“Don’t you dare come any closer!”
Cassandra paused. I wrapped my arms around my middle and sunk to the floor.
“That was my last chance!” My screamed matched the frantic voice in my head. “That was my last chance to find Soren. You’ve ruined it1”
I grabbed a piece of wood from the floor and threw it at her. It didn’t even come close to hitting her.
“You don’t even know what was in that, Blair. Have you gone crazy? You could have died.”
“What do you care if I did, Cassie? What do I care if I did? Soren is out there, and no one will listen. No one will believe me.”
The despairing sadness that had become my friend these past few weeks was creeping through my rage. Tears welled up in my eyes again. The pain and anger fought for control.
“How do you know I went to Marty’s?”
“I tracked you, Blair. You weren’t answering my phone calls, and then when your roommate called me, I got worried about you.”
“You tracked me? What do you think you’re doing placing a tracking spell on me without my permission? That’s illegal, Cass.”
Cassie threw up her hands and sat down on the chair in the corner.
“You’re right, Blair. I shouldn’t have tracked you. That was wrong. I’m sorry. I tried to find you at the hospital and saw they quarantined it and they weren’t letting in visitors. I was worried. What was I supposed to do?”
All the fight left me. I leaned back against my bed. Cassie moved from the chair to floor beside me and stroked my hair. The vice grip of pain in my chest was never going to let me go.
“What am I going to do Cassie?”
“It’s okay, Blair. You’ll get through it. I’ll help you get through it.”
“You don’t understand, Cassie. I can’t get through it. Soren is lost. He’s not here, but he’s somewhere. And I can’t find him. I try and I try, and I don’t know what to do now. I just don’t know what to do.”
Cassie remained quiet for a moment, then she stood.
“Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“To find Soren.”
I shook with her, my knees shaky.
“What do you mean?”
“Come with me, I’ll tell you on the way.”
The city’s street lights cast the sidewalks in front of us in an odd yellow glow. For once, the streets were almost deserted. Cassandra grabbed my head and tugged me along. We’d gone a few streets before I realized the direction we were walking in.
“Cassie, why are we going to the hospital? We can’t get in. I don’t want to go. It’s too hard.”
Cassandra just shook her head and kept going.
“Please, Blair, just trust me.”
I stayed quiet, but the dread of seeing the hospital without being able to see Soren stayed with me. Once we got there, Cassandra didn’t stop at the front doors. Instead, she went down an alleyway that beside the building. At a back door and knocked three times.
Someone on the other side opened the door a crack, and Cassandra whispered to them. The door shut again. I wanted to tell her it was no use; they would not let us in. But as soon as I opened my mouth, she pressed her finger to her lips.
Minutes passed before the door opened again. A male nurse stood there and motioned us in. Once inside, he took us through a door on the left into a supply closet.
“Here.” He thrust two pairs of dark green nurse scrubs towards us.
“No outsiders are supposed to be here so they’re not locking any of the doors inside the hospital. You don’t have to worry about having a pass card. Don’t stop and talk to anyone. or you’ll be found out. Just walk fast and act like you’ve got somewhere to be. If you get caught, you’re on your own.”
He stopped and started hard at me..
“Is this her?” He looked past me to Cassandra.
“Yes.”
“Good luck.”
He left.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“I’ll explain in a minute. Let’s hurry and get changed.”
Once we were dressed as nurses, Cassandra made sure we were in the clear before we headed down the hallway. We didn’t see anyone before making it to the stairs. On Soren’s floor I spotted one of his doctors in a group of people walking in our direction.
“Cass, she’ll recognize me.” We couldn’t get stopped now, not when we were so close.
Cassandra grabbed my arm and drug me into a nearby closet. Never had I been so happy to see a closet. The footsteps on the other side of the door grew louder as they approached. I held my breath as the footsteps stopped outside the closet.
“So, you’re telling me no one can find her?”
That was the doctor’s voice.
“No. She hasn’t been to classes today, and she wasn’t in her apartment when we checked. Her roommate said she hasn’t seen her. However, her door looks like it—exploded. We don’t know what happened, but there were no signs of injury.”
Cassie squeezed my arms, her nails biting in my flesh. They were talking about me.
“Has no one placed a tracking spell on this girl? She’s not magical. She can’t be that hard to find.”
“Well, we tried but there’s been a spell of protection placed on her. None of us have been able to get through.”
“Just great. Find her! I want her taken care of before the end of the night.”
The footsteps disappeared down the hall. When it had been silent for a few minutes I whipped around and looked at Cassandra.
“What were they talking about?” I whispered.
Cassandra just shook her head. She peeked out the door to make sure the hallway was deserted before pulling me out. We made our way to Soren’s room as quickly as possible without drawing attention to ourselves. It took everything in me to not full out sprint the rest of the way there.
Cassandra locked the door behind us as I turned to Soren. I gasped. He looked terrible. His
