Don’t pressure me, he shot back.
The nurse will be back any moment. Hurry up.
I’ve got the stamp. I’m just looking for… aha!
Oberi didn’t say anything else. Several beats passed before I heard the nurse snap, “And just what do you thinkyou’redoing!?”
My heart lurched.Oberi!
A second later, he was at my side, panting.It wasn’t me!
The nurse exploded. “You think you can steal needles from my station! I’m reporting you to the Warden!”
“I— I— didn’t,” some idiot ahead of me stammered. He’d been trying to steal syringes in order to do drugs. What a moron.
“I just saw you!” the nurse snapped. “I caught you red-handed. Guards!”
Several guards hurried over and hauled the guy away, while the nurse shuffled papers back into her clipboard loudly.
Oberi shoved something that felt like paper into my hand. It was wet with slobber, but I grabbed it tightly.
Put this on your middle finger,Oberi instructed.
I realized it was a bandage. I worked as quickly and discreetly as I could, peeling back the layers and shoving them in my pocket, then wrapping it around the end of my finger. My shoulders relaxed the second it was done.
Oberi nudged me.You’re up.
I felt for the edge of the chair and sat, giving an annoyed breath.
“Name?” the nurse asked.
“Charlie Wahkin,” I told her. “But I don’t get why I have to get my finger prickedagain.”
“What do you meanagain?” she asked skeptically.
“I already got tested this morning,” I lied, holding up my hand to show her the bandage. “What, was one negative test not good enough for you people? I’m an Elementai with Air magic. I don’t know how many tests I have to take to prove that.”
Just to drive my point home, I moved my hand through the air and sent a soft breeze through her hair.
“Hmph,” she huffed, sounding displeased. “I don’t know why they called you down here again… huh, that’s weird.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What’s that?”
“Your test results are in myincompletefile,” she said, sounding confused. “I don’t know how that got there, since your results have already been recorded. No wonder they called you down here.”
“Great,” I groaned. “Of all the mix-ups there could be,I’mthe one whose paperwork gets put in the wrong pile. To think if it got lost and I had to do this all over again. It’s bullshit.”
“It’s a waste of my time and resources is what it is,” she said impatiently. “Either way, it’s sorted now. You can get back to class.”
Thank the ancestors,I thought.
I scrambled out of the chair and into the hall faster than I’d ever moved before. As soon as Oberi and I were outside the infirmary, I breathed a sigh of relief.
That was lucky,Oberi remarked.
No shit,I agreed.
I put my hand on Oberi’s back, and he led me away from the infirmary. It wasn’t until we’d turned several corners that I realized I didn’t know where we were going.
