I hurried to Charlie. “Pidge, you all right?” he asked, interlacing his arm with mine.
“I’m a mess. My hair is ruined,” I said miserably as I pulled jelly out of my locks.
Charlie hauled me out of the cafeteria. I had to yank him out of the way of a couple of plates that were still flying. He took me to the nearest men’s room, and Oberi’s hooves clipped behind us. A couple of guys washing their hands looked up.
“Get the hell out,” Charlie growled. Everyone immediately vacated the area, throwing nervous glances at Charlie as they left. Charlie leaned against the wall with his arms crossed while I worked on getting the mess out of my hair.
“Why is it every time I leave you alone, you get into trouble?” he asked.
“Because I get my kicks by putting assholes in their place,” I replied. “And I honestly don’t know when to keep my big mouth shut.”
Oberi reached out and licked some of the food out of my hair. I’m sure she thought she was helping, but unicorn slobber wasn’t exactly the shampoo I was looking for.
“Mad Dog has it out for you. He wants to get to me, but he’s too afraid to go after me himself, so he’s going to target you,” Charlie pointed out.
“He was threatening Opal, and Ez stepped in. He can’t do magic well, and he’s not going to knock out a vamp. I’d like my brother not to end up in pieces, thank you.”
“Ez is another one who needs to learn to control his temper.”
“Our family has a talent of not being able to mind our own business,” I said. “The saying goesto see something, say something, but the Mitoh family is more like,see something, kick ass.”
Charlie made a noncommittal, annoyed sound.
I turned toward him, and my heart dropped. “Charlie, you look awful.”
He’d had a fight last night. A fresh set of bruises amassed his face. It was really hard for me to believe this was good for him, as he so insisted.
“Yeah, but I won again,” he said. “I was up against another Elementai, so it was pretty fair.”
I’d seen a guy from our dorms shuffling around this morning, looking like death warmed over. Charlie had really done a number on him. I really was convinced the guards were exploiting these people.
“I finally got permission from Captain to bring you to one of the fights. It’s in a couple weeks.” Charlie’s voice was mixed with excitement. “Are you gonna be there?”
I’d promised him I’d show up. “Of course I’ll be there. I want to support you.”
“Awesome, pidge.” Charlie puffed his chest out. “It’s really gonna get your blood pumping, I just know it.”
Yeah, once I have a heart attack when I see some vampire pummel you, I thought, but I said nothing. Oberi nickered, like she could read my thoughts.
I gave up trying to get the stuff out of my hair. “I’m gonna have to change and get a shower. This is hopeless.”
“We should probably get back to the Elementai dorms anyway, just in case Mad Dog starts looking for us,” Charlie said.
His tone held no fear, but I knew he was thinking about repercussions. The guards would look the other way when it came to him, but not if he started two fights in one day.
As we walked, I asked, “How’s working down in the mines?”
“I’m fine. But I assume you’re asking about Ez, not me.”
“How is he, really? Ivy made it sound like it was bad.”
“He almost passed out from the mine fumes yesterday,” Charlie said quietly. “He’s not doing good down there, pidge.”
My stomach churned. “He’s gotta get out of there.”
“I can use some of my sway with the guards to get him working outside the mines instead of in them. They always need guys to load noxite onto carts once it comes out of the mines. He does that, he’ll still be doing a lot of lifting, but at least he won’t be inhaling all the fumes.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Charlie.”
