Fin sighed in disapproval.
“Asher’s an ass. Lemme see your foot.” Stooping down, he pulled her shin, lifting her foot as if he were shoeing a horse. Balanced on one leg, Hailey looked back at him then to the center of the room where Asher had been sitting. He’d left, thankfully.
Fin peeled her sock back and scrunched his face. “You need to go to the hospital,” he told her. “This looks really bad.”
“It’s just a cut,” she said, able to speak now that Asher was gone.
“It’s not just a cut,” Fin scolded, giving her back her foot. “And where are your shoes, Hailey? You can’t tramp around Bear Towne in your stocking feet.”
“My shoes are gone,” she told him, her voice wavering horribly. “My books are gone. My clothes are gone…”
Fin hugged her tight. “Go get your foot fixed, knucklehead.”
She rested her head against his chest. “Thanks,” she breathed.
When he let her go, he tilted her chin up and gave her an encouraging smile. Then he headed back to his lab group, who behaved more like groupies than students. They smiled and swooned and watched every move Fin made. As did Hailey.
“By the way,” he called over his shoulder as he bounded down the stairs, “you look good in my jersey.”
Chapter twenty-five
The Splinter
“Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
Hailey had no intention of going to the hospital, partly because it was just a cut and only needed a Band– Aid; partly because she didn’t want to contract flesh-eating Zombitis; but mostly because Asher had ordered her to go there, and she had no intention of doing anything he said.
So, instead of heading directly to the hospital like a good little Envoy’s possession, she headed to room 210 for her next class in weights and measurements, walking stubbornly on her heel so she didn’t leave bloody footprints in her wake.
Room 210 had a wall of windows, and she found a seat next to one of them, watching as the scenery swayed with the wind. Olde Main leaned and tilted under her feet, but something about the in-between made it feel as if it weren’t moving at all…most of the time. Every now and then a piece of chalk would slide off the tray under the board at the front of the room. For the entire class, Hailey watched the chalk slide back and forth, trying and failing to will the throbbing pain out of her foot. In fact, the only thing she succeeded in doing was missing the lecture as the ache spread to her ankle.
Hopping into her third class of the day several minutes early, she was delighted to see the un-friendliest face she knew. She limped directly over to Giselle and collapsed in the chair next to her.
“You look like hell,” Giselle said, her hands folded on the table they shared. “Where’re your shoes?”
Hailey shook her head, feeling too sluggish to answer, and Giselle stared at Fin’s jersey.
“Tell me you didnotspend the night with Pádraig.” She grabbed Hailey’s shoulder. “I told you, he’s an asshole.”
“I didn’t,” she almost yelled. Then she rolled her eyes. “I got locked out of our room, locked out of the laundry room, and a poltergeist stole all my clothes and all my books and my boots.” Hailey huffed loudly. “Plus, I think Asher’s peeved at me, and nothing is going right today.”
Giselle’s jaw fell open in jagged-toothed disbelief. “You didnotsee Asher wearing those clothes.” Her head pulsated; her nostrils flared. She grabbed a fistful of Fin’s jersey. “He thinks you woke up with Pádraig, you idiot. Why else would you be wearing his clothes—his JERSEY.” She flung the jersey away. “You better go explain this to him like five minutes ago. I’m surprised he hasn’t had you removed already—or worse.”
Hailey dropped her head into her hands and moaned.Of course! That’s why he didn’t want to look at her.
“Ouch!” Hailey yelped unintentionally. It was like a hot knife pushed through her foot.
“Are you hurt?” Giselle asked incredulously.
“I—no—it’s just a scratch,” Hailey breathed, shifting her foot to hide her bloody sock.
“Let me see that.” She bent down and snatched Hailey’s foot up, ripping the sock off, and pulling the wound open.
“Ahhhh!” Hailey yelled.
“Shut up.” Dropping Hailey’s foot on the desk, Giselle ran to the corner of the room, grabbed an Indispensable first aid kit, and returned looking like a woman on a mission.
“You have a carnivorous splinter,” she said as she pulled a lighter and a large pair of tweezers from the kit. “You have to get it out before it takes root around your bone, or else you’ll lose your entire leg.”
