By morning, Jas's arm was swollen where the spider had bitten them during the frantic cleanup. Ivy Mae immediately identified the telltale signs: the bite was small but radiating redness, and Jas was pale, clammy, and unsteady.
Roman cursed their bad luck. “A black widow bite? Here? That’s the last thing we need!”
By morning, Jas’s arm was swollen where the spider had bitten them during the frantic cleanup. Ivy Mae immediately identified the telltale signs: the bite was small but radiating redness, and Jas was pale, clammy, and unsteady.
Roman cursed their bad luck. “A black widow bite? Here? That’s the last thing we need!”
“We can’t panic,” Ivy Mae said, pulling Jas to the kitchen table. “Lavender oil. Jas, it might help. I have lavender growing out back.”
While Roman dashed outside to gather fresh lavender, Jas began to tremble. “I’m not… dying, am I?”
“No, you’re not dying,” Ivy Mae assured them, her hands shaking only slightly as she brewed a makeshift lavender poultice.
Jas’s breathing slowed, but their eyelids fluttered. They slipped into a fevered sleep, and in the darkness of their mind, a voice rang out—strong, defiant, electrifying.
“We, the people, have the power. Not corporations, not billionaires, not the elite who hoard wealth while the rest struggle. We are the Digital Warriors.”
The words echoed, layered over visions of massive crowds marching through darkened city streets, their faces lit only by the glow of their devices. Screens flashed BOYCOTT AMAZON. BOYCOTT TESLA. BOYCOTT TARGET. Hands reached out, disconnecting wires, tearing down billboards, planting trees where concrete once choked the earth.
“Today, we reject their greed. Today, we take our power back.”
The voice filled Jas’s mind, rolling like thunder, and just as quickly as it had come, it vanished.
Jas gasped awake, gripping the edge of the table. Ivy Mae was pressing the lavender poultice to their arm, her face full of worry.
Jas blinked, still caught between dream and reality. “I just had the weirdest dream…”
Ivy Mae sighed in relief. “Good. That means you’re still with us. Now tell me—what kind of dream?”