Page 116 of Spark of Sorcery
“It was a group of people and before you ask, no I don’t know who they were. It was dark, they were shining a torch in my face.”
“You didn’t recognize their voices?”
“They were muffled.”
“Probably wearing masks. Spineless dickheads,” he spits.
“Erm, where exactly am I? And how did I get here?”
“The shadow weaver clinic. And I brought you here. I …” He swallows, brushing his hair away from his face. “For a moment, I thought you were dead.”
“The number of kicks to the head, I should probably be,” I say cheerfully. I glance down at all the wires trailing in and out of my arm. Are they pumping me full of drugs because I feel pretty good considering a gang of hooligans just beat the shit out of me? “But seems I’m not that easy to get rid of.” I smile at Fox, which makes the poor professor actually flinch. Then run my tongue over my teeth checking I didn’t lose any.
“What the hell were you doing out in the forest in the middle of the night?” he says. “Are you asking for trouble?”
“I like the forest,” I say, considering my answer carefully. My answer needs to sound convincing. “I always have. I spend nearly all of my time out in the forest back in Slate Quarter.” Anything to avoid Muriel.
“That’s Slate Quarter. This is the academy. It’s dangerous.”
“Oh, those squirrels are truly deadly.”
“Maybe not, but the shifters can be.”
I sniff. Dray in wolf form is a big bouncing ball of fluff.Not deadly at all. “So this is the shadow weaver clinic?” I ask.
He nods.
“But I’m not a–”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Because of the whole thrall thing,” I say bitterly, thinking of Clare’s friend who has been stuck in the commoners’ clinic for weeks now.
“No, because I brought you here,” he says.
“Oh … well … thank you?” He glowers at me, leaning on the end of my bed. “But I feel okay. I think I can get back to my …” Blaze is out there somewhere in the forest, all alone and thinking that I abandoned him. I go to tug the wires from my arm but Fox growls so fiercely, I jolt my hand away.
“You’re staying right here until the doctor confirms you’re well enough to leave.”
“But I need to get back to …” I trail off, chewing on my lip.
“You need to get back to …”
“How long have I been in here exactly?”
“Twelve hours.”
“Twelves hours!” I say, jerking up.
Blaze has been out in the forest on his own for twelve whole hours. He will most definitely think I’ve deserted him. Or he may come looking for me and then …
“I really have to go.”
“Briony!” Fox barks, so forcefully I drop back against the pillow. “The shadow weaver doctor spent five hours healing you. You were barely breathing. You had internal bleeding – including a bleed on the brain. You nearly died.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I mutter.
“The scars,” he growls. “Want to tell me aboutthose?”
