Chapter 25 The Splinter
Chapter twenty-five
The Splinter
“Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
Hailey had no intention of going to the hospital, partly because it was just a cut and only needed a Band– Aid; partly because she didn’t want to contract flesh-eating Zombitis; but mostly because Asher had ordered her to go there, and she had no intention of doing anything he said.
So, instead of heading directly to the hospital like a good little Envoy’s possession, she headed to room 210 for her next class in weights and measurements, walking stubbornly on her heel so she didn’t leave bloody footprints in her wake.
Room 210 had a wall of windows, and she found a seat next to one of them, watching as the scenery swayed with the wind.
Olde Main leaned and tilted under her feet, but something about the in-between made it feel as if it weren’t moving at all…
most of the time. Every now and then a piece of chalk would slide off the tray under the board at the front of the room.
For the entire class, Hailey watched the chalk slide back and forth, trying and failing to will the throbbing pain out of her foot.
In fact, the only thing she succeeded in doing was missing the lecture as the ache spread to her ankle.
Hopping into her third class of the day several minutes early, she was delighted to see the un-friendliest face she knew. She limped directly over to Giselle and collapsed in the chair next to her.
“You look like hell,” Giselle said, her hands folded on the table they shared. “Where’re your shoes?”
Hailey shook her head, feeling too sluggish to answer, and Giselle stared at Fin’s jersey.
“Tell me you did not spend the night with Pádraig.” She grabbed Hailey’s shoulder. “I told you, he’s an asshole.”
“I didn’t,” she almost yelled. Then she rolled her eyes. “I got locked out of our room, locked out of the laundry room, and a poltergeist stole all my clothes and all my books and my boots.” Hailey huffed loudly. “Plus, I think Asher’s peeved at me, and nothing is going right today.”
Giselle’s jaw fell open in jagged-toothed disbelief.
“You did not see Asher wearing those clothes.” Her head pulsated; her nostrils flared.
She grabbed a fistful of Fin’s jersey. “He thinks you woke up with Pádraig, you idiot. Why else would you be wearing his clothes—his JERSEY.” She flung the jersey away.
“You better go explain this to him like five minutes ago. I’m surprised he hasn’t had you removed already—or worse. ”
Hailey dropped her head into her hands and moaned. Of course! That’s why he didn’t want to look at her.
“Ouch!” Hailey yelped unintentionally. It was like a hot knife pushed through her foot.
“Are you hurt?” Giselle asked incredulously.
“I—no—it’s just a scratch,” Hailey breathed, shifting her foot to hide her bloody sock.
“Let me see that.” She bent down and snatched Hailey’s foot up, ripping the sock off, and pulling the wound open.
“Ahhhh!” Hailey yelled.
“Shut up.” Dropping Hailey’s foot on the desk, Giselle ran to the corner of the room, grabbed an Indispensable first aid kit, and returned looking like a woman on a mission.
“You have a carnivorous splinter,” she said as she pulled a lighter and a large pair of tweezers from the kit. “You have to get it out before it takes root around your bone, or else you’ll lose your entire leg.”
“What? Well, get it out!”
“I will. Hold still,” she said grabbing Hailey’s foot again. “It’s already burrowed pretty deep.” Giselle looked up. “You need to go to the hospital—you need a painkiller,” she said, slamming the tweezers on the desk and crossing her arms.
“I am not going to the hospital.”
“Whatever. It’s your leg.”
“Giselle,” Hailey pleaded irritably. She shoved the tweezers back into her roommate’s hand. “Just yank it out.”
Giselle studied her for a moment.
“Fine. Hold still. It’ll probably latch onto a chunk of muscle, and they usually spaz and barb when they’re threatened. This is going to hurt. Don’t pass out.”
Holding the tweezers in one hand and Hailey’s foot with the other, Giselle went to work.
First, she ripped Hailey’s foot in two—at least that’s what it felt like, and Hailey let out a screech that made the whole class stare.
Then Giselle plunged the tweezers through her foot until they hit her bone, whereupon she clamped onto the bone and ripped it out along with a tendon that broke loose from the back of Hailey’s heel, rolled up like a blind and dragged the arch of her foot out with it.
Holding the teeny wooden stake up triumphantly, Giselle whizzed a roll of gauze at Hailey.
“Hold pressure on your foot—I have to burn this thing.” She held a lighter to the carnivorous splinter, which screamed like a boiled lobster.
Hailey held her breath to stop the agony inside her foot. It didn’t work. And as she lost consciousness, she heard Giselle cussing her out.
“Oh no you don’t, I told you—shit!”
“…why you won’t just heal her foot…” A familiar voice trailed in and out as Hailey opened her eyes.
“She must ask for such a favor,” Asher answered sharply, and Hailey blinked, recognizing the naked bed under her as her own.
“Well, you’re a real gentleman, Asher,” Fin said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. And then he proceeded to mock the Envoy in an overly dramatic and holier-than-thou voice. “Beg for forgiveness, and I shall heal you. You’re such a romantic. Make sure you tell her she’ll be your slave for eternity.”
The next thing Hailey heard was a choking noise, and she turned her head to see Asher holding Fin up by his throat, pinning him against her closet.
“It’s nice to see you two getting along,” she mumbled.
Dropping Fin, Asher turned to face her.
Fin stood up and cleared his throat.
They both glared at her.
“I told you to go to the hospital!” they yelled in unison, one pointing at her foot, and the other in a southern direction.
Looking from one angry face to the other, Hailey scooted back from them in her bed. Then she surveyed her foot, which was still attached and nicely bandaged.
“I didn’t need the hospital,” she shrugged. “Giselle got the splinter out just fine.”
She looked at her roommate’s bed and the ceiling above it then the floor in front of it, but Giselle wasn’t home.
Asher stepped toward her, looking angrier than she’d ever seen him, his eyes pools of dark violet.
Looking up at him, Hailey frowned as she imagined his smooth voice full of scorn. But he said nothing. Instead, he simply turned and walked out, leaving Hailey with all of the guilt and none of the balancing anger she would’ve had if he had chewed her out.
Fin sat on the bed, and Hailey scooted next to him.
“He’s going to lock me up,” she said objectively, “or expel me.”
Fin patted her leg. “I don’t think so.” He nodded at her desk.
There, in a neat tower, sat all of her books, a box of vibrating crystals, a pair of Indispensable Magnoggles, a vial of gold dust and next to that, a stack of Bear Towne sweats.
A new pair of wellies stood on the floor in front of it all.
“Did you find my books?” she asked excitedly.
“No,” he answered in a long, drawn-out monotone. “Asher brought you new ones.” Fin threw his arm out, looking thoroughly one-upped. “Tell you what,” he said turning his charming smile to her. “I’ll drive you into town on Thursday after your music class, and you can do some shopping.”
Closing her eyes, Hailey smiled and threw her arms around him.
He held her close, resting his forehead gently against hers for a long moment.
“Try to be more careful, okay?” he whispered, and then he kissed her cheek, got up, and left.
After the door closed, Hailey clutched her chest and stared at the floor.
He’s an asshole. Giselle’s voice grated inside her head, abruptly ending her swoon.
Rubbing her forehead, Hailey turned her attention to the pile of goodies on her desk and hobbled over to check them out.
Not only had Asher replaced all of her class materials, he’d added a book on mountaineering in Columbia with a note:
He’d also left an Indispensable flashlight, a first aid kit, and a vase full of wildflowers. Hailey shook her head at all of it, smiling sadly as she puzzled over Asher’s quirks.
Why was he so…so…grumpy? Clearly he cared about her, she thought as she gently touched a fireweed petal in the bouquet.
For the second night in a row, Giselle didn’t come home, and Hailey had no idea if she should be worried as she got ready for bed. There was nothing normal about Giselle. There was nothing normal about Bear Towne.
Unhooking the ghost trap from her window, Hailey carried it into the shower, hoping to snag the little brat that had stolen her clothes.
With her foot wrapped in a plastic bag and her senses on high alert, she moved her head under the faucet, and just as the spray hit her face, a slight vibration disturbed the air.
Pivoting on her bad heel, Hailey lunged into the changing stall, ghost trap in hand and clobbered the would-be brat over the head with it—which did absolutely nothing. In fact, the poltergeist paused only momentarily to point and laugh, and then it grabbed Hailey’s sweat pants and took off.
“Tomas!” she yelled, limping as fast as she could out of the stall. She didn’t care that she was naked—she was going to catch that little trouble-maker.
Tomas appeared in the mirrors, looking confused.
Hailey pointed to the brat on the ceiling, which taunted her by waving her sweat pants. “That urchin stole my pants again. Can you get them back?”
Tomas saluted and flew to the ceiling. A polter-scuffle took place there, and Hailey shook her head at the cartoonishly dramatic poofs of jagged smoke and tweety-birds that danced with them.
Finally, her sweat pants popped out and fell to the floor.
The brat wailed and flew away, and Tomas reappeared in the mirror, smiling victoriously.