Chapter 23 Orientation
Chapter twenty-three
Orientation
"The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Fin used his master key to unlock Jaycen’s door. They found her lying on the floor, covered in a film of blood and writhing in agony.
“Oh—thank goodness—you came, Pádraig—you have—to help me,” she breathed, her voice hitching. She pulled her knees to her chest in a tight hug and wailed.
Hailey stood by the door, wringing her hands as they spoke.
“I brought Hailey, Jaycen,” he said, unmoved by her pleas. “…so that you can apologize…” he added when she didn’t respond.
“I will,” she moaned. “After you untie my soul…okay?”
“Are we forgetting you drove a wooden stake through my heart?”
“That was so long ago, I can’t even believe you’re bringing it up,” Jaycen muttered into the floor, as she heaved and arched. Then she curled herself into the fetal position.
“That was two years ago,” Fin corrected. “You know how long it takes a heart to work a splinter out? I’ll give you a hint. It’s longer than two years.”
Jaycen let out a howl. “Pádraig, you have to help me.”
“Alright,” he said sarcastically. “Go to church and learn how to be a good person.”
“I am a good person,” she said sharply, rolling onto her back and letting out guttural moan.
“No,” Fin countered. “You act like a good person. You need to learn how to actually be one. And when you figure that out, your soul will untie itself.”
“I can’t,” she cried. “It hurts too much!”
“Then I guess you’re screwed,” he said, devoid of sympathy. “Bye-bye, Jaycen.”
Fin took Hailey’s hand and pulled her out the door.
“Well, that was a colossal waste of time,” he told her. “Sorry—I should’ve known, but I thought I’d give her a chance to help herself by confessing and apologizing.” He squeezed Hailey’s hand. “Alright, let’s go.”
Hailey stood frozen outside Jaycen’s door. “Fin, I’m just not sure she lured me into that thing,” Hailey said. “I mean, I jumped in all by myself to help her. She couldn’t have known I would do that.”
“Look, Hailey,” Fin said, taking her hands and looking her in the eye. “Jaycen is a very manipulative person, and she’s a skilled student. She should’ve extracted herself immediately from that thing.”
Hailey still wasn’t convinced, and Fin could see it in her eyes.
He pointed emphatically at Jaycen’s door. “Jaycen is a monster. She saw you coming, and she knew you’d try to save her—Hailey, she told me all this, and she deserves what she got.”
“You don’t think Asher was a little hard on her?”
“I actually agree with Asher,” Fin said, reluctantly.
“What?”
“Hailey, Jaycen’s soul is black. She’s lucky it’s still with her. Asher saved her life by tying her up. Now, she has no choice but to tend to her soul. He’s saving her from an eternity in Hell.”
“It’s just…” Hailey shook her head. “If Asher punishes everyone that talks to me, I’ll never have any friends here.”
“You got me,” he suggested.
“You talk to me all the time,” she observed. “How come he doesn’t punish you?” Fin cast a half-smile at her and winked.
“Oh!” Hailey’s hand flew to her lips. “He does!” she gasped. “Only you heal fast—oh, I’m so sorry!”
“No worries, Hailey,” he said with an air of someone who truly didn’t care. “Totally worth the searing pain. Besides, Asher is an ass, and it pisses him off royally when I don’t do what he says.” He laughed, and Hailey tried to smile as they made their way back to Eureka, but she was just sick.
“I’m surprised you still talk to me.”
“Don’t worry, Hailey,” Fin said coolly. “Asher and I have a gentleman’s agreement now—so, no more punishments for talking to you.”
“What’s the agreement?”
“We agreed not to tell you,” he said mysteriously.
“Why?”
“Don’t worry about it, okay?” he said soothingly. “He does still get into my head sometimes, though,” Fin continued, more seriously.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ll be doing something he strongly disapproves of, and then before I know it, I’m driving through Montana wondering why I left you after Holly’s funeral.” He opened Eureka’s door and waved her in.
Pausing in the doorway, Hailey looked at him with an open-mouthed frown.
“He made you leave me?”
Fin shrugged. “I told you. He’s an ass.”
“Did Asher ever tie your soul?” asked Hailey heavily, and she pressed her hands to her stomach.
“No, actually,” Fin said, raising his eyebrows.
“He untied it—well, he taught me how to untie it—it was years ago—probably sorry he ever did too,” he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Don’t get me wrong, Hailey, he’s a monster, but he has done a few good deeds during his time on Earth,” he said grudgingly.
Still Hailey held her stomach.
“Hey,” he said, bumping her shoulder as they came to Eureka. “Why so glum?”
“Who tied your soul, Fin?”
“Adalwolf,” he said simply. He opened his mouth to say something she couldn’t wait to hear, but he snapped it shut again when they reached the third-floor landing. Jaw set, he surveyed his broken door and glanced inside his room.
Stooping to peek under his shoulder, Hailey saw what looked like the aftermath of a grenade blast where Fin’s room should have been.
“Giselle!” he yelled, his face going red, and Giselle sulked, arms folded, into the hallway to meet him.
“What?” she barked.
Fin pointed at his door, which hung crooked, attached to the frame by one hinge.
“Fix that door,” he said to her through clenched teeth, and then he pointed inside his room. “And clean up that mess.”
“No,” she said, crossing her arms again like a spoiled brat.
Fin grabbed her by her ear, and she whimpered.
“Do you want to spend another semester in the cage?” he threatened.
“No!” she yelled back at him, still sounding slightly petulant.
“Then fix that mess, go to your room, sit on your bed, and read your magazine.”
“Fine!” she spat, and Fin let her go.
Giselle stomped inside Fin’s room, and Hailey had no idea how, but she created a small tornado.
Standing in the center of it, Giselle lifted her arms as her gray hair whipped around in all directions.
When she dropped her arms again, the wind died, and Fin’s room was back in order.
On her way out, she kicked the door, which creaked and cracked and righted itself onto its hinges.
“Good job,” Fin said like an impatient father. “Now get the hell out of here, Satan.”
He turned to Hailey as Giselle stormed off.
“Holy crap,” Hailey breathed.
“I know. She’s a pain in the ass.”
“What the heck is she?” Hailey demanded. “And what’s the cage?”
“She’s a bitch,” he said, angrily, “and there’s a cage in the White Forest for non-humans who act like animals.
It’s literally a metal cage. They hate it.
You know,” he said, looking apologetic, “I tried to get you a normal roommate, but Asher thought it would be safer for you to room with a monster than a human. And by the way, he wants to see you.”
“Really?” Hailey asked.
“Yeah…” Fin’s voice trailed off, and he looked past Hailey to the stairwell, smiling warmly.
Turning, Hailey found yet another beautiful woman making her way toward Fin’s room. “Melody,” he said, pushing past Hailey to hug a voluptuous redhead.
“Pádraig,” she sang, thrusting her chest out when he stepped back.
Hailey cleared her throat, but they both ignored her and started down the stairs, chattering like little old ladies.
“Oh, but…” Her words dissolved into a sigh as Fin moved out of earshot, leaving Hailey with no idea if she was supposed to go find Asher or if he would come find her or what.
But she sure didn’t want to wait. Her list of questions about Bear Towne and the Envoys and ParaScience grew by the second, and Asher held answers to all of them.
Remembering the observatory was off limits to students, she figured she’d better just stick to her orientation schedule. That way, she wouldn’t miss any important Bear Towne information, and Asher would know exactly where to find her.
When Hailey opened her dorm room door, her one pair of sneakers—which had tapped out a flail-beat and secured her escape from the vacuum-glazed in-between—stood waiting. As soon as she stepped inside, the sneakers jumped up, ran into the hallway, pattered down the stairs, and fled out the door.
Looking longingly after them, she sighed heavily and closed her door. Now she had to wear sweat pants and rubber boots until she found a ride into town. Hopefully, Asher wouldn’t mind seeing her dressed like a clown.
“Oh…” she moaned, cringing inside as she imagined it.
Checking her closet, she found her glazed pants still on patrol, while her glazed t-shirt played solitaire on a tall shelf.
“Where’d you get a deck of cards?” she said, and the t-shirt shrugged.
Her box of broken crystals had gone—who knows where—and Giselle sat, reclined on her bed in silence behind her magazine.
Hailey reviewed her orientation schedule for the day. Even if she didn’t see Asher, the afternoon promised to be interesting with a group lunch scheduled at the Bruised Moose Café following a slew of bizarre orientation seminars at the Trinity Center, which she couldn’t wait to hear.
Hailey made her way into the seminar room and sat in a back corner just as the sky over Bear Towne opened up and unleashed a torrential downpour. Other students filed in. Some she recognized from the ParaScience campus tour, but they all sat at least five seats away from her in all directions.
The Pre-Med group began the day’s seminar with a presentation on staying healthy and a stark reminder that Hailey wasn’t in Pittsburgh anymore.
“Remember,” said the too-groomed man at the front of the room, “Bear Towne hospital is a teaching hospital that treats humans and non-humans alike, which sometimes leads to inadvertent mix-ups. Now,” he said holding up a superior finger as his nose also went in the air, “despite the rumors, we haven’t had an accidental transmutation in almost a decade. ”