2. Cory
2
CORY
“ C ory! Cory, over here!”
My head was still full of everything that had happened in combat class, but the sound of my name cut through the haze in my mind.
I looked to my right and saw Ash and Felix sitting at the end of a long line of chairs at the back of Vesperwood’s grand ballroom—one of the only rooms big enough to hold the entire student body, and the faculty and staff as well.
The ballroom was huge. High windows lined the walls, sending beams of stark winter light down onto students’ heads and the polished parquet floor. Frescoes covered the lower walls, along with tapestries that I suspected were worth more than all the real estate in Churchill, Iowa combined.
Students chattered excitedly in row upon row of seats. The whole room hummed with nervous energy, and the fact that there were eight professors posted around the room, looking worried and ready to do battle, wasn’t helping anyone relax.
I made my way over to my friends, still feeling light-headed. I offered a weak smile and sank down gratefully into a seat on Ash’s right.
“How are you?” he and Felix asked at the same time, but Ash’s line of questioning continued with, “You’re fine, right? You have to be fine. Cinda wouldn’t have let you go if you weren’t. Thank God, if you’d been infected, I’d be stuck hanging out with Felix all the time, and I might actually have to start listening to his lectures. A fate worse than death, am I right?”
He grinned brightly, though his smile was tight at the corners. Felix rolled his eyes behind him. “One assumes that if Cory had been infected, that you’d also feel bad for Cory , what with the whole impending death and madness thing.”
“Well, duh. That goes without saying.” Ash looked back at me. “But you are fine, right?”
I laughed shakily. “Yeah. All clear. Cinda said I was free to go.”
I was still trying to make sense of what had happened. One second, I’d been staring at the wadded up jacket Noah had shoved at me in the gym, and the next, there was this incredible heat right in front of me—all around me, really—and then this noise, like something wet and fleshy dragging across the floor—and then I’d looked up to see this…thing…in front of me.
It was humanoid, but very clearly wrong . Rows of jagged teeth instead of molars protruded from an elongated jaw, with canines that looked like they would prevent the creature’s snout from closing all the way. There were tears in the flesh of its chin, and the creature’s tongue, too long and covered in black sores that oozed yellow pus, dangled to its neck—until it flicked up and swiped back and forth in front of my face, like it was tasting the way I smelled.
The stench of it was appalling. Rotting flesh and fetid vegetable matter. Like roadkill left too long in the sun, decomposing by the side of a highway. Like a swamp belching gas from its putrid depths. I could hardly breathe from fear, and a tiny corner of my mind was grateful for that. The smell might have made me pass out otherwise.
The thing was tall. Too tall. It towered over me, with gangly limbs like stretched out taffy, if taffy were coated in pustules and leaked oil-slick droplets of blood and pus and—I couldn’t actually tell what that greenish fluid was, but rivulets of it ran from two torn-open scabs on the creature’s arms.
Its legs were mantis-like, long and thin, bent backwards at the knee like a goat’s. Its hands and feet ended in claws rather than fingers or toes, and as I stood there, scared stiff and completely useless, it brought one scaly, damp hand up to touch my cheek.
And then Noah was there, and the creature was dead at his feet. I couldn’t even tell you how he killed it. I was frozen, my mind refusing to take in what was happening right in front of me. The raven had shown up again too, and it clucked at the carcass in disgust as Noah turned his attention to me.
I saw fear in Noah’s eyes. Plain and simple. He didn’t even try to hide it. The disgust he’d had for the creature had transferred to me, too, and something inside me crumbled. I didn’t want Noah to look at me that way.
I hadn’t even understood what he said to me at first. I heard frantic syllables, but my clumsy brain couldn’t turn them into words. And then Noah touched me. Put his hands on his skin, forced his way through his disgust until he was sure of…I still wasn’t clear what he wanted to be sure of, to be honest.
What was clear was that Noah wanted nothing to do with me. He’d jerked his hands away from mine like they burned, then sent me up to the infirmary with Erika, unable to even look at me.
Did he know what I was? Did the dean tell him I was an incubus? Maybe he thought I was just some rabid dog to be put down, like Sean. Maybe he thought I was going to go berserk and attack the class like those creatures had.
“Moraghin,” Keelan had gasped as he and Min staggered into the infirmary, carrying Erika between them. “In Combat class.”
Cinda looked up from her desk, her warm brown eyes widening, and her brows climbed her scalp as the pair of them explained what had happened in Combat.
“They’re all dead now. Noah—that is, Professor Braverman—he killed them. But he wanted you to examine Erika.”
Min’s voice was reverent, like she was still picturing the way Noah had moved in the gym. Faster than I would have believed, if I hadn’t seen it myself.
“Get her to the cot,” Cinda said briskly. She sent a glance in my direction, then gestured to a chair against the far wall. “Sit there until I have time for you.”
As soon as Erika was lying on the cot, free of the jackets that had been wrapping her, Cinda murmured something that made a light blue aura spring up around Erika’s supine form. Keelan leaned forward as if to inspect it more closely.
“Stay back,” Cinda snapped, her curly hair whipping around as she held a hand up to keep Keelan away.
“Do you think she’s been infected?” Keelan asked.
“I don’t know yet. But unless you’d like to spend the next two days unconscious, I suggest you refrain from entering the containment area.”
Min motioned Keelan back, and they both murmured apologies as they leaned against the wall.
Cinda bent over Erika and began undressing her, doing it carefully so her body was covered with a blanket the whole time. She held each article of Erika’s clothing by her fingertips, and she looked like she wished she had a pair of tongs.
She dumped Erika’s clothes on the floor, then began waving her hands in complicated gestures over Erika’s body, muttering things that I didn’t understand at all. Min and Keelan’s jaws dropped, though, so I assumed whatever magic she was doing was impressive. It was fifteen minutes before Cinda turned around.
“Is she okay?” Min asked. “I don’t think any of the moraghin bit her, just knocked her out.”
“I’m not prepared to make an pronouncement yet either way,” Cinda said. “But I’m satisfied that she’s stable. For now, at least.” Cinda turned to me, her dark brown eyes assessing me. “Which means I can finally deal with you. What brings you here, Cory? Because if it’s anything less than an axe to the skull, I’m afraid I don’t have time for you today.”
“Oh, I—I mean, I’m sure I—I’m probably fine.” I stood up hastily. “Noah told me to come up here, but I don’t want to keep you from Erika if she needs you.”
“Professor Braverman told you to come here? You were in class with them?” Cinda said, tilting her head towards Min and Keelan.
I nodded, and Min offered, “A moragh attacked him too.”
“Well for heaven’s sake, why didn’t you say so ?” Cinda looked at me in disbelief. “You could be infected too.”
“I’m not. That is, Noah checked and said—”
“I’m sure he did,” Cinda interrupted, “but with all due respect to Professor Braverman, he’s not a Healer. He’s not even a witch. I’ll need to make my own assessment.”
She walked over to where I sat and drew a curtain I hadn’t noticed before around us, creating a little bit of privacy. I was still clutching the jacket Noah had given me, but she made me set it down and strip so she could inspect me thoroughly. I felt like I’d been doing a lot of that lately, but at least her interest in me was purely clinical. After I put my clothes back on, she told me I was free to go.
“You don’t need to do a spell or make me all blue?” I asked. I’d been expecting more, after seeing how she’d treated Erika.
“Are you a Healer now too?” she asked, and I flushed. Her expression softened. “Erika suffered a skin-breaking wound. I won’t know for a little while longer if it’s been infected with any fluids from the moraghin. The spells I used on her aren’t necessary for you, and you should consider yourself lucky they’re not.”
“Oh.” My flush deepened. “Yeah, thank you. Do you need my clothes or something? They’re kind of…”
I trailed off, gesturing at myself. Everything I was wearing had been sprayed with blood when Noah had killed that thing in the gym.
Cinda shook her head. “Once their blood has dried, it’s no longer harmful to you. But I’d recommend burning your clothes nonetheless. It’s not easy to get those stains out.”
As she pushed the curtain back to let me leave, Vesperwood’s bell rang out. I looked instinctively at the clock on the wall and realized it was late. It should have peeled fourteen times for the start of dinner ten minutes ago. This time, it only rang once, and was followed by a crystalline, woman’s voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
All students report to the ballroom for an urgent meeting. All students report to the ballroom for an urgent meeting.
“That means you three,” Cinda said, gesturing towards the door. “Off with you.”
“But, Erika—” Min said. “What if she’s infected?”
“What happened to Erika will not be clear for a while yet. But if moraghin managed to attack you here on campus, you will be safer in the company of the rest of the student body. Straight to the ballroom, mind—no stops along the way.”
She didn’t seem at all perturbed by the thought that we were leaving her up there by herself, with someone who might have been infected.
Been infected with what , I wondered as I trailed Keelan and Min to the ballroom. They split off and headed to the left side of the room as soon as we entered. I followed their progress with my eyes and saw them come to a stop in front of Dean Mansur and Noah.
I was grateful Ash had called my name, giving me an excuse not to follow Keelan and Min. The way Noah had looked at me, back in the gym—I didn’t need to relive that. I gave Felix and Ash a rundown of what had happened in the infirmary, and saw relief wash over both their faces.
“That’s good,” Ash said, and I only realized he’d been clutching Felix’s hand when he let it go.
“Really good,” Felix echoed.
“That’s what everyone keeps saying, but I’m still not sure what any of this means,” I said. “What’s a moraghin?”
“Moragh,” Felix said. “Moraghin is the plural. As for what they are…well, no one’s exactly sure. Or at least, no one’s sure where the first one came from. Nowadays, your average moragh used to be one of us.”
“Well, a witch.” Ash wrinkled his nose. “Not one of us us, as witches will be quick to remind you.” He pointed between Felix and himself as he said that.
“But how does a witch become a moragh?”
“By infection.” Felix’s tone was somber. “A moragh is a walking disease vector. If a witch has any open wounds or cuts, just a drop of blood or bodily fluid from a moragh is enough to turn them. The moment the infection enters their bloodstream…” he sighed heavily. “It’s not pretty.”
“And that’s assuming they live long enough to be turned.” For once, Ash sounded as serious as Felix. “Most of the time, moraghin don’t leave enough of you behind for that to be relevant.”
“But what do they want?” I asked.
“Magic,” Felix said, but before he could continue, a stir ran through the ballroom, followed by a hush.
I looked up to see Dean Mansur standing at the front of the room. Noah was still on the left-side wall, arms folded, face stony. He looked strange with all his knife sheaths empty.
“Students,” the dean said, his voice resonant but grim. “By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard the news. A small number of moraghin breached Vesperwood’s wards and attacked a group of students in Professor Braverman’s Combat class this afternoon.”
Maybe everyone had heard, but a ripple ran through the student body nonetheless. I heard whispers of ‘ moraghin ’ and ‘ Erika, a freshman ’ from the rows around us. I was glad no one seemed to have noticed my blood-splattered clothes. I hadn’t had time to change out of them yet.
“All students who were in close contact with the moraghin are undergoing thorough evaluation by Cinda in the infirmary. We will keep you apprised of anything you need to know in that regard.”
“That’s a fancy way of saying they’re not going to tell us shit,” Ash said under his breath. Felix poked his leg and shot him a look that clearly said, ‘ Hush .’
“The most important thing to know is that the moraghin have been dealt with, and your professors are actively manning the wards to ensure another such incursion does not occur. You are safe and will remain so. We are launching an investigation into how the moraghin were able to enter Vesperwood’s grounds, and we will take all necessary measures to guarantee your safety moving forward.”
Dean Mansur scanned the room, his dark eyes steely. “Until further notice, increased security will be posted at all buildings on Vesperwood’s campus. All undergraduate students will abide by the underclassmen curfew, and be in their rooms by ten p.m. This includes students residing in haven quarters outside the manor. And as an extra precaution, Imbolc celebrations will be held inside this year.
This caused a larger ripple of reaction, accompanied by some aggrieved groans and, ‘ Come on’s. ’
“We’re not children ,” called a male voice from across the room.
“And are we any safer inside or with professors?” added a female one. “I mean, weren’t the first years in a class when the moraghin attacked?”
“Yeah, but it was only with—”
“Enough,” the dean said.
His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it cut off the objections and discussion before it could go any further.
“I understand that these policies will be unpopular, and I hope they will be of short duration, but we must all use the utmost caution going forward. Our task at Vesperwood is to prepare you to enter the world as responsible, critical-thinking adults who use their powers to serve others and to keep the vulnerable safe. If you cannot understand the need for caution at this juncture, then we have already failed.”
His severe gaze swept the room. “Have we failed?”
No one spoke. No one even coughed. Someone’s chair creaked, and it echoed through the silence of the room.
“Good,” Dean Mansur said. “That will be all. Dismissed.”