Raelia (The Medoran Chronicles Book 2) (12 page)

“Don’t tell me you fell out of a tree, too?”

Alex looked up and found herself face to face with Kaiden. She sent him a baffled look. “Why would I have fallen out of a tree?”

Really, considering everything else, it was a miracle she
hadn’t
fallen out of a tree. But how could he have known about that?

“Isn’t that what happened to most of your classmates?” he said, leaning against the bed. She turned towards him, attempting to keep her shredded flesh out of sight.

“I’m not sure what happened to them,” Alex admitted. “Fletcher said they went a bit crazy in the SAS trial.”

Kaiden’s eyes flickered briefly over her body, as if examining her for injury. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“How did you go in the trial?”

She blinked at him. “I didn’t do it.”

He looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Alex huffed. Why was it so hard for people to believe she didn’t want any part of Hunter’s class?

“How… unexpected.” His lips curled into a secretive smile. “I’ve never heard of anyone
not
trying out for SAS.”

Alex floundered for a response and settled on a lame, “Well, now you have.”

He peered intently at her and then chuckled quietly, but she wasn’t sure what was so funny. “You’re different, Alex, you know that?”

Her tone was wry when she replied, “You have no idea.”

He grinned in response and thankfully didn’t ask any more questions.

“What are you in here for?” she asked conversationally, shifting her position and barely hiding a wince. “You don’t look hurt. Or sick.”

“Healthy as a horse,” Kaiden confirmed.

“So…?”

“I came to report to Fletcher that everyone is accounted for,” he said.

“Accounted for?”

“Hunter had all the current SAS students out on patrol to keep an eye on the potential initiates,” Kaiden explained, waving his hand towards the students still left in the Medical Ward. “We weren’t allowed to interfere with the exercise, only to report our observations. He asked me to come and tell Fletcher that everyone is now out of the forest.”

“You’re in SAS?” Alex was curious despite herself. “What’s it like?”

His eyes lit up but all he said was, “It’s something you definitely have to experience for yourself.”

“Vague, much?” Alex said with a teasing grin. Then she asked, “What was the exercise?”

“I can’t tell you that,” he said, with an apologetic shake of his head. “Even your classmates weren’t told beforehand.”

Alex frowned. “How were they supposed to complete the exercise if they didn’t know what they had to do?”

“They were given brief instructions that were meant to be interpreted as clues.”

Alex looked at him. “Exactly how ‘brief’ were those instructions?”

Kaiden held his hands up. “Easy, now. Remember, I’m not Hunter. And besides, I had to do the same thing last year. Or something similar, anyway.”

“Did you end up in the Med Ward afterwards?”

“Broken collarbone,” he admitted, almost proudly. “But it was worth it, since I got a place in the class.”

“You’re insane,” she said. “I honestly don’t understand the appeal.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

That wasn’t going to happen, not unless one of her friends made it into the class and regaled her with stories of their stealthy and subterfuge-y adventures. But if they did, then they’d probably be too cool to use words like ‘subterfuge-y’.

Alex chuckled at the thought and then grimaced from pain. This time, she failed to hide her reaction.

Kaiden stiffened and Alex thought she caught a flash of concern in his eyes as he looked her over. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing,” she told him quickly.

“I don’t believe you,” he said, his gaze probing her face. “I told you why I’m here, what’s your reason?”

“Really, it’s nothing,” she repeated, looking away and hoping he would let it drop. “You should give Fletcher your message and go. It’s probably dinner time by now.”

“Hey,” he said, reaching out to gently grasp her shoulder and turn her back to him.

The movement surprised her and she hissed when her torn flesh spasmed painfully.

Kaiden dropped his hand at her reaction, but then his face hardened with determination and, before she could stop him, he leaned around to look behind her.

She flinched away from him, but the damage was done.

“What
happened
?” he demanded, his tone both concerned and unexpectedly protective.

“It’s—”

“If you say it’s nothing one more time…” he interrupted, leaving his sentence hanging with the threat.

He wasn’t going to let it go, she knew. But before she could decide what to tell him, Fletcher arrived.

“Now that everything is sorted, what can I do for you, Alex?”

She looked from the smiling doctor to the narrow-eyed Kaiden and sighed in defeat. “I was attacked by an animal out in the forest.”

There. Done. Just like ripping off a Band-Aid.

Fletcher sent her a look, clearly knowing that she was downplaying the situation. “Where are you hurt?”

She carefully eased herself off the bed and turned around. She hadn’t had a chance to look at her injury and Kaiden had barely glanced at the wound, but from both his and Fletcher’s sharp inhalations, she could guess it wasn’t a pretty sight.

“
Alex
…” Fletcher breathed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this badly injured when you arrived?”

She turned to face him again but kept her gaze averted and shuffled her feet. “You were busy. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

He tsked quietly and ordered her to get back on the bed while he went to get medical supplies. When he returned, he instructed her to lie down on her stomach and he lifted the hem of her shirt. The wound was on her lower back so it wasn’t too awkward, but she was very aware that Kaiden was still standing by her bed.

Fletcher pressed something wet against the wound and she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out at the stinging pain. The doctor tried to take her mind off what he was doing by launching into his interrogation.

“What sort of animal did this?”

“I don’t know what it was,” she said, trying—and failing— to keep her breathing steady as she focused on his question and not the burning of her flesh. “It was big and black and hairy, with creepy red and black eyes, and claws on its front feet. Its teeth were as long as my hands. And its blood was a strange brown colour.”

Fletcher’s voice was contemplative when he said, “It sounds like a Hyroa. But they’re practically extinct. And there certainly shouldn’t be any of them left near these parts. What do you think, Kaiden?”

His face troubled, Kaiden responded, “That was my first thought, too, given the description. But like you said, Fletch, they’re supposed to be nearly extinct. And definitely not roaming free in the Ezera Forest.”

“If that’s the case,” Fletcher said, turning back to Alex, “how did you manage to get away from it? I’ve never encountered one, but rumours claim that they’re extremely bloodthirsty and move much faster than the average human can run. They’re
very
dangerous, Alex.”

Gee, you think?
she thought, only just managing to keep her sarcasm internal.

“It didn’t look like the type of animal that could climb very well, not with different front and back feet,” she said. “I decided to use that to my advantage and I climbed up into the trees. But it caught me before I was high enough and swiped me with its claws.”

“That must have been intensely painful,” Fletcher murmured.

“I’ve felt worse,” Alex said quietly, remembering with vivid clarity the feeling of Aven’s ice-like dagger slicing through her back and into her lungs. She shuddered at the memory and turned her head, only to find Kaiden’s curious eyes on her. Why was he still here, anyway?

“Nevertheless, this likely caused you no small amount of discomfort,” Fletcher pressed. “How much time has passed since you were attacked?”

Alex tried to calculate it in her head. She’d left to visit her parents after lunch and stayed with them for about an hour before she was unceremoniously dumped in the forest. So that meant…

“I think it happened around two-thirty.”

There was a weighty silence after the words left her mouth.

“What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.

“Alex, it’s six o’clock,” Fletcher said. “You only arrived here about half an hour ago. What were you doing all that time?”

“Making my way back,” she answered.
Obviously
.

Kaiden sent her a probing look. “Back from where?”

Oh. Oops.

“Uh, I was kind of lost in the forest,” she said. Until she’d found her bearings, that was definitely true.

“Why were you out there if you weren’t applying for SAS?” Kaiden pressed.

“That’s an excellent question,” Alex said. She then closed her mouth and turned her head to look in the opposite direction, having no intention of answering. The last thing she needed was for Kaiden to learn about the murderous Meyarin hell-bent on using her for his own nefarious purposes. Uh-uh, no way.

She heard him exhale in frustration and she felt a little guilty. But come on. She hardly knew the guy. She didn’t owe him an explanation.

“All right, how about this one?” he said, moving around to the other side of the bed so she could see him again. “How do you know the colour of the Hyroa’s blood?”

Alex blanched at the new line of interrogation. She absolutely couldn’t answer, not without talking about Aven.

Upon seeing her startled reaction, Kaiden leaned in further. He didn’t say anything but continued looking at her, waiting for her answer.

“I—I—Uh—” she stuttered.

Fletcher chose that moment to apply some kind of paste to her back, and she couldn’t supress the whimper that escaped her lips.

“Perhaps it’s best if you leave, Kaiden,” the doctor said gently but firmly. “It sounds like Alex has been through quite an ordeal and she could do with some rest.”

Alex saw Kaiden hesitate and she braced herself for his response, but he then he relaxed and nodded at Fletcher.

“Thank you for reporting back to me,” Fletcher told him. “And for everything else you’ve done to help as well.”

“No problem,” Kaiden said, stepping back. He caught Alex’s gaze once more, his eyes telling her so much more than any words could express. He was asking her to trust him.

But she couldn’t. Too much was at stake. She closed her eyes and turned her head away.

A quiet sigh reached her ears, and then he whispered, “Feel better, Alex.”

For some reason, his kind words made her feel worse.

“And then what happened?”

It was the next afternoon and Alex was sitting with her friends under her favourite tree by the lake, telling them about
the events that had transpired over the past twenty-four hours. Fletcher had made her stay in the Medical Ward overnight and well into the morning, ignoring her protests that ‘it was just a scratch’. He’d been worried about infection after seeing the depth of the claw wounds, and because of that he hadn’t been willing to seal her injury closed until he was certain his Regenevators had run their full course of healing from the inside out—which had taken all night.

The only visitor she’d been allowed was the headmaster, who had come after Alex had mentioned to Fletcher that there was more to the story, and that Darrius needed to hear it. Both of them had listened intently when she’d detailed what happened to the Hyroa, but neither had known why Aven wanted its blood. Like her, they were relieved that the Meyarin hadn’t known she was so close.

Darrius had again reminded her to be on her guard, but he hadn’t pressed her further about visiting Meya. He was giving her time to think, just like she’d asked, and she was grateful for his patience.

Fletcher had released Alex before lunch and she’d met up with her friends. They’d stopped by the Medical Ward the previous night, but apparently Alex had been fast asleep. That was hardly surprising, considering how drugged up she’d been on pain meds.

But now the four of them sat and swapped stories. Alex had started first and she was just wrapping up, wanting to hurry it along so she could hear about their SAS trials.

“That was it,” she answered Jordan. “Fletcher patched me up, Kaiden asked some probing questions, Darrius reminded me to be careful and then I fell asleep.”

“A Hyroa!” Bear whistled. “I can’t believe it. Those things are
insane
.”

“Do you have a wicked scar?” Jordan asked. “I’ll bet you do. Claw marks—that’s so cool!”

Alex didn’t bother to tell him that it was most definitely
not
cool. Painful? Undeniably. Cool? Absolutely not. Rather than arguing the point, she reminded him about Fletcher’s amazing medicines and lifted the hem of her shirt to show that there was no scarring on her back.

Jordan had the nerve to look disappointed—at least until he caught her glare and smiled sheepishly at her.

“Let me see the necklace again,” D.C. asked, reaching out to admire the jewellery that was fastened around Alex’s neck.

She’d mentioned it to Darrius the night before, but he’d just looked amused and told her to keep it unless asked otherwise. Weird, for sure, but she’d been in too much of a medication-haze to argue.