by April Marcom
Once we were in the office, the door shutting behind me was like a condemning voice reminding me that I was about to face a man holding my fate for a very serious offense in his hands.
“There’s a rather important matter we need to discuss,” Headmaster said as we sat down.
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“I think so.”
“One of the teachers overheard a student say Luke Knight was found in your bed this morning. Is this true?”
“Yes, sir.” My head sank so low, I could hardly see over the desk.
“Would you care to explain yourself?”
“I’ll try...” Out of respect, I sat up straight and told Headmaster about Luke’s parents’ death, the nightmares, and how he used to come over when he had them. His expression never changed as he listened.
When I was through, Headmaster sat back in his chair and stared at the blank wall to his left for a couple of minutes. Then he turned back to me. “I hope you realize how serious this is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“But I do believe this young man needs you. No one should have to wake up afraid and alone. I’ll need to speak with my brother about it, but perhaps we could arrange something where Luke could send for you when he has one of these nightmares. If it was supervised, I don’t see the harm in a few late night cartoons. Would you mind being woken up in the night?”
“Not for Luke, but I don’t want to get him in trouble. His headmaster might not know what happened.”
“I’ll speak with Tobias and see if we can agree on something tonight. And don’t worry; I won’t mention the little incident.”
“Thank you, sir...Has Rose woken up yet?”
“Not yet. Her doctor is keeping her asleep for a few days due to the extent of her injuries. If there’s nothing else you wish to discuss, you may be dismissed.”
I couldn’t believe my luck as I walked out of the office toward my friends. I wasn’t in trouble! At least not with Headmaster.
Roman rose from a chair against the wall and stood in front of me. “Did you really wake up next to Knight this morning?”
“Yeah, but nothing happened. We were just talking and we fell asleep.”
He grunted angrily as he gripped my arm firmly. “You can’t have other guys climbing into your bed, and Knight’s the worst one. I go up against him in the Winter Competitions.”
“Who cares? Luke’s not just some guy. He’s my best friend. It’s the same thing as Harmony climbing down to talk to me in my bed.” It hit me how wrong what I’d said was, as I thought about the way I felt lying beside Luke the night before.
“No, it’s not. I’m your boyfriend and I say this can’t happen again.” He was still on the boyfriend trip? I wanted to say something, but I wanted the conversation to end more.
“Don’t worry, it won’t. Why do you think I was in Headmaster’s office?” I tried to walk past him, but his grip tightened and refused to let go. “Ouch. Let go.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“Well he wasn’t happy.” The less he knew, the better.
“I don’t want to fight, and I believe you, but will you promise me this won’t happen again?”
“It won’t.”
He finally let go of my arm, which was beginning to throb, and followed me to sit with my friends. Harmony was telling Nadine what happened in physical fitness today.
“You know what I think?” Sassy said, leaning forward with a mischievous smile on her face. “I think Coach Beckham attacked Rose.”
“What?!” Harmony asked. “Are you crazy?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. He’s seriously competitive and Kristine stands a better chance of winning next week. And did you see how happy he was when he told Kristine she was joining the Tracers, and how mad he got when she refused? It was like his evil plan had been foiled. He ran her harder than anyone all morning.”
“You’re still not going to join the Tracers?” Roman asked me.
“Sassy,” Harmony said. “Coach Beckham’s one of us. Only a Cinder would attack someone so brutally.”
“But the footprint was one of ours, and I heard they think it’s a guy’s.”
“You seriously believe it was one of us?” Nadine asked. “And you think it’s Coach Beckham? Aren’t you afraid he’ll attack you after class or something?” She and Harmony laughed at the idea.
“Why would he attack us? He has nothing to gain from it.”
“Actually, the Coach Beckham thing’s not so crazy,” I said, remembering last Saturday morning. I didn’t really think it was him, but I wasn’t ruling it out either.
“Why?” Harmony asked.
I didn’t want to tell them in front of Roman, because I felt better shutting him out of my personal life to some degree. “Let’s talk about this back in our room when we’re not surrounded by the whole school.”
We ate quickly, Roman keeping his arm annoyingly around me the entire time, and then went up to our room, knowing hardly anyone would be there so early. We all climbed into my bed, turned my light on, and pulled the curtains shut. There were a few girls in the room, so, as quietly as I could, I told them everything I’d heard Coach Beckham say and how he’d kept going around the tower when he wasn’t supposed to.
Sassy grabbed mine and Harmony’s arms when I was through. “See? See?! He’s a suspicious character.”
“But it doesn’t prove anything,” Harmony said. “No one from North Haven would attack someone and leave them to fry in a boiler room.”
“I’m not saying it was him,” I said. “I’m just telling you what I heard.”
“I don’t know either, but I say we all go to the game room and stop worrying about this,” Nadine said.
“Sounds good to me.” I needed to get my mind off the approaching competition. The fact that I would be the very first North Havener to compete only added to the pressure. And all those people watching and cheering for or against me...
As we climbed out of bed, Harmony said, “I’ll catch up in a minute. I need to find something.” She began rummaging through a drawer. “Could you help me, Kristine?”
I got the feeling she had an ulterior motive for getting me alone as the other two went ahead.
When the door closed behind them, Harmony shut the drawer and jumped back onto the bed, motioning for me to join her. As soon as I’d sat down, she shut the curtain. “Luke was asking about you today,” she said.
“When did you see him?” I hadn’t seen him since that morning.
“When I went to change after I got gravy on my shirt at lunch, I saw him in the hallway. He wanted to know if Roman was your boyfriend, but he said not to tell you he asked, so don’t tell him I told you. But I think he likes you, Kristine.” She looked really worried.
“I don’t think so. We’ve been friends too long for something like that.” But I was bursting with hope inside. I knew he was probably being protective, like a brother or best friend might be, but I had to admit, he’d sneaked into my fantasies more than once since I first saw him there. “What’d you tell him?” I asked, praying she didn’t say yes.
“The truth—Roman thinks you are, you think you’re not.”
“Good, but you’re worrying over nothing. It’s not like that with Luke and me.”
“I hope you’re right,” Harmony said. “Because a Cinder and a North Havener could never be together.”
Chapter Twenty
~ Rose Awakens ~
The following week flew by. Harmony and I planned and worked on the dance in the dance hall with the rest of the activities committee each afternoon. The lofty room was made all of stone and the electric lighting was terrible. We had our cons light up our work area most of the time. It was fun, though, looking at the walls and floor, imagining exactly what it should look like for the big night. When we weren’t doing that, we were having fun all over the second floor with Nadine and Sassy.
Coach Beckham continu
ed to push me harder than the other girls. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to help me or if he hated me for not joining the Tracers. But I could deal with it. The thing I couldn’t deal with was the fact that I didn’t see Luke all week. Not once. I didn’t know if he was in trouble or if he was mad at me. I couldn’t stop driving myself crazy worrying about it until Friday morning, when I had something much worse to worry about.
On that day I woke up with my stomach in knots, so I wasn’t really planning on eating much for breakfast anyway. But when I walked into the dining hall, I felt even worse.
It was dark, except for a projection filling most of the wall behind the teachers, all looking just as excited as every other person in the room aside from me. It was the first time I’d seen the Cinders look so—well—normal. Even when they were sitting around, laughing and talking like the rest of us, they always had a sort of downtrodden look about them.
“North Haven’s most recent recruit, Kristine Fayre, will be leading our great tradition of Winter Competitions today,” Connie’s voice was saying.
Harmony and I stopped beside the end of the first Cinder table and looked back. An image of me racing and beating Rose my first day at North Haven was being shown.
“Break a leg, Fayre,” a Cinder sitting at the table beside me hissed. I ignored the laughs this drew.
“You may not believe it, but this is her first race,” Connie went on. “She has a gift that North Haven is hoping will win their first point this year.”
“It’s me,” Harmony said when a picture of me laughing with her in the North Haven cafeteria came up.
Connie began giving some basic information about me.
I grabbed Harmony’s arm and pulled her to our table at the other end of the room, hoping no one would notice me. But the North Haven tables stood up and began clapping as I passed by each one. I did not want that kind of attention.
When I sat down, a tiny girl with hateful blue eyes appeared on the screen. A harsher voice began announcing her in more of a pro-wresting-match kind of way.
“I’ve never been shown up there before!” Harmony said as we sat down. “Thanks, Kristine.”
“You’re welcome, but I don’t really feel like I did anything.”
“Hellooo, you’re like the greatest sprinter ever,” a girl named Lexi said from across the table. She flipped her long dark hair behind her shoulders. “You’re even faster than Rose Jennings, and she was the greatest ever.”
I felt miserable. This should have been Rose’s big day. She’s the one who worked so hard for it. She’s the one who wanted it. This wasn’t right.
“Do you think Rose can have visitors?” I asked Harmony, even though I didn’t know if the doctors had let Rose wake up yet or not. Probably not, since Headmaster hadn’t made any announcements about it.
“Sure. We can go see her after breakfast. She’ll probably be asleep, though.”
After forcing down some oatmeal and a banana, I followed Harmony through the hallway to the stairs we’d come out of the hangar on, this time taking them up two flights. We entered a hallway with more normal looking doors, but no signs indicating we were on a hospital floor. The only person we saw there was a man in black walking away from us with the medical plus sign on his back.
“Excuse me,” Harmony called out to him. He turned around and stared at us blankly. “We’re looking for Rose Jennings.” He turned away and began walking again.
“Wait,” I said, running after him.
Harmony put her arm out to stop me. “It’s okay.”
I gave her a strange look, but stayed where I was. When I looked back at the man, he pointed to a door on his left and kept going.
“I hope he’s not Rose’s doctor,” I whispered. Harmony and I went to the room.
We heard voices inside, so I knocked first. A nurse in one of our white suits opened the door and we found Headmaster and Coach Ling beside a bed. “Give us a minute, will you girls?” Headmaster asked.
An extremely bruised and bandaged Rose lifted her head in the bed and smiled when she saw me. “Wait, I need Kristine.” I looked at Headmaster for permission and went to her bedside when he nodded. “Thank you for finding me, and thank you for running for me today. I don’t know what our school would have done if you hadn’t been recruited to kick off the competition.”
“You’re welcome.” I felt better knowing my running made her feel better. “But who did this to you?”
“Why don’t you two wait outside and we’ll let you know when we’re done?” Headmaster said.
“Yes, sir.” Harmony and I went to sit right outside the door in awed silence. Rose looked so beat up.
A good while later our cons began buzzing. I reached in my bag as Harmony reached in her pocket, then we saw Headmaster. “Good morning, North Haven,” he began. “It’s an extra good morning today, because Rose Jennings is awake and well.”
“Hey, everybody.” Rose leaned into the picture and waved with the hand that had an IV in it. “Be sure and cheer on the Tracers and Kristine extra hard for me tonight.”
The focus went back to Headmaster. “Unfortunately, we still don’t know who Rose’s attacker is. We need everyone to continue to be watchful and careful. No one goes anywhere alone, and if anyone has any information, please come to me. You can remain anonymous, of course. And as Rose mentioned, we should all be there to cheer on our school’s competitors this evening. I’ll see you all there.” Our cons went black and began to close.
Harmony and I stood up as the door behind us opened. “Why don’t you go on in, Harmony?” Headmaster asked. “I need to have a word with Kristine.”
“Okay.”
We heard Rose’s cheerful voice as Harmony entered her room. “Tell me everything I missed since—” The rest of what she was saying was muffled when the door closed.
“I talked to my brother,” Headmaster said, “and unfortunately, he hasn’t agreed to let Luke send for you at night. He believes it would make him weak if he turned to you whenever he needed you. I hate that he’s being so coldhearted, but I wanted to let you know—Also,” He lowered his voice, even though no one else was around. “if you’re caught out of bed at night, as long as it’s for this purpose and not in his or your sleeping quarters, you won’t be in any trouble with me, because you’ll have my permission.”
“Thank you, Headmaster.”
He patted my shoulder gently as he walked past me toward the stairs. I went to join Harmony and Rose.
* * * *
It was four o’clock when I walked into the competitors’ room with the Tracers. It was a pleasant room, with white padded chairs and shiny silver lockers. I figured our headmaster had designed it.
“This is for you,” Coach Ling said, handing me a white suit with traces of lightning down the sides of the legs. “You can use Rose’s locker for now. It’s over here, between Adora and Anna’s.”
When I was finished changing, Adora looked like she might cry as she watched me open the locker with Rose’s name on it and throw my clothes inside. I felt as if I should say something, but couldn’t find the right words.
We both heard the sound of bubbles popping as I shut the door, so I pulled it back open and took my con out. Harmony was calling me, and she looked pretty uncomfortable.
“Hey, Harmony, are you okay?” I asked.
“Could you meet me by the bathrooms in the red section’s lowest level? They should be the closest ones to you.”
“Are you alone?”
“Not exactly.”
“Harmony, what’s going on?”
“Could you just c’mere for a minute?”
“I’ll be right there.”
I didn’t think to ask Coach Ling for permission until my con was back in my bag and it was thrown over my shoulder. “You don’t mind, do you? I’ll be fast. I’ll even run there and back.”
She held up a hand with her fingers spaced far apart. “Five minutes, Fayre, and you probably want to take one of the girls with
you.”
“I’ll be all right on my own. It’s close enough you can almost hear me if anything goes wrong.” I got the feeling Harmony didn’t want any third wheels tagging along.
“Headmaster said no one goes anywhere alone.”
“I know, but it’s right down the hall.”
“We can’t waste time standing around talking. Go ahead and hurry.”
I ran from the room and down the hallway, up some stairs and onto the lowest level of the indoor arena’s outside hallway, passing no one along the way. I was on the North Haven side, so there were no torches, only bright light and red circles painted close to the ceiling to indicate which section I was in.
No sign of Harmony.
I slowed down as I neared the bathroom and realized a dark figure was leaning against the wall just inside the boys’ bathroom. Instinctively, I flinched as I twisted around to look behind me, fully expecting a vicious attack. But it was only Luke. “Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“I talked your friend into calling you down here. This place’ll be packed in a little while and I wanted to see you before you raced. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be competing?”
“I didn’t know until last Friday, and I would have if I saw you. Where the heck have you been?”
“Headmaster found out what happened with us.”
“How? My headmaster said he wouldn’t say anything.”
“No idea. He wasn’t really mad about it, just that I let myself get caught. He’s had me do all the dirtiest jobs he could find ever since. I’m free now, though. Competitors get special treatment during competitions.”
“I’m glad you had Harmony call me. I’ve been worried about you.”
“...Will you meet me at the edge of the North Haven-Cinder line on this floor after the competition tonight?”
“Sure.” My heart began racing in a good way for the first time all day. “I need to get back, though. My coach only gave me five minutes.”
“Wait, I wanted to wish you good luck. That’s why I had Harmony call you.”
I felt this warm fuzzy tingling in my chest. “Really? Just so you could tell me good luck?”