INTEGRATION (Bonfire Academy Book Two) (Bonfire Chronicles) (26 page)

They’d driven her straight back to the Academy, where the medical staff transported her to the infirmary. She remained unresponsive for days, seemingly in shock, though it was hard to tell in her demon form. Her father had provided Secret Service—type security, with unfamiliar faces in military-type uniforms surrounding her at all times. I was one of the few people allowed to see her, but Cassandra even checked me for paranormal interference before I could go through the doors. I spent hours by Faustine’s bedside, holding her hand, but she didn’t even seem to recognize me.

After days like this, I’d had enough. The doctors, witches, and other healers weren’t doing anything that seemed to help her. They’d tried to take her off the sedatives a couple of times, but that resulted in uncontrollable sobbing with her vitals spiraling out of control.

So, I took things into my own hands. I waited for King Sebastian to take a break. In fact, I had to encourage him a little. He’d actually moved into her room and made himself a bed in the armchair. He’d taken to hanging out in his demon form as well, but in spite of his intimidating appearance, I still could see a tired, angry, very frustrated father.

“It’s okay. Go to Dallas,” I encouraged him. “You’ll be back in no time with Spencer transporting you. I won’t leave Faustine’s bedside until you get back. I promise. And I’ll send Ryker if we need you.”

He finally nodded, knowing full well he owed it to Martha’s mother to take her daughter home. He stood up and touched Faustine’s forehead, rubbing it gently. Her eyes remained fixed, staring at the same spot on the ceiling she’d been looking at for the past hour.

“Baby, I’ll be back soon. Cordelia is going to stay here with you. Okay?”

She remained unresponsive, so he nodded at me and left us alone.

An hour later, after staring at the ceiling with her, I reached out and pinched her—really hard. She didn’t even flinch. I stood up and stared down at her for a moment. Then I waggled my two pointer fingers, moving them slowly toward her armpits. I glanced at the monitor and noticed her heart rate increasing. Good. I wiggled my fingers faster, stopping just half an inch from her armpits. She clenched her jaw, but remained staring at her little ceiling spot. A look of panic lit up her eyes as my fingers touched her pits.

I tickled them as roughly as I could.

She went nuts. Faustine was infamously ticklish; everyone knew not to try it unless he or she wanted a serious beating. I had transformed and was prepared. She howled with hysterical laughter, tears streaming down her face. She lashed out, trying to make me stop. She got my face a few times; I was going to be sporting a shiner or two the next day. But I didn’t stop. I kept going and going, tickling her wherever I could.

She climbed out of bed, pushing me back and yelling at me to quit. I was taken aback by her demon voice, never having heard it before. It was loud and unsettlingly deep.

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at me, her eyes wide. “Stop, Cordelia!” She paused, then guffawed. “O-M-G,” she boomed. “My voice!”

I pinned myself against the wall, hoping she wouldn’t come at me. She seemed to have recovered from her anger, totally consumed by the sound of her own voice. I slid past her and perched on her bed while she stood in the middle of the room, testing her voice. Then her face fell again as she sat down.

“Hey,” I said. “Take it easy. Don’t head back into your darkness; stay with me.” I took her hand, and she squeezed mine much harder than she probably intended, sending ripples of pain through my fingers. I held my tongue.

“I’m going to kill them all,” she finally declared.

“You are? Who? We don’t even know who was responsible yet.”

“The birds! All the shifters. I am going to kill every one of them.”

“Faustine, I understand how you feel. And in a way, getting rid of them wouldn’t be a great loss. They are pretty gross. But we can’t do that.”

She stood up and started walking toward the door.

I felt relieved that she had come out of her vegetative state, but heading out before being cleared by Dr. Marks was probably not wise. “Wait up, Faustine. I’ll get the doctor to check you out before we go.

She didn’t stop.

“Aren’t you hungry? I can call up for some steak,” I tempted, hoping she’d turn around.

She did, much to my relief. King Sebastian would never have forgiven me if I let her storm out of there.

She cocked her head and stared at me blankly. Uh, oh. I hoped that she wasn’t slipping back into her hole.

Then, she snorted. “Steak? I’m hungry, hungry for shifters. Lots of juicy shifters.” With that, she turned around and kicked open the door, storming past the astounded guards.

Fuck.

I rushed after her, doing my best to keep up while desperately trying to get Ryker on the phone. Faustine suddenly stopped, her feet lifting off the floor. Was a new power manifesting? I watched in fascination, wondering what was going to happen next.

She didn’t seem to be in control. She appeared to be just as surprised as I was, glaring at me as if I were responsible. When I shrugged, she started thrashing wildly, as if fighting for her life. Her arms kept disappearing and reappearing as though they were being absorbed by something.

It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably Ryker trying to wander her into safety. Well, he’d met his match. She was so high on adrenaline and deep into her transformation that there was no way he was going to be able to overpower her. The best thing he could do would be to get her dad.

As if realizing that—or getting injured by Faustine’s killer swats—whatever had been lifting Faustine let go, causing her to fall to the ground. She roared, looking even angrier than before.

Four of Faustine’s guards caught up with us, all transformed into their demon forms. They looked at each other in confusion, obviously totally unsure of what to do.

“Stand back, miss. We’ll try to restrain her and take her back to her hospital bed. Could you call the doctor?”

“You’re kidding, right? Look at her. How exactly were you thinking of
restraining
her? She’s four times your size and many, many times your strength.”

“I’m not exactly sure, but we have to try something.”

“Well, you better hurry,” I said, pointing at Faustine. She was stalking down the hallway toward the main building.

I glanced at my watch. It was almost lunchtime, which meant that the main building would be teeming with students on their way to the various cafeterias. We were walking into a sure massacre situation unless I could get Faustine under control.

I ran to catch up with her, deciding that the only way to divert her attention away from shifter shredding would be by getting her to focus on her stomach—on food. She had to be starving; she hadn’t eaten in hours.

When I got close enough, I yelled, “Hey, slow down! I can’t keep up. The staff lounge is doing a special roast today. Let’s head over there for some food. I’m hungry, too.” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

She ignored me, continuing to plow ahead. The guards caught up with us again, and two of them pulled at her T-shirt to slow her down. She stopped abruptly and twirled, swatting at the guards sharply with the back of her hand and sending them crashing into the wall. Then she took a moment to stare down the remaining ones before she turned and proceeded along the hallway.

I hoped she’d decided to try the roast I had suggested. When she trounced past the lounge without even giving it a perfunctory sniff, I knew she was totally focused on whatever was running through her mind. I felt a sense of panic rising within me, unable to think of a way to distract her. When I saw some groups of students in the distance, I felt a deep sense of foreboding. I hoped that Faustine’s dad would appear and save the day.

Audrey and Viola had spotted Faustine and came walking toward us. I held my breath as Faustine slowed.

“Hey!” Viola said cheerily. “You’re up! That’s great. Are you feeling a bit better?”

Faustine nodded.

“We’re going to get a drink. Come with?” Viola asked.

Faustine shook her head and pushed past them.

“Get The Smelt,” I whispered to Audrey then, I rushed after Faustine.

Faustine ignored all of the other demons, faeries, and vampires. I hoped the first shifter she found was Mason; then at least someone who deserved it would get what was coming to him. Faustine’s nose twitched as she took small, sharp breaths, darting her eyes from one being to the next. Then, she fixated on a scared-looking boy. Her eyes glazed over, and she seemed to be in an alternate zone. Everyone around the boy dispersed, leaving the path clear between him and Faustine.

“Faustine, just keep moving!” I yelled.

She ignored me and looked as though she was just about to take a step toward the boy, who immediately transformed into a panther and launched himself at her, taking all of us, including Faustine, by surprise. She fell backward, landing on her bottom as he bit into her shoulder. She howled in pain. I was about to rush the panther when she bit into his neck and then threw him into the wall. I watched him slide down the wall onto the floor, where he suddenly flipped over and came at Faustine again.

Stupid shifter. He should have run in the opposite direction. I sat down and watched the show, noticing all the other shifters in the corridor being ushered to safety by their mentors. Faustine and the panther fought hard, the panther holding his own until Faustine must have decided that she was bored with playing. She picked him up in one hand and thrashed him against the wall until he went completely limp. Then she bit a chunk out of him and put it in her mouth. She gulped it down and belched. Then she bit into him again, ripping off another bloody lump. She kept chewing and gulping down bits of him. Gross! My stomach heaved. She didn’t stop.

Everyone looked on in horror and disgust. What the heck was she thinking? Once she was done, she sat on the floor and stared at me. She suddenly looked as though she was going to be sick. She closed her mouth, making burping sounds. Then she looked at me and shrugged. She tipped her head back and then threw it forward, purging the contents of her stomach—flesh, fur, bones, bile. The nastiness kept coming and coming, forming a puddle of a viscous, pungent gloop in front of her.

I was having a hard time keeping the contents of my own stomach under control. Everyone else had disappeared during the vomit fest.

“I feel sick,” Faustine said, sounding utterly miserable.

“I bet. Uncooked panther isn’t really demon food, is it?”

“No. Blech.”

I noticed The Smelt walking up the corridor with Professor Bern and Cassandra.

“Sit tight, Faustine. We’ll get you back to the infirmary bed.”

“No!” she howled. “I want to go home. I want my mom!”

I walked over to her, pinching my nose. “Come on. Get up.” I pulled on her elbow.

She got to her feet and followed me away from the puke. We walked over to The Smelt and waited for the onslaught.

The Smelt didn’t say a word, just glared at Faustine and then at me.

“Are you okay?” Professor Bern asked.

I nodded.

“Good. Can you take Faustine back to the sick bay and wait there for Dr. Marks?”

“No!” Faustine yelled. “I’m not sick. I don’t want to go back there. I want to go
home
.”

Professor Bern threw her a death glare. “
You
will not say another word. Go back to the bay, or I will make you go. Is that clear?”

“Faustine, your father will be here shortly. You can talk to him about going home,” Cassandra said.

Faustine nodded and turned around.

“Cordelia, who was that?” Frau Smelt pointed at Faustine’s puke puddle.

“Sorry, I don’t know—a panther, a male.”

I noticed her shaking with anger, obviously trying to contain her rage. But she failed. The Smelt threw back her head and bared her teeth. “Get her out of my sight!”

I nodded at Professor Bern. “Okay, I’ll take her back to my room. I have food there.”

“Yes, yes,” Professor Bern replied impatiently. “Just keep her there until her father gets here. Don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll put a confinement spell around your room, just to make sure that she stays there.”

I nodded and walked Faustine to my room. She threw herself onto the bed. Stepping into the kitchen, I busied myself getting a proper demon meal ready for her, laying it out on platters and taking those into the bedroom. I set the plates down on the table and transformed into my human form before sitting down to eat.

“Yum!” Faustine boomed.

“Yep. Transform into your human form, wash up—you stink of vomit—and then come sit down.”

She ignored me, just walking over and plonking down on the chair next to mine. She reached for a slice of beef, and I dug my fork into her hand.

“Ouch!” she yelped and looked at me in horror.

“Yes. Ouch, indeed. Didn’t you hear me? Go and get washed.”

She glared, obviously thinking of defying me, but I stared her down. She finally got up and went into the bathroom. When she returned ten minutes later, she was back to being the beautiful princess I knew and loved, though her face was set in a major scowl.

“Better?” she grumped.

“Much. Sit down and help yourself. Trust me, you’ll feel better.”

I sat back and watched her, glad that her last meal was well behind her and she was back to eating in a more civilized manner. While she gulped down her food, her expression became more relaxed, though sadness was written all over her face. When she was done with the meat, she asked for cake. I was glad I had put her birthday cake in the freezer.

“It’ll be a while. It’s frozen,” I said.

“All right. I guess we’re stuck in here for now. What do you want to do?”

“I’ve got some new magazines we can look through if you want.”

She shook her head. “I think I’ll just lie down for a while.” She looked so sad and lost, and her eyes were dewy with tears.

I leaned over and hugged her, holding her tighter when she erupted into loud, tearful sobs that soaked my shirt. I let her cry until she pushed away from me.