The Keeper's Curse (10 page)

She had
clearly learned nothing, she realized, as she tried to make her way
towards Teddy. She subconsciously tried to put her foot down to
steady herself, but of course this didn’t help, making her swing
again.

“
Think of it like you’re a trapeze artist,” he suggested.
“You’re walking on a thin rope that’s barely holding you
up.”

She
stared, concentrating on him, and suddenly the distance between
them seemed to grow. She closed her eyes and attempted it again,
just as he said. She tried to walk in a straight line, standing on
her tiptoes like a ballerina, but she slipped backward through the
air.

“
Maybe if you just –” Teddy said, when his eyes shifted focus
from Emmy to something behind her. Emmy followed his eyes to see a
pretty blonde girl, practicing her gymnastics in the
air.

“
Hey Rookie, keep trying okay?” he said, walking past Emmy
without even looking at her. “I’ll be right back, I’ve just got to
go check something.”

He headed
straight over to the girl, and Emmy rolled her eyes to the point it
was painful. Well, she was on her own; she might as well try to
accomplish something. After a few more tries to move forward,
without any success, she attempted to force herself into a higher
position.

She
heaved her body upward, getting a few strange looks from the
onlookers, who moved through the air gracefully without effort. She
ignored them. Emmy let out a tiny yelp of joy when she did it; she
was a foot or so higher than she was before. It seemed to be the
only thing she could do; she clearly had no flying ability
whatsoever. She repeated this motion again and again until she was
on level with the rest of the fliers, high above the trees and
around seventy feet in the air.

Her pride
was short lived. Everyone else assumed she could fly since she was
up there, so they flew around her, just about hitting her because
they expected her to move out of the way, which she couldn’t. She
tried jerking sideways, succeeding in nothing but loosening curls
of hair out of her knot and onto her sweaty face. She lowered her
head and took in a few giant gulps of air, and when she raised her
head to try again, the air was knocked out of her
completely.

Something
flew by her in a blur, in a perfectly straight line. He was so fast
she barely got a glimpse of his face, but it was enough.

She felt
like she was punched in the stomach. Her body froze, dots sprung in
front of her eyes, but most significantly, she felt as if a hand,
made of fire, had reached inside her, took a death grip on her
ribcage, and attempted to rip it out of her body.

He didn’t
even see her, flying past her in a split second.

The
sensation took her by such surprise she had forgotten what she was
doing and more importantly, where she was. Her fingers slipped out
of the solators and she began to fall.

Her
terror was unexplainable. There was no support, no balance, just
gravity. Just as she sucked in a breath to scream, she plummeted
into someone, the two of them tumbling to the ground in a heap. The
other person, a girl, thought quickly, slowing their descent so by
the time they landed, the fall was unpleasant rather than
fatal.

They
rolled in separate directions once they reached the ground, both
groaning. Emmy nearly fainted when her head rammed into a jagged
rock.

Oh hell
, Emmy thought.
I could have killed her! Where is she? Is she
moving? I’m so stupid. Oh, hell!

“
ROZELYN!
” shouted a boy’s voice
filled with worry.

Emmy
rolled onto her side, a sharp pain blossoming in her arm, growing
worse by the second. Was it broken?

Someone
whizzed past her onto the ground a few feet away from where the
girl was. Emmy looked over to see the girl, who was apparently
named Rozelyn, and exhaled a sigh of relief. The girl seemed to be
fine. She was already sitting up, a boy leaning over her and
checking her for injuries.

“
What happened? You were right behind me –” he
said.

Emmy
stiffened. There was something about that voice.

“
I’m fine!” the girl said, sounding as frantic as Emmy felt.
“There was a girl, I think she fell – I hit her –”

Rozelyn
looked in her direction and the boy’s eyes followed as well, right
onto Emmy’s face. Her eyes widened in horror; it was him, the one
who made her fall.

He got up
and rushed over to Emmy, placing a hand on her forehead. She
grimaced, both from the pain pounding in her head and the uproar
deep in her chest that had ignited again. The pain was
all-consuming, as if her body was thirsting for something that her
life depended on. She would have satiated it if she had the
slightest idea of what it wanted.

Something
was very wrong with her, she figured, because despite the possible
concussion, possible spinal breakage, a definite broken arm, mixed
with pain in every inch of her body, and a pang of humiliation to
top it off, all she could do was stare at him.

It
suddenly seemed crucial that she take in every inch of him while he
was leaning over her, trying to stop the bleeding cut on the side
of her head. Why was she reacting this way? Not only was he
average-looking, he was odd looking. He embodied all the extremes
of crafter appearance, yet somehow, unlike Emmy and the rest who
appeared predatory, he managed to appear harmless. His thin, pale
face, framed with thick auburn hair, was like a child’s with his
little mouth, and wide, concerned eyes that were dark but bright
green. Only his wiry body suggested that he was older.

“
Do – do I know you?” was what came out of her
mouth.

He took
his hand away from her head. “I don’t think so,” he said. That
voice. She knew that voice.

He jerked
his head over his shoulder. “Rozelyn! Help me!”

The girl
– Rozelyn – was at his side in an instant.

“
I am so, so sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t see you, you came
out of nowhere.”

Emmy
shook her head. “No, my fault.” She tried to keep her focus on the
girl. “Please, I think my arm is broken, I need to get to a
hospital.”

Rozelyn
turned to the boy. “Take her to the hospital. I’ll try to find an
emergency contact. Who do you live with?”

“
Sol and Vera Woodworker at the moment.”

Puzzlement ran across her features for a moment, and then
suddenly replaced with recognition. “Oh, right! Jade told me about
you, you’re Alex’s sister, the half human!”

“
You know Jade?”

“
Yeah, she’s my cousin. She didn’t tell you?”

Emmy
tried not to look confused, but this girl could not have looked
more different from Jade if she had wanted to. She had the features
of an African with her dusky skin and crimped, bushy golden-brown
hair that fell to her shoulders. While Jade was sort of adorable,
this girl was stunningly beautiful. However, Emmy noted, the girl’s
skin was not incredibly dark, so it was possible she was biracial,
influenced by Jade’s side of the family. Her hazel eyes, Emmy also
observed, were the exact same maple brown shade as
Jade’s.

The boy
leaned down to help her up and she instinctively jerked away. She
knew that she must have appeared discourteous, but she wouldn’t let
him touch her. He had almost killed her.

“
I don’t need a lift,” she covered up. “I’m with my friend
Teddy, he’ll take me.”

Rozelyn’s
eyes doubled in size. “Teddy? Teddy left you alone?”

“
Only for a couple of minutes.”

As if on
cue, Teddy took that moment to fly down to meet her. Some of Emmy’s
anger, although not much, evaporated at the sight on his face,
looking close to tears. He wasn’t with the blonde girl
anymore.

Rozelyn
stood up and marched over to Teddy, taking her hands and pushing
him on his chest, flinging him backwards. “Theodore Shoemaker, you
should be expelled! She fell almost seventy feet! If I hadn’t
broken her fall she would have died!”

“
I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry.” He looked around Rozelyn to
Emmy. “Please, let me take you to the hospital. I’m so
sorry.”

Emmy
looked from his anguished face, to the boy beside her sitting so
close she could feel his body heat radiating off him. She had to
get away from him.

“
Yes, it’s fine, just get me out of here.”

“
Wait,” the boy said. “At least let me get you to the stables.
You can’t walk that far, and Teddy can’t carry you.”

Before
she could open her mouth to protest, he scooped her up into his
arms and sped through the forest, faster than Jade and her mother
combined. Another strapper, obviously.

The
uneasiness inside her didn’t cease the whole trip, as hard as she
tried to pretend to be somewhere else. She sucked in a breath and
closed her eyes, trying to vanish, to disappear, when –

I hope there’s no permanent damage.

Emmy
wriggled in the boy’s arms. Not now.

I wish she would just let me take her straight to the
hospital, it would be so much faster. She looks like she’s scared
of me. Someone must have told her already. Ah, here it
is.

And just
as that thought finished, they had reached the stables. The boy put
her on the closest quarter horse to them, and placed her feet in
the stirrups. He raised his head up to her, looking even more like
a little boy.

And then
Emmy finally understood. If she had any strength left, she would
have run away.

Why is she staring at me like that? Maybe I should try to
explain I’m not going to hurt her. I guess she has been through a
lot –

“
H – how are you doing that?”

His brow
crinkled. “Doing what?”

Maybe she hit her head harder than I realized –

“
STOP IT.”

His voice
and the voice in her head matched. He couldn’t hide it from her. It
was him.

He backed
away several paces, tripping over an apology, when Teddy and
Rozelyn reached them. With practiced agility, Teddy swung his leg
over the horse Emmy was on, missing her head by inches, and planted
himself securely in front of her. He sprung the animal into action,
and Emmy wrapped her good arm around Teddy’s waist. The horse
thundered out of its stall and out the stable doors towards the
school and beyond, leaving the two strangers in the
dust.

Chapter 7

A
Pretty Bird

The
motion of the horse hurt so badly Emmy was passed out for most of
the trip.

By the
time they pulled into Methelwood’s Mercy Hospital, Emmy’s hips and
thighs were as sore as every muscle in her body. Teddy pulled on
the reigns so hard she almost fell off, and Emmy bit on her lip to
muffle a scream of pain. He jumped off the horse as skilfully as he
had jumped on, helping Emmy down and leading her through the front
door. He told her to go sit in a chair, scrambling over to the
front desk to explain what happened.

Emmy
almost fell asleep in the short few minutes she was there, groggy
from exhaustion and pain. A nurse came over and using a palewraith,
lifted the chair she was in and led her to a room. Teddy ran behind
them.

“
I’m sorry dear, it’s hard to find a room so quickly,” the
nurse explained.

“
These hallways seem to go on forever,” Emmy said. Her head
was getting dangerously light now.

“
Yes, the hospital is the biggest building in
Methelwood.”

The
building that dealt with injury was the largest in Methelwood. What
a surprise.

The room
she was taken to was nothing but white, so much so it made Emmy’s
eyes water. She was placed in a bed with the help of the nurse, and
moaned with relief at the comfort of the bed as she sank deeply
into its starchy sheets.

Without
warning, the nurse began to examine her, using strange equipment
and poking her with needles. “We get a lot of Urquhart students
coming through here,” she said. Emmy had nowhere to look but her
dark, rough face. “It’s your second day, eh?” She let out a
guttural laugh. “Not bad, but you didn’t break the record.” She
tilted her head to the left and Emmy noticed for the first time she
was not in the only bed, nor was she the only patient, in the room.
“This boy here just went through his first day.”

“
Yes, well,” came a dry voice from the other bed. “It’s not my
fault a deranged bird landed on my face and attacked me now, is
it?”

The nurse
waved her hand dismissively and said to the other patient, “A
little bit of paste and you’ll be out of here in no time. Now, I
better get a doctor for you, girly. You,” she said, snapping her
fingers at Teddy. “I need to ask some questions regarding what
happened. Come with me.”

The two
of them took off, leaving Emmy and the boy alone.

“
What happened to you?” he asked. His flat voice echoed off
the bare walls.