“It’s fine, Martha. I’m at school, but anytime, I told you. What happened?”
A better lab partner would step out, give him some privacy.
But I’m drawn closer to him, especially when his eyes stop moving and go glassy.
“Is she conscious?” he asks, and his voice cracks.
Martha responds.
“Yeah,” he says quickly. “I’m on my way.”
He hangs up, staring down at his phone again in a stupor.
Then he’s in action, grabbing his jacket off his chair. It gets caught on the leg and makes the chair roll toward him, but Elethior’s looking at his phone, typing with one hand, unaware that the sleeve is tangled; he’s shaking, I don’t know how he can even read whatever he’s writing on his phone.
“Elethior—”
“I have to leave. I have to—gods damn it.” He yanks his jacket and the chair slams into his knees with an audible crack.
Elethior buckles and curses but tries to free his jacket again. It’s still stuck, and he lets out a frustrated, heartbreaking cry.
I’m in front of him. My hands are on his upper arms. “Elethior. Stop. Look at me. What do you need?”
He hears me. Enough to meet my eyes, and I see him catch his breath.
“My mom,” he whispers. “She’s at a care facility. That was one of her nurses. She’s—” The muscles in his brow jolt. “She had a seizure. I don’t—I have to go.”
He tries to step around me, but I don’t let up my hold on him.
“Elethior,stop. Okay, you need to get to her facility. How are you getting there?”
He grunts in connection and looks back down at his phone. “That’s what I was doing. My car. My driver—I was texting my driver. Shit.” He mutters the last word to himself and tries to text again, his hand less shaky now.
I disentangle his coat from the chair and pass it to him before grabbing my own.
He frowns at me, at my coat.
“Making sure you get to your car. Where’s he meeting you?”
Elethior puts on his coat, his glassy eyes flicking agitatedly, like there’s something he’s trying to find. “Um, behind the building. He’ll be there in five. I need—”
“What else? You’ve got your phone, your wallet?”
He nods and spots the whiteboard. “We’re supposed to be working.”
“For fuck’s sake, Elethior.” I hook his arm and haul him toward the door.
He goes without a fight.
I drag him from the lab and through Bellanor Hall until we topple out in the rear parking lot. There are a few potholes from the dagger hail, and construction crews are hard at work on them. The sky is clear and bright blue, a jarring, too-cheery backdrop for the way Elethior’s still pale.
A car pulls up. He stares at it, not making a move to get in.
“This your car?” I ask.
He winces and seems to now realize we’re outside.
“Yeah.” He’s holding his phone in one hand and flexing the fingers of his other.
