Stolen Night (22 page)

The door. The door was gone!

‘What happened?’ I grimaced as my arm throbbed. ‘Has it failed?’ I groaned in pain. Vicken opened the passenger door and I slid on to the seat.

We were soon out on the road but the bumps made my stomach churn.

‘Where’s the hospital?!’ Vicken yelled, panic rising in his voice.

‘Infirmary. Go to the infirmary at Wickham. I need to be near my room. The barrier spell,’ I yelled, not daring to touch my forearm. ‘If we called anyone with the spell, we
need to be in a safe place.’

My skin seared – I wanted to plunge it into ice. I leaned my forehead on the glass, hoping to cool the pain. We ripped around corners, but Vicken was driving fast and every time he turned
a corner it made my arm throb.

‘It’s best you don’t look at it, love,’ he said. ‘It’s not having its best moment.’

We turned a corner quickly and my shoulder hit the glass, sending pain down my arm.

‘This was your great idea!’ Vicken yelled. ‘Summoning Suleen. Using elemental magic to call him too. Who told you not to meddle? Fire, the element herself, told you not to
meddle. But no! Lenah Beaudonte won’t listen to the bloody Aeris!’

‘Can you keep your criticisms to yourself, please?’ I hissed, gripping my hands together even tighter to support my burnt wrist. I shouldn’t have looked but I did and my
stomach lurched. The skin had bubbled – a red raw blistering mess. Just when I thought I couldn’t take the movement any more, we pulled through the Wickham gates, waved through by the
security guard, who recognized us. It was busy for a Saturday morning. Even with the weekday students gone, dozens of people were out in the grounds, studying or relaxing. We screeched to a halt.
Vicken ran to the side of the car, opened the door and the pressure of his arm around my shoulder comforted me as he helped me to stand. Voices. Pain in my arm . . . so many voices.

Lenah!

Are you OK?

Someone get Justin!

In a messy shuffle, Vicken and I made it to the infirmary door. I was sure my legs would give out. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry. I hated pain. This pain was so intense that I was sure my
arm was going to be scarred for life.

Vicken threw the infirmary door open. We stumbled inside even though I could barely stand. A nurse popped up from behind her counter; she yelled for the doctor. I leaned on Vicken, grasping my
arm. I couldn’t help it; tears bit at my eyes. The burning of my arm and the waves of pain overtook me. I finally understood the human relief at seeing a doctor as a woman in a white coat ran
into the foyer and towards me.

I fell into the doctor’s arms and vomited on the floor.

‘How did you manage to do this?’ Nurse Warner asked about an hour later. Thick white gauze was wrapped around my arm from my wrist almost to my elbow.

‘I was cooking on a campfire,’ I replied. A blatant but necessary lie.

Why had the spell failed?
I wondered again.

‘Well, you were lucky, young lady,’ said the nurse. ‘An open flame can result in third-degree burns. These are bad second degree. From now on, eat at the union.’

‘Look at it this way . . .’ Vicken said as he leaned against the wall across from my bed. He had not left my side. ‘Now you’re in the club.’ He pointed to his eye,
which had almost healed, the skin now tinged just faintly yellow. Rhode’s battered face flickered through my mind.

‘Lenah?’ Justin’s voice reached me from around the corner. He burst into the room and came to the side of the bed. ‘What the hell happened to you?’ he asked.
‘You left this morning before I could—’

‘Only a few minutes, Justin . . .’ Nurse Warner said with a lift of her eyebrows. ‘We can’t have a zoo in here.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he replied. He took my good hand into his own and kissed my fingers.

‘This is making me sick,’ Vicken said, rolling his eyes.

Justin shot Vicken a murderous look just before the nurse walked out. ‘I’ll be right back with some pain meds, Lenah,’ she said.

Once she was gone, Justin asked, ‘Was it Odette?’

Vicken frowned but didn’t say anything.

‘Not Odette. Vicken and I attempted a summoning spell,’ I said.

‘Summoning?’

‘To call Suleen,’ I explained.

‘Guess it didn’t go too well, then?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, guess not, mate,’ Vicken said, pushing away from the wall. I slid off the bed, and when my feet touched the ground Vicken held the fingers of my burnt arm and Justin held my
other arm. I sighed, just wanting to lie down. Nurse Warner came back in, examining the label on the small brown bottle she held between her fingers.

‘Vicken, you should take Lenah back to her room,’ she said, and looked up. Her eyes travelled back and forth between Justin and Vicken. ‘Or Justin should. You guys figure it
out.’

‘Justin needs to hurry back to his lacrosse practice,’ Vicken said with a smirk.

‘Stop it,’ I hissed at him.

Nurse Warner handed the pill bottle to Vicken. ‘The instructions are on the bottle, Lenah. I suggest you follow them.’

‘How about I bring you some dinner tonight?’ Justin asked, letting go of me as Vicken led me to the door.

‘Great,’ I said. ‘That sounds perfect.’

As the three of us walked out of the treatment room, I kept glancing at the door of the infirmary, waiting for Rhode to walk through.

No, Lenah. This is how it’s supposed to be. Justin is here for you. Not Rhode.

‘You must keep this covered. Come back on Friday and we’ll unwrap it and see how the burn is doing,’ said Nurse Warner, following us through the door.

‘I’ll bring her,’ Justin said, glaring at Vicken.

They made me take a pain pill before leaving the infirmary. They said it would make me sleepy. Justin kissed me again before Vicken led me down the pathway towards Seeker.

Sleep would be good
, I thought as Vicken prattled on and on about how much he loathed Justin.

Sleep
, I thought again.

Sleep would keep me from wondering why Suleen had not come to save us. Sleep might lead to dreams that might explain why the spell had backfired. Why, after all this, Suleen had not come to save
Rhode.

‘Now, remember, when you shower you have to wrap that gauze, cover it with a plastic bag to keep it dry. Are you even listening to me?’ Vicken asked.

I lay back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling fan. Round and round it went. The blades. What happened to them? The spinning made them smear across the ceiling.

‘Who painted the ceiling?’ I asked in a daze.

Vicken looked up at the ceiling and then down at me. He raised an eyebrow.

‘Why didn’t he come? Why didn’t Suleen come to me?’ I asked. ‘Is it because Rhode doesn’t forgive me? Did I tell you that? He thinks after all my unspeakable
evil acts, my soul is black.’

‘He said this to you?’ Vicken asked.

‘No, not exactly.’ My eyelids kept slipping over my eyes, again and again.
My, they were heavy.

‘OK . . . time for you to sleep,’ said Vicken. ‘I think those painkillers are finally taking effect.’

‘I love sleeping,’ I replied dozily. ‘Do you think we’ll die? That Odette will kill us?’

‘Oh, good,’ Vicken said with a sigh. He pulled a blanket over me, tucking it around my body, a familiar gesture now. ‘Let’s discuss this now, or maybe we should wait till
you’re in your right mind.’

‘Right mind?’

‘I have to run,’ he said. ‘But I’ll come check on you later. Don’t perform any more spells.’

Spells
, I thought as I watched the ceiling fan again.
Spells that don’t work. Spells where I am hurt.
Slowly . . . I fell asleep.

I stand in the centre of the gymnasium, alone. It’s decorated with shining white stars and snowflakes covered in glittering sparkles. This is familiar. The room is
decorated just like at the winter ball last year. I look down and touch the silk of a long gown. I’m wearing my gown from the dance! Above me, the ceiling lights flash blue and red, over and
over, reflected on the floor. The DJ plays a slow song, but no one mans the booth. The music is loud here, vibrating on the empty wooden floor.

Where is everyone? I go to take a step but I pull my foot back – what is that? I almost stepped on something. A necklace? I look down and pick up a leather strap. Hanging on it is
Justin’s rune pendant. I look around. He wouldn’t have lost it so easily. Not after everything he told me. He has to have this back.

‘Justin!?’ I call out to the empty room, yelling and straining my voice over the music. ‘Justin!’ I yell again.

‘I always loved that dress,’ a familiar voice says.

I spin to face the gymnasium doorway.

Tony walks up to me dressed in a tux, looking exactly as he did at the winter prom. Alive and well.

‘The girls picked it out,’ I say, referring to my dress. Tony stands before me, his hands in his pockets. The familiar gauge earrings and sunny smile are just as the last time I
saw him.

‘I lost Justin. I can’t find him,’ I say, looking around the empty gymnasium.

‘He’ll turn up,’ Tony says calmly. ‘Do you want to dance with me?’

‘Yes,’ I smile, and wrap my arms around him.

We spin in that gymnasium, my best friend and me.

‘I would give anything to see you again,’ I say, taking in the handsome features of his face.

‘You will.’

‘When?’

He spins me again so my dress twirls out around me. But when I face Tony again Odette is standing before me; we’re dressed identically. I gasp, backing away from her. Her hair falls
long and straight over her shoulders.

She wipes blood from her mouth and says, ‘He tasted the best.’

The next morning, dressing, I noticed the scent of tobacco in the air. Vicken must have checked on me during the night. Thinking of him, I dropped a dagger in my boot.

He tasted the best
.

Odette’s words kept ringing in my ears as I walked out of Seeker and across campus. Yes, Odette could be out in the daylight. But so could I. I had people on this campus who loved me, and
people who, if I needed them to, would help me. And after that dream I had to see Tony’s portrait. I hadn’t wanted to until now. I hadn’t been in the art tower since his death,
but now it was time.

I walked across campus, inhaling the warm morning air, trying to clear my head. Students called out to me.

Hey, Lenah – how’s your arm?

Lenah, what happened?

I tried to shake the haunting memory of the dream away in the bright sunshine, among the crowds of students on campus. Tingles swept up and down my arms, down my legs to my toes. I hated those
white pills that made me feel as though I had taken double opiates and absinthe combined, something I remembered from my vampire days. I kept walking, though it was difficult not to grab at my
burnt arm; my heart pumped blood into that arm, every pulse sending a throb to my fingers. I squinted into the sun and shielded my eyes with my damaged hand. I continued past the union and the
crowded meadow in front of Quartz dorm. For a moment last night my best friend had been alive. How cruel to have him near me again, then taken away in the morning, but I would find comfort from him
even in his death. I was going somewhere I could feel close to him and have him around me.

Now that Hopper had finally been reopened, students pressed out of the building holding art easels and thick black portfolios. I looked at their hands, at the paint on their fingers and clothes,
and the charcoal under their nails. They reminded me of Tony, with his paint-smeared face and bright smile. I was so absorbed in my thoughts I almost slammed straight into Justin.

‘Heads up,’ he said, and smiled that lazy, cocky smile. ‘I was just coming to your room to check on you. I knocked twice last night but you never answered.’

‘Oh,’ I said, stalling. ‘Those pills really knocked me out. I didn’t hear you.’

He took a step towards me. ‘I’ve been worried about you. First with Odette cutting you, then Ms Tate dying, now this summoning spell and you getting burned.’

The intensity of his gaze made me pause. An uncomfortable beat passed between us. It reminded me of the night of my birthday.

‘I think I’ve been cool with this whole thing,’ he continued. ‘I want to help you. On your birthday, I thought we were . . . I thought you were
with
me.’

‘We are,’ I said. ‘I mean, I am.’

‘Good,’ Justin said, and caressed my shoulder with one hand.

‘Look, can we talk later? I’m just going to go upstairs, to the art tower. And if I don’t go now I’ll never go. You know what I mean?’ I said.

Justin’s back stiffened. ‘You’re going to see the portrait?’ he asked.

I nodded in reply.

His eyes widened. With his free hand he reached up to the pendant around his neck and rubbed at it nervously.

‘I can’t go up there,’ he said, and dropped his hand from my shoulder. I could see the twitch of his mouth as he tried to formulate the words. He shook his head and frowned,
then met my eyes. Without blinking he said, ‘I’m not ready. I didn’t think Tony and me were friends, but when he died – and I saw what I saw . . .’ His voice trailed
off. It was clear he was still wounded by witnessing the horror of Tony’s death. Justin and I had got there too late.

‘I understand, but I need to do it now,’ I said as students continued to file past us out of the door. He took a few steps on to the quad but didn’t remove his eyes from
mine.

‘Come to my room after,’ he said. As he walked away, he slung his schoolbag over his shoulder.

‘OK,’ I said with a small smile. ‘I will.’

I glanced around the campus again, surveying the students out enjoying the beautiful day. But I wanted to be in the art tower, even if people were in there working. They didn’t have to
know what I was doing. There was a quiet thud from the glass door as it closed behind me. Step by step, as I climbed the circling stairs, I breathed deeply, relieved. I actually felt better instead
of worse. This
was
what I needed.