as well and she'd been bitten earlier than they all realized. Floyd seemed quite content sitting under the piano and watching her struggle with the effects of the poison. Was that Floyd? Suddenly, he grew a big fluffy lion mane and he became a lion. A tiny lion just like the ones under the table... only bigger. She looked away from him. She knew it wasn't real. Floyd was definitely sitting under the table and Floyd was definitely not a tiny lion. Well, he kind of was because he was a feline... but, no, not a lion. House cat. Or, wild cat. But, lions are wild cats and if Floyd is a wild cat it kind of makes Floyd a lion. Kind of. OK, not really.
Over on the other side of the room, she could make out shapes in the dark. Mostly large monsters, but she'd passed them earlier after she fell down the stairs and she knew that one of them was just a grandfather clock that was covered in a sheet just like most of the other pieces of furniture in the room. All of the monsters swayed back and forth, like trees blowing in the wind, but they didn't come any closer to her. The floor glittered with fairy dust - fairy dust she knew hadn't been there. This is part of that psycho tropical thing that Kiffen was talking about... But, back in the back, way behind the grandfather clock, tucked in the very back corner of the room, was a glowing outline of a fairy carved into the wall. Real or imagination? It was hard to tell right now with so many monsters in the room. But, for the most part a lot of the psycho things she was seeing were somehow attributed to something real in the room. She'd seen the lions on the table, she was still seeing lions everywhere. The monster that stood in the exact place of the grandfather clock was just a grandfather clock. She knew it was.
She was on a fairy hunt, of course. Maybe her mind was just puking that up on the walls.
"Your finger just moved!" Kiffen shouted excitedly.
"It did?" Goldie lifted her head to look down at her hands.
"You lifted your head! You weren't doing that before."
"Does this mean I'm getting better?"
"Yes, keep trying to move you arms and your legs and it should help." Kiffen flew from Goldie's chest and alighted on the ground near her left hand. "Now, try to move this one." He still had the Lady Killer Butterfly under his arm. He was still alive as far as she could tell. He perked up every once in a while to look around, possibly for a way of escape. Maybe he wanted to bite Kiffen. The butterfly had gotten tired of struggling. Kiffen was pretty strong. The butterfly's wings didn't fold up the way Kiffen's did, but Kiffen wasn't wrinkling them. He knew how to hold a butterfly. Maybe he was a butterfly rangler. The butterfly's twirly swirly nectar straw kept rolling and unrolling like a little party favor.
Goldie kept trying to move her fingers. "Kiffen?" she said.
"What?" Kiffen was focusing on her fingers. He practically jumped up and down in excitement when her pinky flinched.
"What are you going to do with that butterfly?"
"I'm going to lock it up in my terrarium upstairs until I get a chance to harvest its venom, study its effects, and create an antidote."
Goldie just stared at him. She'd understood every word. It was an interesting insight into his character.
"What? I don't like butterflies. I like poison, ok? Pretty dang chuffed to see this little guy down here. I never thought I'd see one in my life."
"Do you think it's a gift from the fairies?"
"Absolutely not. Do you think the fairies would give me something I've been wanting my entire life when it would endanger the lives of people I care about? That's not a gift."
"Aww, Kiffen. You care about me?"
Goldie couldn't see him very well, but she was pretty sure his face turned a little darker shade of purple. Was he blushing? Aww. "Hrmph," was all he said. Goldie giggled and threw her hand over her face. Hey! Her arm was working! The hand hit her face a little bit harder than she'd been expecting, but she had a little bit of control again, it felt nice. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Still not enough control for that.
"It's actually leaving your system a lot faster than I would have expected." He scratched his chin with his free claw. "Probably because you're so big."
"I am getting pretty big. I'm almost as tall as my mom's shoulder, now." Goldie pressed her lips together and wrinkled her chin in a matter-of-fact sort of way. It was quite an accomplishment. She'd been having a growth spurt lately, she was pretty sure because most of her pants were too short for her when before they'd generally been too long. Mom used to have to roll them up once or twice so she wouldn't step on them.
"I have a craving for cookies." Goldie's throat felt dry, as well. "Cookies and milk. Definitely have a craving for cookies and milk."
"It's probably another side effect," cried Kiffen.
Floyd gracefully strode from under the table and came to sit nearer Kiffen and Goldie.
"Oh," said Kiffen, after a moment of silence. "Floyd says that it's probably lunch time."
"Oh! Oh! I have to get up. They're going to notice I'm missing if I'm not down for lunch. Mom is going to come upstairs and she's going to look in the bed. I told her I was taking a nap. I can't believe I haven't been paying attention to the time." Goldie struggled to get to a sitting position. Why wouldn't the stupid poison just go away already. Maybe if she drank something the poison would leave her system faster. She was able to grab a hold of one of the piano legs and finally sit up.
"Floyd says not to trouble yourself."
"Why?"
"You entered a different world when you walked into the upstairs room. In your world, that room doesn't exist."
"How did I get here, then? If it doesn't exist, it shouldn't exist."
"It only shouldn't exist in your world. In this world, it exists just fine." Kiffen glanced at Floyd. "Floyd says that he's not sure how you got here, but you've been on the verge of entering our world for a while now. Ever since you visited with him on the porch."
"Is Floyd from my world or this world?"
Kiffen shrugged his shoulders.
"How do I get back to my world? Mom is going to think I ran away! But, I didn't run away. I'm still in the house. I'm still in the house. Why doesn't she know that I'm still in the house?" Goldie was on the verge of crying again.
"Don't cry!" Kiffen demanded in a voice quite unlike his own small high-pitched one. This voice was huge and sounded like two. His eyes were glowing red hot and his mouth looked like a furnace, or like molten lava and wavy hot lines of heat were puffing out of his lungs. All of this wouldn't be that crazy if he hadn't grown fifty times his size at the same moment. His purple scales turned almost black and his mohawk of cute orange scales all of the sudden became as sharp as a set of knives sticking from his back. The silver-dipped scales became a full-scale chest plate. His teeth looked like pointed diamonds and his claws, two on each hand, became silvery spikes of doom. Every breath and out was snort and a growl, a snort and a growl.
Goldie tried her hardest to move her body with its still-asleep legs underneath the piano. With a lot of effort, she finally pulled herself under. Floyd was here again. He was focused on cleaning something out of his fingernails. Did he not see what was happening with Kiffen. What the heck? She turned her attention back to the demon Kiffen who was studying the room, as with new eyes, snort, growl, snort, growl.
She noticed it at almost the same moment he did. The butterfly was still lodged under his arm. It looked miniscule now. And, pretty dead. Kiffen grabbed the butterfly between his two claws and growled in frustration. He set it down on the staircase. Thankfully, he'd set the lamp down much earlier, before Goldie had even been stung by the butterfly, so it was safely a couple of yards away from him. In case he wanted to smash something with his suddenly gigantic feet, the lamp would not be one of those things. Although, Goldie wondered if she would be. It'd serve her right.
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