away.
Chapter 18
Pounding on the door woke me several times. It was Mack’s voice that finally roused me. Touching the concrete floor, I mentally disarmed the wards and unlocked the door, pulling it open just a bit. The yelling stopped and after a moment, Mack cautiously stuck his head around the door.
“Is it safe to come in?”
I beckoned him in.
“Dude, I came back from class to find Velasquez freaking out. You disappeared from the doctor’s office and then they couldn’t open your door. Miss Berg couldn’t break your spells or whatever, and you didn’t answer to their knocking.”
I shrugged. He suddenly looked behind him, then moved further into the room in a manner that told me someone was behind him.
Gina Velasquez peered into the room, looking around until she saw me, then she started to come in. I scrambled to get somewhat upright, sucking air at the pain. I wasn’t going to listen to another adult and my left hand rested on the electric outlet next to the bed, ready if need be.
She took in my expression and froze in place. “Hey, Declan. Just wanted to make sure you’re all right. Doctor Rosewell panicked a bit when you vanished but when we couldn’t unlock your door, I figured you were holed up in here. You okay?”
I gave her a short nod, waiting to see what she was going to do. There was no way I was letting any more faculty do absolutely anything to me.
Her dark eyes were very sharp as she watched me, and it took her almost no time at all to come to some kind of decision.
“Okay, so we’ll let you alone. I told the doctor that you probably didn’t feel safe in her office and just wanted your own room. Tell you what. Just have Mack here ask for anything you need and we’ll see that he gets it for you, okay?”
I nodded again and after one more look around and a final glance at me, she retreated, closing the door behind her. Voices rose in the hallway, hers predominant among them. After a few garbled exchanges, the voices faded and the hall was quiet.
“Dude, you look like hell. Are you hurting?” Mack asked.
Was I? The healing charm on my ribs had reduced the pain of breathing to a dull, steady ache. Flexing my jaw at all was instantly painful and every joint and muscle felt awful. I held one hand out, palm down, and waggled it back and forth.
“Want some Motrin or something?”
Aunt Ash had powdered willow bark in my little herb kit, but frankly, I think good old ibuprofen beats the piss out of willow every time. I nodded and he grabbed a bottle from his bath stuff. Pouring two pills into his hand, he looked at me again and added a third. Glancing around for a drink, he was at a loss until I hefted the remainder of the purloined chocolate milk and showed him I was all set. There was just enough milk left to wash the pills down after I poked them between the tiny gap I could open in my teeth. I floated the empty jug to the wastebasket and dropped it in.
“Wait, how are you doing magic if you’re still wearing those bracelet thingies?” he asked.
I pulled a pad of paper from the little stand near my bed and wrote out my answer: I broke them.
“You broke Jenks’s super-duper anti-witch bracelets?” he asked.
I nodded, looking at the little ink-drawn runes on my wrists.
“So, dude… you got a plan to fix that fuck stick Delwit? Cause I really, really hope you do,” he said. “Thought my sister was gonna stick him with a silver blade right there in the classroom. Anyway, count us in.”
I was still staring at the runes and thinking rapid thoughts. Looking up at him, I nodded then wrote on the pad. I think so. Gotta work out the details.
“Cool. What can I do to help?”
I thought about that for a moment. My stomach rumbled and we both heard it. Gonna need food I can eat through a straw. Protein shake or something?
“Yeah, the doctor mentioned something about having the kitchen whip up some kind of nutritious drink for you. Oh, and soups. How about something fancy? You like lobster, right?”
I nodded.
“Good, I’ll tell them you need lobster bisque. Might as well work the shit out of this whole clusterfuck,” he said.
There was a knock at the door and when Mack asked who it was, his sister answered.