Page 97 of The Warrior
“I’m coming.” I was just about to hang up when I realized what he had just said. “Wait, Archer, did you just say that Laura is there?”
“Yes, she arrived with Finn last night.”
I looked at Khan. “Did you know that Finn and Laura were back?”
“No.” He frowned. “Maybe I should leave my desk more often.”
Returning my attention to Archer, I said, “Tell Mila that I am on my way.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Khan offered.
I threw my answer over my shoulder. “You go deal with the traitors while I take care of this.”
“Okay, but call me with an update. Pearl and I will check in later.”
The flight to the school from the Gray Mansion took fifteen minutes on a normal day. Today I was there in ten minutes, including the time it took to sprint from the hybrid to the school building.
Finn waited in the doorway. Holding up both his palms, he gestured for me to slow down. “Easy, Magni, you look like you’re ready to murder someone.”
“Where is she?”
He pointed. “In there with Laura.”
“Archer said she broke her leg and her wrist.”
Finn nodded. “I already applied bone accelerator; it’s the concussion that worries me.”
“How bad is it?”
“Bad enough that I want her under observation for the next twenty-four hours. Laura volunteered to care for Mila.”
“Magni.” The sound of Mila’s voice from the other side of the door pulled me closer. Opening the door to one of the teachers’ rooms, I saw Mila lying pale on a bed, with Laura sitting next to her on a chair.
It was suddenly hard to breathe. When Mila reached out her hand for me, my legs carried me forward and I kneeled down next to her, kissing the back of her small hand.
“You’re not mad at me, are you?” she whispered.
“No. I just don’t like to see you like this. What were you thinking going up on the roof?”
“I needed a place to hide, and Plato said that they would never find us on the roof.”
“Plato told you to climb the roof?”
Mila looked sad. “Don’t be mad at him. He does it all the time.”
“I don’t care if he does it all the time, it’s too dangerous.”
“That’s what I said, but he told me nothing would happen.”
“He’s a fool. Why would you listen to him?”
Mila’s eyes teared up. “I didn’t want to, but then I remembered what you told me.”
“What did I tell you?”
“You said that boys were born to lead and take charge. That’s why I followed him.”
I lifted my hand and let it fall to my thigh with a deep sigh. The universe was no doubt trying to prove a point to me. My mother’s naïveté and lack of critical thinking had shocked me. But maybe it shouldn’t have. If she had been told over and over that men were better decision-makers than women, it was no wonder that she had developed a dependency on Zobel.
