‘Wait? Does this—’
‘Shut up and pass on the fucking message. Oh, and have him send food.’I turn around and march back to my empty bed, stopping by the blanket warmer and grabbing a few blankets on my way. I should have asked for a change of clothes too, but I was more concerned about letting everyone know what happened to Knox than worrying about myself.
Twenty minutes later, I’m about to greet the sarcastic Door Knight from hell once again when I hear a commotion coming from the outer hall.
“I think she’s this way, JP,” Moni says as she zips into the room. As the room fills up, it takes me a moment to realize everyone is here, even the ones I didn’t want to see. Well, the only one that is missing is Zeke, but that’s probably for the best.
JP rushes over and sits on the bed next to me, wrapping me in his arms. “Are you okay, ma chérie? Knots ran into the living room spouting off that you were at the medical wing and we needed to get here ASAP, and bring food. Which I thought was an odd request, but I grabbed what was already prepared,” he explains and motions to Ryker who’s holding a plate of turkey sandwiches.
My stomach takes that opportunity to let itself be known, and Ryker hands over the plate with a smile. Reaching for it, the room lets out a collective gasp as they take in my hands and arms.
Oh yeah. I probably should clean up.
“Holy Flaming Poop Balls. Did you murder someone?” Moni asks right before she drops to the floor with a thud.
I really think she needs to get checked out.
“What happened?” Ryker asks, reaching for me but thinking better of it at the last minute. Levi picks up Moni and places her on the end of the bed before conjuring a seat to sit on.
“It’s not my blood. I didn’t really have a chance to clean them off when I got here. Dr. Steinbeck was a little busy and told me to come in here and wait. There’s nothing here to clean up with,” I shrug.
“Here, I can help.” Ryker sets down the plate of sandwiches and leads me to a cabinet where he pulls out cans of stuff. He doesn’t rush, instead taking his time to explain how to use it to disinfect my cuts and to help heal the bruises. “We’ll be right on the other side of the curtain. And you can explain what happened while you clean up, okay?”
With the curtain pulled between us, I give myself a little shake, ignoring any feeling I might have that most of the guys are here. I haven’t forgiven them, but they’re not really here for me. They’re here for Knox and they should know what happened. “Knox and I were attacked, and we were shooting across the sky like rockets in a warzone. Black lightning came whipping around and I couldn’t tell what was up or down. Then I—I—We started tumbling—” I’m cut off by my jumble of words, flustered by everything that’s happening.
“Woah there, princess,” Ryker says, reaching back around the curtain for my arm that I’m waving around like a mad woman.
“Calm down and just breathe. How about you start from the beginning from when you left your dorm room, okay?” he coaches and gives me a reassuring smile.
Giving him my thanks, I follow his instructions and take in a deep breath before starting from the beginning. I tell them about the weird girl, Desar, at lunch and how she explained my dreams were actually more. How Taffy gave me free rein of the menagerie, and I might have gone on and on about the baby animals and how much fun they were to take care of. When I get to Knox, I skip over our naming process because that seems personal, and I’m not ready to share that yet. By the time I get to us flying and the warzone we found ourselves in, I’m shoving the last of the sandwiches into my mouth.
“The scariest part was not being able to get a hold of everyone. I’m just lucky Anwen was around to put Knox in stasis at the time.”
“Oh, there’s an explanation for the loss of communication,” JP’s facial expression falls as he answers. His shoulders curl in as he looks up into my eyes. “During the festival there was an attack by the Rebels. We’re not sure what the objective was, but they were able to knock down the communication tower in Nova. That would explain why you couldn’t get a hold of us, but you could reach Dr. Steinbeck, since he was here at school. The two systems work flawlessly together, but they switch back and forth between Nova and the school.”
“Was anyone hurt?” I ask, looking around at them briefly. My heart aches when I glance over at Levi and see him sitting ramrod straight in another suit, but I hold in my emotions. This isnotthe place to break down, but apparently me looking in his direction gives him the green light to talk.
“They are still assessing the damage, but once we realized we were just in the way and that our phones no longer worked, we reconvened back at your dorm. We were only there for a few moments when Knots ran into the room. Which was interesting, because I didn’t know who he was or that he was free from his door.”
“And I didn’t know you got that stick out of your ass already,” I spout back. I mean, I’m grateful for the information, but I don’t need his patronizing tone about Knots. What I do with Knots is my business. “Where in the student hand guide does it state thatyouneeded to know that my Door Knight is free of his confines and what he does in my bedroom?”
Levi’s look of shock makes me bite my inner cheek to keep the smug smile from gracing my lips. I must admit, I love throwing him off of his high horse.
“Can we go back to the fact that the witch has information about Lynx?” Moni chirps.
“They were talking about my dreams and communication and stuff. Nothing about Lynx,” I admit.
“Who else would you be mourning?” Moni questions.
That’s the common sense that I apparently needed. She’s right. How did I not connect that on my own? This is the break we’ve been looking for. If they can see Lynx clinging to my dreams somehow and they said they can strengthen the connection, then what am I waiting for? Maybe they can help me find him.
Without a second thought, I send out a quick text asking when we can get together and work on the connection they were talking about. I’m putting away my phone right when Dr. Steinbeck walks in.
Before I can jump up and harass him about Knox, he beats me to it.
“Before you ask, Knox is okay. He’s actually doing very well. He’s taking a shower and he’ll be ready to go home in time for dinner. But I wanted to advise you that what he was hit with was blood magic.” The room goes silent as his words sink in. I’ve heard of blood magic and know it’s forbidden, but I don’t know why.
“Um...” I start chewing on my lower lip. “I know I’m the odd ball out, but what is blood magic and why is it forbidden in the first place?” Ryker gives me a are-you-kidding-me look and I give it right back. “What?” I point at myself. “Raised human, remember?”
