Page 10 of Zeus' Spark
“I’ll just go grab a healer.” He grins before walking away.
“I’m really okay,” I grumble.
Raven reaches out and pokes me in the shoulder.
Blinding agony spreads through my arm, and I cry out before punching her with my good arm. “What the hell, Raven?”
“Just showing you that you are not, in fact, okay. I can see your damn bones, B. Let the healers help you and stop being stubborn.”
“I hate you.” I stick my tongue out at her.
I know, real mature, but ask me if I care.
“No, you don’t,” she singsongs as a healer comes over.
The old man grimaces at the sight of my shoulder. “How, may I ask, did you shred your shoulder like hamburger meat, my dear?”
It’s my turn to grimace. “The claws of the Nemean Lion got a little too close for comfort.”
The man pales at my words.
Should I have lied to him? I mean, a lion’s claws got me. Does it matter that it’s an ancient mythological beast that should no longer exist?
“You just fought theNemean Lion?Are you certain?” He frowns down at me, probably thinking I’m delirious.
“Yes, the lion impervious to all weapons and magic. The very same lion.” My deadpan stare tells him that I am serious, or at least I hope it does.
“Incredible,” he mutters under his breath.
“It wasn’t. Not really. I was almost its dinner.” I narrow my eyes on my shoulder.
“I’m going to have to cut the shirt from you.You.” He peers over at Raven. “Close the curtains.”
Raven strolls over to the partitions that will block the little cubical from the rest of the sterile space. She closes them, and I breathe a sigh of relief that I won’t be stripped in front of the whole medical unit.
“How did a monster get within the wards?” I wonder aloud.
There is something very wrong happening at Halfling Academy, and I need to find out what that is.
“I don’t know, B, but someone just walked in who may know more.” Raven grimaces just before the headmistress pulls back the curtain, letting herself in to witness my shame.
“What happened to you?” Rebecca, the headmistress, asks.
She told me long ago that I had to use only her first name. In fact, I don’t even know her last name. She is just Rebecca, and that’s how she likes it.
“I became real friendly with Nemean Lion’s claws.” I shrug and wince, earning me a disapproving frown from the healer.
“Nemean Lion. That was the beast that got in the wards?” She practically shrieks her words.
“Yes, and it was after me in particular, so I’m lucky this is all that happened.” I roll my eyes at the woman.
Does she not realize what’s been going on here? The wards are clearly failing and there are students missing. How else would the ancient asshole get on campus?
“She needs to be healed now,” Rebecca tells the healer before storming from the tiny cubicle.
“What does she think I’m doing?” the old man mutters under his breath, and I giggle.
With the shirt cut away from the claw marks, the healer hovers his hands over the wound. A pulsing green light glows from his hands, and the skin starts knitting itself back together.
