Chapter 7: Survive

Messy strawberry blonde hair stares back at me.

“Oh! Hi, Lucus.”

“Hey.”

He brushes his hair out of his blue eyes.

“Did you need anything?” I question.

“Have you seen a rogue broomstick around? I have Flying classes right now and mine just went haywire for some reason.”

“Ah, sorry to disappoint but n-”

I catch sight of a blue stick racing by.

“Actually I have.”

He salutes me and races off, but for some reason, I follow him. We chase the broomstick through the halls, blatantly ignoring the signs shouting ‘No running in the halls!’ We tear around the cafeteria and onto the oval. It has just been watered, so the lush grass is slippery underneath our feet. There are few trees, but many students mill about, playing ball or casting spells. Something else zooms by, whizzing past my ear. A broomstick, with its owner holding on for dear life.

I look at Lucus.

“At least you’re not the only one with a rampaging broomstick?”

Above us on a floating platform for observations, I spot Clary. She’s waving to us! I wave back, but she keeps flailing her arms around. Evernly appears next to her and shouts.

“Look out!”

A yellow broomstick bashes into Lucus, sending him soaring through the air. I whip out my wand and mutter a quick spell, slowing his fall by seconds. There’s no sickening crack, thank goodness, but he doesn’t look so good. Clary and Evernly rush down as I get him up to his feet.

“You okay?”

He groans and clutches his side.

“I would like to say fine, but to be honest, I’m not at all.”

I let him hook his arm around mine as he limps. His hair smells faintly of strawberry when he glances down at his arm. Clary fusses as we walk, constantly asking if he’s okay. Evernly just frowns, but she still comes with us. When we near the Health Center, they break off. Evernly throws me a wink, and Clary smiles encouragingly. Very weird. Brushing it off, Lucus and I continue to trudge towards the center. I ring the bell on the counter and we wait for Mary.

“Thanks for helping me.”

I smile, “no problem, happy to help a friend.”

“So, we’re friends now?” he cocks his head.

“We better be. I just walked a mile with you.”

We sit in silence before a frazzled Mary appears.

“Don’t tell me it’s another bro-”

I interrupt, “A broomstick banged into him.”

She sighs.

“Right this way, please.”

The room she leads us to is crowded with so many people, bandages on their heads, legs, and arms.

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“It’s been chaos, all the broomsticks are going wild! They’ve never done that before…”

She trails off and points Lucus to the only free bed. At that moment, the bell rings once more, the sound echoing in the light yellow walls.

“Hey, Mary? I can help Lucus, it’s fine. I’ve had some practice with bandages already.”

She nods gratefully and darts off.

I grab the roll of bandages on the white bedside table and stare at it.

“Oh, yeah, Lucus? Just a heads up, I was lying before. I’ve never done this. But, how hard can it be?”

I examine him, my eyes sweeping over his body to identify where he hurt himself. It lands on his side, where he’s clutching it.

“Is there a wound there?”

I point to where his hands are tightly clasped. He lets go slowly, but there’s no blood. Broken bones then.

“Okay! Here we go.”

I get up and close the cotton curtains surrounding the bed, to give him some more privacy.

“Take off your shirt please.”

While he complies, I distract myself by unrolling the bandages. I try not to stare and get to work, wrapping it around.

“Is it tight?”

He shakes his head. When I’m finished, I step back. It’s a bit loose in some areas and not very even, but it gets the job done. Mary peeks in and nods, satisfied. She tells Lucus he can stay here, but he politely refuses and says that Siren can handle him. He stands up wobbly and I guide him over to the door. Siren’s already there waiting. His lean body in a worried stance. He peers at Lucus with his sea-green eyes and winces.

“Yeah, tell me that looks worse than it feels.”

Lucus laughs, “You can’t even see it!”

“Doesn’t mean I still can’t be worried.” he turns to me and smiles, “thanks so much for taking care of baby Lucus. I’ll have to hire you again.”

I do a bow like the one Lucus did when we first met.

“Next time, I’ll be charging.”

“It better go to Lucus’ account.”

We wave goodbye and for a moment I have no idea what to do. I stand there, gazing out at the woods behind the Health Center, and think about what I saw there last time, among the rainbow leaves. Red eyes, like the two dots that flanked the messenger and Violet’s corpse. A possibility dawns on me. Of course! The shadow hound could have attacked them in search of me. But, that doesn’t sit quite right. The attacks happened right after the dreams. However, that’s only when I heard about them. I sigh and head back to my dorm. Checking to see if there’s anyone around, I shut the door and lock it. I try not to make a sound as I climb up the ladder. I squeeze my eyes closed as I heave the mattress up, my legs dangerously perched on one of the rungs. The journal is still there, safe, tucked in its little corner of the world. I twist my arms so they can reach it, one knee supporting the weight of my bed. I quickly lower it before I come toppling down like Humpty Dumpty. Placing the book down, I chant the chant Mr. Quet taught me and cross my fingers when I complete it. I take a few breaths and open the journal. A wave of disappointment hits as blank pages lay in front of me. I keep staring and wonder if I did something wrong, or if this was a prank. Devastated, I smooth the pages down and begin to turn the cover, when I notice something. Ink spreads across the pages, entry after entry writing itself, as if a ghost is right here. I jump back and the pages flip, words smattering themselves on the paper, and sketches fill in the blanks. Once the commotion is over, I curiously peek at the first entry.

Dear Diary,

It’s happened again. I didn’t want to have to record this, but with no one else to talk to, I have to have some way of spilling this all out. I’ll wire this journal so that the wrong hands won’t ever touch it. All right, here goes. It started a few weeks ago. It was my second month at Mistball Academy, and everything seemed normal. Witches were chatting, studying, and playing. Faeries were fluttering about and the mermaids happily enjoyed their stay in our luxurious pool. That seems like forever ago now. Back then, Anna Rochelle Night was still my friend. She was nothing like her sister, Amara who was selfish and cruel. Amara even wanted her grandchildren and children to be named after her! Anna was beautiful and kind-hearted, which I think Amara was jealous of. When I was off to my class with Anna we heard sounds that no one else heard. Foolishly, we tracked it, curious to what was going on. We were led into a room we hadn’t even seen before. What was inside, I don’t even want to write down. The creatures snarled at us and spoke in a whispering language directed at me. They were trapped inside some sort of device and when we neared, it would zap us to the door. They lunged and They rasped, but They could never get any closer either. Anna wasn’t scared. She was not that type of girl. Instead, she grew more and more intrigued, while I just wanted to leave. When I finally talked sense into her, I wanted to believe that was the end of that. How stupid I’d been. I should have known that Anna would never leave it alone. She wanted the world to be a better place, one where witches and magic were respected. She was convinced that the creatures would play a key part. She stopped hanging out with me. She stopped hanging out with all of us. Instead, she snuck off to only a place that she and I knew about. The dungeons where They were being kept. She studied them and eventually learned their language. They became her new best friends. Anna would sit staring and communicating with them for hours, and she came to believe they were good. So, she set them free.