Allyra gasped, just a tiny, noiseless exhalation of air, but it scattered tiny droplets of blood over his shirt and finally jolted him into action.
“Help!” Jamie yelled, the heartbeat monitor screaming behind him. The nurse in the room stood up, her face trained into blankness. She glanced at him and the blood spreading over Allyra and she walked swiftly – calmly – to the door, closing it noiselessly behind her. And then he was alone – utterly and terrifyingly alone, with only the desperate beeping of the heartbeat monitor to keep him company.
The door burst open, and doctors streamed through, led by Mike, his expression unreadable. He tore the bed sheet away and pulled Allyra’s shirt up with disinterest that only a doctor could manage.
“Prepare her for surgery.” He said calmly. His eyes met Jamie’s and he turned to the Cleaners standing at the door. “Take him outside.”
Jamie felt the grip of the Cleaners’ hands as they pulled him out the door. He struggled mindlessly against them, desperate to stay with her, but they were too strong and he was too frantic. The door closed and Allyra was lost from view.
Jamie tried to throw himself against the door.
Break it down.
Get to her.
His mind could only grasp the immediacy of being with her, what he might do to help was beyond his shattered thoughts. The Cleaners barred the door emotionlessly, keeping him away from it, but no more. They didn’t try to restrain him or drag him away and eventually logic returned and he collapsed against the cool, black wall, exhausted and terrified.
There were no chairs; this was not a hospital waiting room. There was no astringent smell of bleach pervading through the air, no glaring white lights, no hustle and bustle – only bleak silence. As the minutes ticked by, he eventually dropped to the floor, his eyes trained on the wooden door.
He barely registered Eva dropping onto the ground beside him, tentatively taking his hand. They hadn’t spoken in almost a month, but he didn’t have the energy to question her presence, instead he tried to taken comfort in her presence, to steal some strength.
Gemma arrived a little later and handed him a coffee. It was hot against his icy fingers, but he stared at it stupidly, unable to think what to do with it. Gemma gently nudged him and he took a sip. It burned down his throat, strong and bitter. Jamie welcomed the pain, it reminded him that he was still alive and that behind that door, Allyra was too.
He’d made more friends than he realized and a small procession of people came and went, all somberly silent; full of kind sympathy for a girl they didn’t know. Jamie’s heart clenched, he’d seen them as competition, nothing more than obstacles between him and Allyra, and yet here they were.
Pierre, a big, kind Terra, handed him a croissant, its buttery scent wafting up to him. Andy and Cole, two Infernos that had mostly ignored him made their way to the corridor and gave him an uncomfortable squeeze on the shoulder. Even Lin arrived and slipped a tiny bottle of some kind of alcohol into his pocket. He was grateful for these momentary distractions from the fear tearing through him, its icy cold tendrils chilling his blood, making him believe that he might never be warm again.
Minutes turned into hours and the wooden doors remained obstinately closed. Only Eva and Gemma remained, sitting silently beside him. Just as he was starting to believe they never would, the wooden doors opened, slipping apart silently. Jamie leapt to his feet as Mike walked through the doors, his expression somber.
Mike held up his hand, forestalling Jamie’s desperate questions. “She’s ok.” He said tiredly, his face ten years older than when he’d walked into the room. “It was a close thing, but she’s ok.”
He nodded to Eva and Gemma, “Why don’t you two go to bed, I want to talk to Jamie alone for a bit.”
Jamie followed Mike blindly through the maze of corridors, consumed by a single thought: she was alive. Mike led him into the Elemental College’s main dining hall, it was bathing in darkness but the lights came on as they entered. The dining hall was a cavern of a room, filled with rows and rows of wooden tables and trestles. Their footsteps echoed through the empty space as Mike led them to the table closest to the door.
Mike collapsed into a wooden trestle, exhaustion etched into every line of him. Jamie slipped quietly into the seat opposite him. They waited silently as one of the kitchen staff set down two mugs of hot steaming coffee in front of them.
“This will probably keep me up all night.” Mike said conversationally as he took a sip of the coffee. “I don’t suppose I’m going to sleep tonight in any case.”
He paused and Jamie waited for him to continue.
“It was a Revenant blade.” Mike said quietly, his voice brusque and businesslike. “It cut between the sixth and seventh rib below her right arm. The wound collapsed her right lung.”
His dark eyes met Jamie’s – they were unreadable. “A wound made from a Revenant blade is unlike any normal wound. The blade itself carries a poison, something that stops the blood from clotting. It makes it almost impossible to bind the wound. She lost a good deal of blood, but she’s a real fighter and we managed to get it under control.”
Jamie searched Mike’s face. Mike appeared almost perplexed, as if he hadn’t really expected to save Allyra.
Mike stood abruptly before Jamie could question him. “I need to show you something.”
Jamie nodded. He hadn’t spoken a single word.
Mike nodded for the nurse to leave as they entered Allyra’s room. Jamie barely saw the woman leave; his eyes were fixed on Allyra. It appeared as if nothing had happened. She was maybe a little paler, her eyelashes dark against her moon kissed skin. The heartbeat monitor beeped steadily and reassuringly.
Mike lifted
