Page 149 of Into the Isle

Chapter 42

Ravinica

WHEN I AWOKE, MY BODY was on fire. A dull thud slammed behind my eyes, giving me an immediate migraine. Every inch of my body seemed inflamed, like I’d been run over by a tractor.

It took me a few seconds to remember anything—where I was, who I was. I blinked up at eerie phosphorescent lights colored green, making it look like I’d been transported to some kind of neon rave.

The walls around me were dark. I was reclining on a hard cot. A gurney. Shadows hovered over me, gathered at my left side.

With a start, my head whipped over, which brought a lightning bolt of pain across my spine. I winced, fluttered my blurry, woozy eyes, and the shapes came into focus.

Dagny and Randi stood closest. Fear and helplessness were on Dagny’s features, her glasses foggy from tears. Randi looked ready to kill someone, even if that someone was me.

Behind them, Grim stood the tallest. He stared over the girls at me, arms crossed in a pensive expression, examining me with his blank face.

Magnus stood off to the side of the cot, near my feet, with a hand on the blanket over my toes.

Arne was closest to my head, bent over to study my face, with expressions of shock and anger battling each other on his pretty mug.

All my friends were here. It gave me comfort, even though I was clueless where here was. I asked, “Where am I?” My voice was grueling, choked from disuse. I had no idea how long I’d been unconscious.

“Eir Wing, babe,” Randi said.

I groaned. The infirmary.

I peered around at the black walls, the green-yellow light overhead. “Why does the hospital look like a nightclub?”

The girls chuckled sadly. Even my guys cracked smiles. There was a lot of anger behind those smiles.

“The acolytes learned patients don’t appreciate bright LED surgical lights when they wake up out of a coma, I guess,” Arne said.

“Wait,” I said, “I was in a coma?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, iceshaper,” Magnus spat. “You were knocked unconscious, not into a coma.”

“How long was I out for?”

“. . . Almost two days.” He looked guilty.

My eyes widened. “Gods.” That counted as a coma, in my mind. A short one.

Semantics aside, I was glad to see my people. For a moment, I forgot all about what I’d learned in Mimir Tomes. We were back the way we were supposed to be.

Except one important person was missing.

I flared my nostrils. “Where’s my brother? Was Eirik too busy with his little gang to attend his sister waking up out of—”

“Peace, little sneak,” Grim cut in from the back. He pushed to the front and rested his large hand on mine. “Eirik is speaking with academy officials, trying to get to the bottom of this. He’s doing what he can.”

Make it right? I was beat to shit over jealousy, from a spiteful student! A peer!

My research came blaring back to me, full tilt. Murder and death rang in my head. I was filled with rage in an instant, and if my body hadn’t been broken, I might have tried to act on it.

Instead, a deep exhaustion fell over me. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily, trying to calm myself.

“Can you tell us what happened, silvermoon?” Magnus asked.

I gulped over a dry throat. My memory came back in fragments. After a few minutes, the flood began. I thanked the gods my mind hadn’t been rattled too hard.

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