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Chapter 43 : I’ll Ask Him Tomorrow

*Lena*

I hadn’t seen or heard from Xander in a week.

I’d spent most of that time in bed. sweating beneath three thick quilts and even thicker flannel pajamas while Heather fussed over me, making sure I was taking the antibiotics the doctor had prescribed for what he said was a severe viral infection of some kind.

All of it felt odd. The days passed in a blur, day fading into night over, and over. I didn’t seem to get better, however. My body was numb and frequently chilled despite how warm Heather tried to keep me.

The worst of it was having to come clean to both of my roommates about what had actually happened in Crimson Creek one feverish night when I’d spilled hot soup on my shirt, and Heather helped me remove it.

They saw the long, jagged scars across my belly, and had screamed, then were frantic and shocked beyond belief as I told them the incredible and unbelievable story.

I’m not sure if they believed it. They probably thought it was some tall tale my fevered mind had concocted.

But something changed the night before graduation.

Viv came into my room, balancing a large, hot mug of tea in her hands. Her face was drawn in a grimace, and in a split second, I knew why. I sat straight up.

“Where did you get that?” I cried, and Viv looked at me in shock. She set the mug of murky black liquid on the beside table that seperated my bed from Heather’s bed.

“Xander dropped it off. He said you liked this tea and he could only get it in Crimson Creek.”

I paled, looking down into the mug and watching the sheen that had developed on top of it. Blood root. I hadn’t seen him because he went back to Crimson Creek.

“Is he here?” I asked, but Viv shook her head, looking a little sheepish.

“No. He left in a hurry. He told me how to brew it and I… do you really like it? The smell is just awful. I was going to try it but-” she held her stomach, looking a little green.

“How did he know I was sick?”

“Viv went to him the night Slate assaulted you,” Heather said from the doorway, unwinding her scarf from around her neck and tossing it on her bed. I hied to swallow but found it impossible.

“I told him what we thought happened. And then when you got sick I… I know his roommate Adrian; we have classes together. I told him you were sick and then didn’t see him again for several days.”

I brought the tea to my lips and drank deeply, watching the disgusted looks on my roommates’ faces as I tilted it back and drained it.

asked as she took

as she began to put

told us about Crimson

I said, laying back down on the pillow and

way to Crimson Creek and back just to get the blood root. Wiry? Wiry bring me blood root and instruct Viv to have me drink

several hours later, late into the night. I woke from the deepest sleep I’d ever experienced. Heather was snoring in her bed, and pale moonlight was drifting through tire frosted windows as

I was healed, entirely.

moonlight as a weight

into a fever. Blood root had made me whole

What did this mean?

one person who I could

At graduation.

***

by the student body, the informal graduation ceremony for those students graduating in December had been moved from the shabby conference room in the library to the small

Viv mingled with a group of students in tire aisle near the row we’d chosen to sit in. I’d promised my parents that if they’d just let me

friends to get over their shock, and likely anger, at the fact I’d hidden my true identity from them for so long. I hadn’t told them, not yet. In fact, wanting to tell Heather tire truth was the last thing I remembered before

say anything.

up to the hallway outside of our apartment filled with floral arrangements from “Mom and Dad,” and my roommates and I had our coffee with the rich smell of lilies and roses permeating the air of our tiny apartment after we’d brought them inside,

excited she was to accept Abigail’s

Xander had just walked in, and I felt his gaze on me instantly, little ripples of heat prickling over my neck

at me, but I stifled my nervous expression and pretended to be reading the pamphlet in my lap, looking over the names without actually

front of me, at least. He wasn’t in my line of sight when Heather and

dark hair shimmering in the lights above her head. She looked around, smiling broadly as she tapped her finger on the microphone

in the crowd, all whispers about who she was, and what she was doing here. It was likely no one knew the Church had sent someone to oversee

Mara began to call the names of every graduate. Heather went up to the stage, met with applause. Viv accepted Abigail’s diploma, which caused a brief moment of confusion but was quickly

stage, my feet feeling heavy. The lights were blinding enough

smiled, handing me

it, giving her

as well. As I walked back to my seat, I began to wonder

think about it as I sat back down, Heather and Viv squeezing my aims in silent congratulations as the rest of the overachieving seniors made their

and I watched as he

narrowed his eyes at Mara, the way he leaned in to whisper into her

level she kept her expression despite the sharp look on