Allie’s heart twisted.
‘That arsehole,’ she whispered, striking a tear away with the back of her hand. ‘He is so freaking stupid.’
But everyone knew she didn’t mean it.
‘Don’t give up hope, Allie,’ Rachel said, squeezing her arm. ‘Nobody saw him get hurt. We have to believe he’s all right and Nathaniel’s just holding him. To get to you.’
Before Allie could reply, they reached the main medical ward. A large room had been turned into a triage area. Medics clustered around a guard in a black uniform, stitching a wound on his arm.
The smell of rubbing alcohol combined with antibacterial cleaning liquid and the rusty tang of blood made Allie’s stomach churn.
‘Snip please.’ The cool, uninflected voice came from a small, plump woman with a stethoscope draped around her neck and narrow glasses perched on the end of her nose.
A nurse leaned where she indicated. A pair of silver scissors flashed in the light.
She bent over to examine her work, then straightened and threw bloodstained bandages into a bin. ‘You’re done, my dear.’
Glancing down at his arm, the man tested the stitches, flexing his hand into a tight fist before loosening it again. His muscles bulged.
Seeing this, the doctor sighed. ‘Do that a few more times and I’ll be stitching you up again. Shall we both attempt to avoid that little reunion? I so hate repeating myself.’
‘Sorry.’ The man’s voice was contrite.
As he stood to leave, Allie saw Zoe. She’d been standing behind the nurses, watching avidly.
Some of the tension left her body.
Spotting her, the younger girl gave an excited bounce. ‘You’re back!’
She shoved past the injured man without apology and raced to where Allie stood with Rachel and Nicole and hurled herself at her. It was more a tackle than a hug, but Allie didn’t mind at all.
‘You OK?’ Allie searched her smooth face for signs of injury and found none. ‘All in one piece?’
Zoe nodded, her ponytail bouncing with her enthusiasm. ‘Totally. I hurt a lot of people last night. It was ace.’
‘Zoe…’ Rachel spoke quietly.
The younger girl paused. Allie could see her thinking, figuring out the reasons why what she’d just said was inappropriate, and struggling to correct the oversight.
‘I’m sorry about your grandmother.’ Her tone took on a curious flatness, as if she was reciting something she’d memorised. But then she grew animated. ‘And Carter. I am so pissed off about Carter.’
Someone cleared their throat and Allie looked up to see the doctor watching them.
‘Look what the cat dragged in,’ she said, not without empathy. She patted the seat the guard had vacated. ‘What’ve you done to yourself this time?’
Ordinarily Allie would have smiled at that. The doctors and nurses at the infirmary had treated her on more than one occasion. Today she couldn’t seem to fake it.
‘It’s not as bad as it looks,’ she said as she climbed into the chair, still a bit warm from the prior occupant.
The doctor snorted and snapped on her gloves. ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’
‘It’s good and bloody.’ Zoe sounded approving.
She hadn’t noticed how destroyed Allie was, or how frightened. And Allie was glad of that. Inside, she felt numb and confused and lost. But she had to get it together. No one would listen to her if they thought she was hysterical about Carter. No one would want to follow her if she tried to lead.
If they were going to work together to get Carter back, they had to believe she was fine.
She was fine.
Allie glanced at Zoe, forcing a brighter tone. ‘Rachel says you’re into blood now?’
‘I think I want to be phlebotomist.’
‘What’s that?’ Allie said. ‘It sounds like a kind of caterpillar.’
‘Blood doctor!’ Zoe enthused. ‘All you do, all day long, is play with blood.’
‘Oh good.’ Allie sighed. ‘So, basically a vampire.’
Zoe beamed. ‘Awesome.’
‘There is money,’ the doctor murmured, snipping Allie’s hair away from the wound with a small pair of scissors, ‘in phlebotomy.’
The girls exchanged looks of blank incomprehension.
For a while after that Zoe chattered about fighting and diseases while the medical team cleaned the blood from Allie’s forehead and stitched her scalp back together. Across the room, Rachel rested her head on Nicole’s shoulder.
Everything was horrible. Everything was wrong.
But Cimmeria was home. And this was the closest thing to normal Allie could imagine right now.
A few hours later, Allie hurried down the school’s sweeping main staircase. After a shower and a change of clothes, she felt a little more like herself. Ready to figure out what to do now.
Her head throbbed, and her hand strayed unconsciously towards the stitches in her scalp, now mostly hidden by her thick, golden-brown hair.
She hadn’t taken the pain pills the doctor gave her. She wanted to keep her head clear.