Akarnae (47 page)

“As I was saying,” Darrius continued, “Sir Camden made me aware of your dilemma and he led me and some trusted friends straight to you. We were a few minutes behind him because, unlike his impressive ability to move through walls, we were restricted to the pathways.”

“Does that mean he never found the headmaster?” Alex asked. Time was ticking down, and there were only a few days left until she needed to get back to Freya if she wanted to arrive before her parents realised she was gone. Where
was
Marselle?

“The headmaster of Akarnae played a pivotal role in your liberation, Alex,” Darrius said. “I’m certain you’ll meet him soon, now that he’s back at the academy.”

With that promise Darrius waved and headed out the door, and Alex felt something within her relax after hearing confirmation of the headmaster’s return.

Alex turned to Fletcher and noticed an amused expression on his face. “What?”

“Nothing,” he responded, still smiling slightly. “Now drink up and
maybe
I’ll let you out of here sometime before next winter.”

She drank vial after vial of different coloured liquids until she was overcome with exhaustion and Fletcher ordered her to go to sleep.

It was an order that she was more than willing to obey.

Forty-Five

“How can anyone sleep for
so long?”

“I don’t know, man. Can we poke her or something?”

“Fletcher would have our hides if he found out we disturbed his patient’s beauty sleep.”

“He doesn’t have to know…”

There was a pause and Alex cracked her eyes open just as Jordan reached towards her. “Don’t even think about it,” she threatened in a croaky voice.

“Alex! You’re awake!” he cried, sitting back hastily.

“Finally!” Bear smiled at her.

“Sorry to inconvenience you,” she said.

“That’s okay,” Jordan said, taking her seriously. He grabbed a glass of water off her bedside table and held it out for her.

Bear reached his arm around Alex to help support her as she carefully pulled herself into a sitting position. She was amazed that she was able to do so without any kind of pain. Fletcher’s medicines were evidently doing their job.

“What’s been happening?” she asked after taking a long drink of water. “It’s been—what?—three days?”

“Four now,” Bear told her. “It’s Wednesday.”

“Time flies when you’re unconscious, hey?” Jordan said lightly.

“Something like that,” she agreed, smiling.

“Nothing’s really changed for us,” Bear said, answering her question. “Classes are wrapping up for the year. Finn has been almost pleasant, believe it or not.”

“Not,” Alex said, and they laughed.

“Otherwise everything’s pretty much the same as before our exams, if a little less stressful,” he concluded.

“Same question for you, now,” Jordan said. “And don’t leave anything out.”

Alex groaned. “Seriously? You’re here to interrogate me? Some friends you are.”

“You love us,” Jordan replied. “Once again we missed out on the adventure, so spill.” He must have caught her tense expression before she could clear it, and he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry. I sound like a jerk, don’t I? It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand.
We
understand.”

Bear nodded in agreement, his eyes full of concern.

“No, it’s fine,” Alex assured them. “I already had to go over the whole thing with Darrius anyway.”

“Darrius? The cloud guy?” Jordan asked. “The same guy that brought you back to the academy from the Gala?”

Alex noticed that he didn’t say ‘from my house’. “Yeah, that’s him. Sir Camden found him and he came with some others to rescue us.”

“Weird,” Jordan said. “Bear and I were waiting at the Med Ward when they brought you in—you were an absolute mess, by the way—but I didn’t see anyone we didn’t know. Just a heap of the professors and the headmaster.”

Alex shrugged. “He probably stayed back at the Library to try and trace where Aven disappeared to. The others would have had to follow the headmaster in and back out. Who were they, by the way? The others?”

“Half the teaching staff,” Jordan said. “Maggie, Karter, Finn, Varin, Caspar Lennox and Luranda.”

“So much for the Library being a secret,” Alex mumbled. “Now the whole world practically knows about it.”

“We heard Hunter went in as well, but we didn’t see him on this side,” Bear said, ignoring her comment. “It just confirms what we already know about Ghost: unless he wants you to see him, you won’t.”

Alex looked at Bear for a moment before she burst out laughing.

“Lame?” he asked.

“Very,” she confirmed, still smiling. “Like the blurb of a bad horror film.”

He feigned offence and she just laughed again, pleased when the movement didn’t hurt at all.

“Are you going to tell us what happened and why you arrived here covered in blood, or do we have to guess?” Bear asked, changing the subject back again.

Alex spent the next half hour bringing them up-to-date. She kept it brief, mostly because she lacked the energy for an in-depth discussion. Still, she told them everything she could, only leaving out D.C.’s royal status and claiming instead that the other girl played the role of a disposable hostage. Alex trusted Jordan and Bear with her life, but she’d also promised her roommate that she wouldn’t reveal her secret.

“Have either of you seen D.C. since then?” she asked when she finished.

“Only in classes,” Bear said. “And when… um…”

“When she was brought into the Med Ward with you,” Jordan finished for him. “She was really protective of you, pretty much yelling at everyone to stay out of Fletcher’s way so he could see to you. She was downright scary, really, and drenched from head to toe in your blood.”

Alex shuddered at the image of what her friends must have seen—her collapsed on a stretcher and her bloodied roommate screaming at everyone. It must have been quite the scene.

“We were under the impression that you two didn’t exactly get along?” Bear said hesitantly.

“Desperate times,” Alex said, smiling when she recalled D.C. using the same excuse days earlier. “She’s really not that bad.”

Both Jordan and Bear looked a little incredulous at her words.

“Are we talking about the same person here?” Jordan asked.

“She saved my life, remember?” she said, and that shut them up.

In her mind it was true. Aven had ordered Alex to kill D.C., and if she hadn’t been so opposed to the idea of murder, she never would have broken through his control over her—gift or no gift. Essentially, D.C. had saved her life, not to mention everyone else’s by default.

“You’re right,” Jordan said quietly, still clearly shocked by her entire story but trying not to show it. “And in that case, any friend of yours is a friend of ours.”

Alex looked at Bear and saw the same unquestioning acceptance on his face. She realised they both meant it, despite the fact that they had disliked her roommate for much longer than they’d even known Alex.

“Aww, you guys…”

“You’re not going to start crying are you?” Jordan asked, leaning away from her. “Because I’ll have to find an excuse to leave and it may not be believable on such short notice.”

She laughed again. “No, I promise. No tears. Not even happy ones.”

“Happy ones are okay,” Bear told her. “It’s the others that all men fear.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Alex said.

“Just so you’re aware, our kindness towards her isn’t purely out of our generous hearts, as large as they are,” Jordan said, sharing a mischievous grin with Bear. “It helps that she’s totally hot.”

“Jordan!” Alex laughed. “I can’t believe you just said that!”

He shrugged unashamedly. “It’s true.”

“You know, sometimes I wonder what you two say about me when I’m not around.”

“Only good things,” Bear said, patting her hand comfortingly.

“
Very
good things,” Jordan corrected, looking her up and down and winking at her.

“Perv,” she muttered, but she couldn’t help laughing with them.

He opened his mouth to respond—probably to say something completely inappropriate—just as Fletcher walked in the room.

“I hope you’re not bothering my patient, Jordan?”

“Of course not, Fletch,” he replied, trying to pull off an innocent look.

Fletcher shook his head in exasperation and turned to Alex. “How are you feeling today?”

“Much better,” she said. “Back to my old self, I’d say.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he said, asking the boys to move away so he could check her over.

“It looks like everything has healed nicely,” he said when he was finished. “Just so you’re aware, you have a small scar on your back from where the dagger entered your flesh. Like your hand, I was unable to heal it completely, and it also has a slight… glow.”

“Awesome,” Alex said sarcastically. But at least she wouldn’t have to look at
that
scar every day.

“It’s barely noticeable,” Fletcher promised. “While my Regenevators restored the internal damage caused by the
weapon, they were useless at the point of entry. But the wound sealed shut on its own once the dagger was pulled out, as strange as that was to witness.”

“That’s what happened with my hand,” Alex told him. “It healed right before my eyes.”

“Fascinating,” the doctor said. “I’m curious whether it was Aven’s Meyarin blood or the unusual weapon itself that prompted the healing in both cases.”

“I have no idea,” Alex admitted. “And I hope never to have to find out again.”

“I too would prefer it if you could avoid any similar situations in the future,” Fletcher agreed seriously.

Alex noticed the concern deep in his eyes. He really must have been worried about her. She smiled reassuringly and said, “Good thing I’ve got a great doctor just in case it does happen again.”

He chuckled modestly and then he was all business again. “As I was saying, all your injuries from your encounter with Aven have healed, and your shoulder has realigned perfectly from your Combat exam. All in all, I’d say you’re pretty well recovered.”

“You’re incredible, Fletcher,” Alex said, amazed that she was back to normal already.

“That’s the wonder of modern medicine,” he said.

“And a doctor who knows exactly what he’s doing.” Alex wanted him to understand how grateful she was for all his help.

He straightened his lab coat awkwardly and even blushed a little. She smiled at his embarrassment, but she knew better than to call him on it. “When can I get out of here?” she asked instead.

“Now, as a matter of fact,” he answered. “You just have to take it easy for the rest of the night. It’s almost curfew, so you’ll be heading to bed soon, anyway. You should be fine for classes
tomorrow and Friday, but do be careful. I’d rather not see you again until next term, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.”

Alex laughed. “Gee, thanks, Fletcher. And here I thought you said I was your favourite patient.”

“I have no idea how you got that idea in your head, but you’re certainly my most frequent visitor.”

He helped her stand, and after a momentary bout of dizziness, she was good to go. Bear and Jordan were called back in and given strict instructions to make sure she had a quiet night—to which they solemnly promised to take her straight to her room without supper. Fletcher wasn’t as amused as Alex, if his frown was anything to judge by.

As they were walking out the door, Fletcher called out to her. “Remember, Alex. I’ll see you
next term
.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said, grinning at him and walking out with her friends.

As the three headed across the grounds, she wondered if Fletcher’s parting message had simply been him banning her from injury for her last two days of classes, or if there was more to it than that. Perhaps he was confiding to her that he believed she would be coming back when term restarted.

Alex hoped he’d meant both.

True, she had no idea how she would return. As it was, she still needed to find a way back to Freya in the first place—but now that the headmaster was residing on campus again, she presumed he would be able to solve that problem for her, as promised. And maybe, just maybe, he could provide her with a way to come back to the academy for the next school year. It would mean the best of both worlds for her—literally. Because if it came down to it, if she could only pick one, she didn’t know which world she would choose. Her parents were back in Freya, but there was nothing else tying her there. The rest of her life
was in Medora. She couldn’t deny it anymore, not even to herself.

It was an impossible decision, and Alex could only hope that she wouldn’t have to make the choice. Because she had absolutely no idea what she would do.

Forty-Six

Alex was woken up by
the sound of a door slamming. The last thing she remembered was waiting up for D.C. after Jordan and Bear had left her dorm the night before, but her roommate hadn’t arrived and Alex must have fallen asleep.

I guess nothing has changed after all
, she realised sadly. She had hoped D.C. had meant what she’d said about them being friends, but the sound of her roommate leaving in the morning was just the same as it had always been.

“You’re back!”

Alex snapped her eyes open, feeling disoriented because it wasn’t morning and D.C. hadn’t slammed the door while leaving the room, but while entering it.

Alex looked at the beaming smile on her roommate’s face and she mirrored the expression. “I’m back,” she confirmed.

D.C. stood there just grinning for a moment before she launched herself onto the bed, smothering Alex in a hug.

“You’re so stupid!” D.C. yelled, even while hugging her. “What were you thinking? You almost
died!
”

“Need to breathe!” Alex gasped, and D.C. eased up a little but still gripped her tightly.

“I can’t believe you did that,” D.C. said. At least she wasn’t yelling anymore.

“I didn’t exactly plan it, if that makes you feel any better. It just sort of happened,” Alex said. “It’s not that big of a deal, really.”