Page 199 of Cerulean Truth
"I’ll do what I can as soon as you get out," she replied calmly.
“Excuse me?” I snarled.
"Now. I need you to get out, now."
I crossed my arms. “That’s not happening. Do your healing shit and fucking hurry or we’re going to have a problem. I’m not leaving her side.” My teeth nearly grinded.
Justine’s eyes widened in shock at my tone, but quickly started to work on Emma.
“She translated too much,” Justine mumbled after doing some sort of analysis.
“Look at that,” she pointed to the blue veins manifesting on Emma’s body. “She summoned too much energy and it nearly consumed her.”
“Is she going to be all right?” The words hurt as I spoke them out loud.
Justine tore her eyes from Emma’s lifeless body as she turned to me.
“I can heal her. It’ll be painful for her, but I’ll try to keep her under as long as I can. However, you have to teach her a better way to translate. This is the second time I’ve treated her for consummation. She needs to learn how to summon the appropriate amount of energy or the next time, shewilldie.”
I heard her. I heard what she said. But I couldn’t focus.
“She’ll be fine?” I repeated my question.
Justine’s eyes held all the sympathy in the world. “Yes James,” she whispered, “she’ll be fine. But I need you to get out of here, and let me work. I’ll let you know when she wakes.”
I nodded, turning around, not able to watch Emma’s pale stillness for a second longer.
Leaving Justine’s dorm, I made my way through the Universitas, determined to seek out Julian for an explanation. He owed me that much. When I found him outside pacing in the Atrium, his expression mirrored my own worry. Damn it. He seemed to really care.
“She’s going to be fine,” I grounded out reluctantly.
A sigh of relief escaped him. "Thank the gods," he whispered, as he quickly conjured a bench and sat down.
I took a seat next to him. "We need to talk," I asserted, my tone brooking no argument.
"Yes, we do, James, about more than you think," Julian replied, his expression somber.
I paused, my curiosity growing. "What do you mean?"
"Am I wrong to conclude that this is the third time Radicals came after her?" he inquired, his gaze probing.
I shook my head in affirmation. "No, you'd be agonizingly right about that. She has something the Radicals want…” My voice trailed off, trying to recall whether the Council had told him about her untraceable translation.
He nodded. “Untraceable translation would be invaluable, especially now with the Great Exposure. Can’t imagine how eager the Radicals are.” He paused. “And her struggling so much with translation makes for an easy mark," he added.
So he knew about her. And he was right. And I had painfully failed her.
“How did you know where she was?” I asked.
“I told you, I keep my useful contacts close. While you were tearing down her parents’ house, I nexed my network and they gave all the intel I needed. I repaired her childhood-home by the way.”
A deep sigh escaped me as I lowered my head into my hands.
Julian had been crucial in finding Emma, and she had always backed him up, pushing me to trust him despite my doubts. Though I was still skeptical, I couldn’t ignore that I had to start relying on Emma's judgment.
After all, someone who singlehandedly managed to get out of an insane situation involving twenty-something Radicals, all determined to experiment on her in a secure facility with nomeans of escape, had, at the very least, earned some trust in her judgment.
Hoping he wouldn't disappoint, I decided to share with him the intel I had gathered over the last few months.
