The nurse blinked. “Blue Chaos is owned by a Winter sidhe who employs redcaps and is rumored to have an ogre in the basement.” She sighed. “Wait. If you insist on doing this, I’ve a better idea, one not so…insane.” She looked caught between reluctance and resignation as she turned to me. “The Winter Formal is tonight at your old school, Miss Chase. If there is one place that is sure to have an overabundance of emotionally charged, hormonal teenagers, that would be it.”
“The Winter Formal? Tonight?” My stomach fluttered. Going back to my school would mean facing my former classmates, and all the gossip, rumors and stories that followed. I would have to wear a fancy dress in front of everyone, maybe even dance, and they would all snicker and laugh and whisper behind my back. Think of an excuse, Meghan, quick. “How will we get in? I haven’t been to school in forever, and they’re likely to be monitoring the tickets to make sure only students attend.”
Puck snorted. “Please. How many of these things do you think I’ve crashed? Tickets?” He sneered. “We don’t need no stinkin’ tickets.”
The nurse shot Puck an annoyed look and turned to me. “Your parents called off the investigation for you a few months ago, Miss Chase,” she said solemnly. “I believe the excuse your mother used was that you had come home and that they sent you away to a boarding school out of state. I’m not sure what she told your father—”
“Stepfather,” I muttered automatically.
“—but no one has been looking for you for a while,” the nurse finished, as if I hadn’t said anything. “Your appearance might seem odd at first, but I’m sure Robin can fix it so you aren’t conspicuous. Either way, I doubt anyone will remember you.”
I wasn’t sure about that. “What about a dress?” I argued, still determined to find a loophole. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
This time, I received scornful looks from both the nurse and Puck. “We can get you a dress, Princess,” Puck scoffed. “Hell, I can glamour you a dress made of diamonds and butterflies, if you want.”
“That’s a little extravagant, don’t you think, Robin?” The nurse shook her head at him. “Do not worry, Miss Chase,” she told me. “I have friends who can help us in that regard. You will have a beautiful dress for the formal, I promise you that.”
Well, that would be a nice sentiment, if I wasn’t absolutely terrified. I tried again. “The school is forty-five minutes away,” I pointed out, “and I don’t have a license. How will we get there?”
“I have a trod that leads directly to my office in the school,” the nurse replied, crushing that hope. “We can be there in seconds, and you won’t miss a thing.”
Damn. I was fast running out of excuses. Desperately, I played my last card.
“What about Ash? Should we move him this soon? What if he doesn’t want to go?”
“I’ll go.”
We all whirled around. Ash stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, looking exhausted but a little better than before. His skin had lost the gray pallor, and the wounds across his face and arms were not as striking. He didn’t look good, by any means, but at least he wasn’t at death’s door.
Ash clenched a fist in front of his face, then let it drop. “I can’t fight like this,” he said. “I’d be a liability, and our chances of getting the scepter will diminish. If there’s a chance for me to shake this off, I’ll take it.”
“Are you sure?”
He looked at me, and that faint, familiar smile crossed his lips. “I have to be on top of my game if I’m going to kill things for you, right?”
“What you need,” the nurse replied, stalking toward him with a steely glint in her eye, “is to go back to bed. I did not spend the last few hours stitching you back together for you to fall apart because you refused to stay down. Go on, now. Back to bed!”
He looked vaguely amused, but let himself be herded back into the room, and the nurse shut the door firmly behind him. “Bullheaded youngsters,” she sighed. “Think they’re damned invincible.” Puck snickered, which was the wrong thing to do.
She whirled around. “Oh, you think it’s funny, do you, Goodfellow?” she snapped, and Puck winced. “I happened to notice your shoulder doesn’t look well at all. In fact, it’s bleeding all over my clean floor. I believe it needs stitches. Follow me, please.”
“It’s only a flesh wound,” Puck said, and the nurse’s gaze darkened. Stalking back across the floor, she grabbed him by one long ear and pulled him out of the chair. “Ow! Hey! Ow! Okay, okay, I’m coming! Jeez.”
“Miss Chase,” the nurse snapped, and I jerked to attention. “While I’m fixing up this idiot, I want you to get some sleep. You look exhausted. Use the empty cot in the patient room, and tell Amano that if he bothers you, I’ll break his other leg. After I’m done with Robin, I’ll come by with something for your throat.”
Doubts still nagged at me, but I nodded. Finding the empty cot, I lay down, ignoring the satyr who invited me to share his “much softer bed.” I’ll just lie down for a minute, I thought, turning my back on Amano. Just for a minute, and then I’ll check on Ash.