“We took you to Vejovis. You were there a few days while the doctors treated your injuries. There were surprisingly few. Some burns on your arms and legs, mostly healed now and with very little scarring.”
I frowned and pulled up my shirtsleeve. The skin there was bright pink, like a newborn baby’s. I exhaled in relief. I’d gotten even luckier than I realized. But then I remembered that force that had wrapped around me as I fell—perhaps it wasn’t luck at all, but the sword.
“How long have I been unconscious?”
My mother swallowed, and her eyes looked wet. “Ten days.”
I sucked in a breath. That long? How was it possible? No wonder she was so relieved to see me up and about.
Mom turned her gaze toward the water. “The doctors worried you might not wake at all. I’m so glad you proved them wrong.”
“Me too.”
Mom turned back to me, smiling.
“But why am I here?” I motioned to her apartment.
“After that first week, the doctors said there was nothing left to do but wait and see. So I brought you here where I could keep a better eye on you. It’s also made it easier for your dad to visit. There are so many restrictions on ordinaries visiting Vejovis.”
I sat up. “Dad’s been here?”
“Everyone’s been here, Dusty. Eli and Selene have come by every day. Even half of the Magi Senate has come to visit you.”
I blinked, the mention of the Magi Senate setting my mind to racing. “What about Magistrate Kirkwood? Did they stop him?”
“Oh, yes.” A dark look crossed Moira’s face. “They arrested him and Gargrave while they were still on Lyonshold. They were on the outer island, along with some of the other senators. Titus pretended to be innocent of everything until he spotted Brackenberry’s men coming after him. Then he and Gargrave tried to flee, but they didn’t get very far.”
For the first time since I’d woken up, I felt good, happy even. I smiled. “Did Brackenberry haul them off to jail?”
Moira stood up. “I think I hear the doctor.”
I frowned. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“I’ll be back in a bit.” She turned and headed for the door.
“Wait, Mom.” I knew instinctively that she was avoiding the question. “What are you not telling me?”
Mom faced me, folding her arms across her chest. “I don’t want you to worry about it. Right now all you should be thinking about is getting better.”
I glared. “Don’t you dare try and do that. I have a right to know what happened.”
I could see the debate raging in my mother’s expression. Finally, she sighed and came back to her chair. “Gargrave is in jail along with his men.”
“And Kirkwood?”
Moira’s nostrils flared as she answered. “Titus Kirkwood is dead. He was murdered inside his cell in the jailhouse. And no, they don’t know who did it or why, but it’s a Magi concern. Not yours or Eli’s or Selene’s. No matter what you all might think.”
I would’ve laughed if the news hadn’t been so terrible. It seemed the Dream Team had been carrying on without me. A sudden powerful desire to see my friends came over me. “Can I use the phone? I want to tell them I’m awake.”
Moira looked away from me, her expression impatient again. “I’ll do it for you. But no visitors until the doctor clears you. I don’t care if Eli and Selene try to break down the door. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Good. Now sit out here and relax while I make you something to eat.”
The idea of my mother’s cooking filled me with a whole different kind of dread, but as she disappeared inside the house, I did as she asked, resting my head against the back of the chair. I was asleep again in moments.
The next time I woke it was to the sight of a doctor standing over me. The woman seemed nice enough, although her fingers felt like icicles when she had me raise my shirt so she could check my heart rate and breathing. Twenty minutes later she gave me a clean bill of health and a regimen of lots of bed rest and food for the next two weeks, and only approved visitors.
I shot a look at my mom as soon as the doctor had left.
She rolled her eyes. “I told Selene that she and Eli couldn’t come over until tomorrow at the earliest. They’ll be here as soon as school’s out for the day.”
I sat up straighter, suddenly remembering my educational duties. “Crap, I have exams coming up.”
Mom waved. “Don’t get excited. With everything that’s happened, you’re being given a pass in all your classes with the Magi Senate’s approval. It’s the least they could do. I expect sooner or later they’ll bestow some award on you, once things have settled down.”
I didn’t understand at first, but then I remembered Consul Vanholt lying dead among the ruins of the pavilion. No wonder things needed settling down.
“What about Paul? You haven’t mentioned him. Is he okay?”
Moira sighed. “He’s fine. He’s just … unavailable. He’s been placed in protective custody for his own safety. Word about his uncle has spread despite efforts to contain it. Brackenberry feared Paul might be in danger of retribution. The attack on Lyonshold was the biggest in the island’s history. Seventy-two magickind dead.”
I swallowed, my throat and eyes burning. So many lives lost. How many were my schoolmates? Even knowing that there could’ve been a lot more didn’t make me feel any better. And poor Paul. It was so unfair. He’d escaped the threat of his uncle only to be put under this new threat.
But maybe there was a light at the end of the tunnel. “And what about my cell phone? Were they able to identify Marrow’s supporters?”
Moira huffed, clearly not wanting to talk about it any longer, but I held her with my gaze, insisting she go on. “By the time they caught up with Magistrate Kirkwood the cell phone had been destroyed.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. Why would he destroy it?”
“He didn’t. It was some kind of self-destruct mechanism.”
All the air whooshed out of my lungs, making my head spin. He lied. Paul had lied. After all of that. Only … the pass code had worked. I’d seen it with my own eyes. But then I remembered how he had wanted to make sure the app was hidden again when he first showed us it inside the Kirkwood mausoleum. Maybe the app had to be shut down properly or it would self-destruct, just another one of Paul’s insurance methods.
With an effort I pushed thoughts of Paul from my mind. Maybe there was an explanation for what had happened to the data and maybe not. Either way, it didn’t matter now. The list of Marrow supporters was gone.
True to their word, Selene and Eli arrived the next day, both of them eager to see me. Selene hugged me so hard, I didn’t breathe for a full twenty seconds.
“I’m so glad you’re awake. And if you ever go unconscious for that long again, I’ll never forgive you.”
Eli hugged me next, far more gently than Selene had. His touch was tender and intimate, full of the longing that still existed between us. But no sooner had he wrapped his arms around me than he pulled away. We were in the living room, and he walked to the farthest sofa and sat down.
I looked at him, sadness squeezing my chest. Nothing had changed. He still believed in the dream-seer curse. I’d known better than to hope things would be different, but it still hurt.
Thank goodness for Selene—she managed to draw my attention away from Eli with talk about school and all the things I had missed. She and Eli had attempted to learn more about Titus Kirkwood’s death, but they hadn’t gotten very far. “But the most surprising thing that’s happened,” Selene said, “is that Miss Norton gave Eli her talking stick.”