Page 8 of Bonds of Magic
I shrugged and immediately regretted it. Even lying down, the motion still felt terrible.
She handed me a glass vial filled with something orange and viscous. “Drink that.”
I gave it an experimental sniff, but smelled nothing.
“It’s not poison,” she said with a wry expression.
I wanted to explain that I knew it wasn’t, but that seemed like too much effort. So I brought it to my lips and took a sip. I gasped when the liquid hit my tongue. It tasted like citrus. Like honey. Like a dawn morning in May when the lilacs were blooming.
I didn’t know how something could taste like morning, like the instant the sun first brushed your cheeks, and you stretched your arms out to greet the new day, but it did.
She smiled at my surprise. “Drink it all.”
I did, and was amazed at how quickly I began to feel better. Not emotionally, but physically. Like I’d had a week of rest, instead of a night. I looked at her, eyes wide, and she chuckled.
“I’d say that helped, yes?”
“Yeah.” I pushed myself up into a seated position, my back against the headboard. “Yeah, it did.”
“Good.” Her eyes gave me the once over. “I won’t say you’re perfect, but you look a sight better than you did last night. I’d still prefer you to take the day off, but the dean says you can’t afford to miss any classes. Come by the infirmary at the end of the day, though, so I can give you a top up. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said, my heart sinking. Classes. I hadn’t even thought about them. But if the dean didn’t want me missing any, that meant I’d be thrown right back in with everyone—including my friends, who would know it was my fault that Erika was gone.
“I’m sure Dean Mansur will check on you as well,” Cinda said, taking the vial from my hand and putting it in a knit bag that she slung over one shoulder. “He was quite worried about yourprognosis. He insisted on visiting you multiple times overnight.” She looked curious as she said that, as though this were strange behavior. “A little odd.”
“Is it?” I asked. How often did students get injured at Vesperwood? I wouldn’t know.
“I told him you would be fine, that none of your injuries were life-threatening.” A touch of asperity entered her tone. “You would think he would listen. I am an expert, after all. But perhaps he simply didn’t want to risk losing another student to this tragic accident.”
Tragic accident? Now I really wanted to know what story the dean had come up with.
I settled for another shrug. It hurt less this time, and Cinda seemed satisfied, because she left a moment later, leaving me alone and awake for the first time in what felt like ages.
The bell for breakfast pealed twice a few minutes later, but I slumped back down in bed. I didn’t want to see anyone right now. Didn’t want to answer questions. Didn’t want to have to talk at all, even if my throat did feel a lot better.
All I really wanted to do was turn and face the wall. Refuse to leave this bed until I crumbled to dust. Disappear, and make everyone else’s lives better for once.
Ash would probably try to make me feel better. And Felix would do his best not to look judgey, even if he was inside. I knew I shouldn’t have gone off alone last night. If the three of us had found Erika together, maybe we could have done something. Ash and Felix could actually control their powers. Maybe they could have helped.
But I’d insisted on leaving them behind, and now Erika was dead because of me.
I waited until everyone was at breakfast before getting up to go to the bathroom. I stared at my face in the mirror. The blood had been wiped clean, my nose had been set, and my black eyes had already faded to a yellow-ish green.
There was an angry red mark on my forehead where I’d gotten cut, and my lip was still swollen slightly, but otherwise, I looked remarkably intact. You couldn’t even see the finger marks on my neck anymore.
I sighed. I supposed it was for the best. If Dean Mansur didn’t want the truth getting out, he probably didn’t want me to look too banged up. But I felt like I was getting off too easy. I deserved to look like shit. My outsides should match my insides.
It took everything I had to drag myself to Spellwork II. I arrived early, before anyone else got there, and took my seat in the back. At least I wouldn’t have to file through a full room to get to my desk.
When the bell tolled again, three peals to announce that First Hour began in fifteen minutes, students began to trickle in. Some gave me odd looks, some didn’t seem to notice me at all. But everyone looked subdued.
And then Ash and Felix came in, trailed by Keelan and Min. Their eyes went right to me, and my heart sank. They’d noticed me missing at breakfast. They knew I was involved, somehow.
“Howareyou?” Ash hissed as he took his seat. “Are you okay? The dean said there was an—”
But before he could finish, Professor Kazansky walked in. She strode to the front of her desk and looked at all of us gravely. My stomach twisted.
“Good morning,” she said, her usually brisk tone quieter today. “By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard the dean’s message at breakfast this morning. Erika Martinez died from a fall last in the woods last night. She was found by another student, who stayed with her until faculty arrived. Efforts were made to revive her, but her death was sudden, and they were ultimately unsuccessful.”
