This right here, this kind of full-body contact, was something I didn’t think I’d ever get used to. It was great to not have a spike of fear rush through me at close contact with another person, to feel normal in all the ways a teenage girl should—any person should.
I tilted my chin up just as he looked down at my lips and then leaned forward to capture my mouth. Our lips met in a slow, tantalizing kiss that sent waves of pleasure throughout my body. There was that magnetic pull between us, as if fate was trying to bring us even closer together. His hands gripped the back of my neck, tongue softly stroking mine, and a heady rush of happiness flooded through me. But it was quickly chased away, dampened by the black cloud that felt like it was following me. It was as if I was feeling emotions at 50 percent, somehow diminished.
He pulled back, and I gave him a sheepish smile as he grabbed the sides of my cheeks gently. “We should get to class, or I’ll never want to leave.”
I was breathless. I wanted to tell him we should ditch class and make out in here all day, but I knew his teachers and friends were eager to see him after so long. And I didn’t fully feel myself today, if I was being honest.
With that, we walked to class together, only for me to realize that I was no longer a healer. Master Clarke was waiting for me outside Pyrotechnics class with a copy of my old schedule. The only addition was that once a week after class, I had brigade weight training with everyone else who had been invited. My tutoring had also been dropped down to once a week, as my reading had improved tremendously.
“I’m proud of you,” Master Clarke said, squeezing my shoulder before he left.
His words were sweet and should have made me feel good, but again I couldn’t shake the melancholy that clung to me, pulling me into a sort of numb sadness.
‘You okay?’Yanric asked.
‘I’m fine. I just need better sleep. Meet me at lunch?’
He flew off, and I slipped into class just as the bell rang.
The rest of the day flew by quickly. Ariyon sat with me at lunch, holding hands, stroking my cheek, running his fingers through my hair. He touched me every chance he got, and I felt so seen, so loved, so normal. He asked me a couple times if I was feeling okay. I think it was obvious that I was off, but I told him and Eden I hadn’t slept well.
Now I was on my way to Avis’s with Hayes. We were going to have a meeting before my shift about the “ice cream” shop on the West Side that would double as a second student healing clinic for The Academy.
When we stepped inside the apothecary shop, Mable was there. Avis greeted us with a smile, but when she looked at me, her face fell. “Feeling okay today, Fallon?”
My stomach tied into knots. She knew. She could see energy, so of course she would know I was feeling off.
I shrugged. “Barely slept. It’s been a wild few days.”
Mable frowned. “Understandable, dear.”
We moved on from that, but Avis was still sneaking wary glances at me, which was making me nervous.
Avis hung up the Closed sign, and we all went into the kitchen in her house to sit around the dining table for our meeting.
“As you have noticed, I have invited Mable to our little project.” Avis smiled at Eden’s mom.
Mable beamed back at her.
“No offense, but why? She’s not a healer,” Hayes asked.
Avis nodded. “Because she just donated her parents’ house on the West Side to be the location of our ice cream apothecary shop.”
I gasped. “Mable, that’s so kind of you.”
Mable offered a small smile. “Eden will have to live with me forever now.”
We all chuckled at that and then got into logistics. Mable knew a vendor who supplied the Hummingbird Inn with treats and who could make our ice cream. Word around town would spread that if you bought ice cream, you would get a healing or tincture for free.
“You think the queen will shut us down if she finds out what we are really doing?” Hayes asked.
Avis took a sip of her tea and then pursed her lips. “I hope not. It’s a by-the-book way to offer healing to those who need it most.”
“Or she could just change the law,” I growled.
Everyone looked at me, and Avis cleared her throat. “We will deal with any roadblocks to this special project as they come up.”
The rest of the meeting went well. We decided to be open three days a week to start. We’d all take shifts to help meet the need, and we could start going in next week and setting up shelving and stocking the store. I was no longer able to do hands-on healings, but I’d worked at Avis’s long enough to know what tinctures would help people for certain ailments. It was exciting, a passion project close to my heart, and yet when the meeting came to an end, I couldn’t find myself feeling happy about it. I just felt…blah.
