Changing

[Two can toucan]

Alexia bolted upright into a sitting position and tossed the thin quilt off herself. The sheets were damp with perspiration. She was positive that most of it was her own fault, though only the Gods knew how often the linens were washed at the Friendly Arm Inn.

Night terrors again.

A thick fog hung in the air, but Alexia felt it being slowly sucked out of the room. After a few blinks, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The window and door were both firmly shut and locked, she noticed, as she looked around the room. She could see as though moonlight spilled in through the window even though there was nothing but darkness beyond the glass pane. Not even a star. The constant pitter-patter of rain lightly hitting the window betrayed the reason for this.

"Ow, ow!"

Alexia became keenly aware that her back hurt. It wasn't the kind of back pain caused by sleeping upon a hard surface; it felt like something had shredded the skin raw. She reached a hand back, curiously, and felt that bone protruded through the center of her back.

What the hells? The ridges of my spine are trying to escape! Crap! I'm going to die!

She swallowed a scream, and it ended up coming out as a croak. With trembling hands, she reached for the candlestick on the night stand. After distractedly fumbling though the pockets of the clothes she had tossed on the floor before climbing into bed, she finally found her matchbook. Even the effort of bending over to do this made her back feel like it was ripping apart.

It took Alexia a few tries to successfully strike the match and light the candle. When she located the full mirror in the corner, she set the candle down next to it and then stood with her back to it. She looked over her shoulder and pulled up the hem of her knee-length nightgown, up past her underpants, up past the small of her back.

Small bony spikes, about an inch apart, protruded through the skin stretched over her spine. Alexia bit back on another scream as she let her nightgown fall back into place.

Thanks a lot, grandpa.