Chapter 47 That’s What Friends and Band-Aids Are For
AFTER I COLLAPSE ON THE grass, I don’t know how long it takes me to work up the will to move again, but it’s a long time. Long enough to realize I’m right in front of the arts building, and definitely long enough to wonder how Kyrian knew that this is where I need to be.
Every time I think about him getting up and pushing the big red button on the subway train, I know the timing wasn’t accidental.
He could have pushed it near the door to the forest where we first met—I’m convinced there’s one there and that’s how he disappeared.
Or we could have circled and he could have pushed it next to the trapdoor where I came in, or at what I’m guessing is any number of other doors.
So why this one? How did he know?
I should get up, should try to get to logic class and explain to Dr. Vicenzio what happened today—though I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to do that. What I do know is that I can’t just lie here forever, no matter how much I want to.
Especially since the doors to the arts building just burst open and I can hear a bunch of students talking as they make their way down the steps. The last thing I want to do is give them a reason to talk about me.
So, using a truly Herculean amount of effort, I sit up—just in time for Fifi to catch sight of me and scream—which is exactly what I was hoping to avoid.
“Ellie!” she shouts as she races down the stairs to me.
Arjun, in the meantime, just vaults over the edge of the banister and lands in the grass beside me.
Not going to lie—I didn’t think he had it in him. Also, it feels kind of nice knowing I’ve got a friend willing to risk limb, if not life, to get to me.
“Nice move,” I tell him as he crouches down to look me in the face.
“Not so nice bruises,” he answers back. “What happened to you?”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“I bet,” he snorts as he lifts a hand to my cheek. “Is that a scratch?”
“Maybe. Or maybe it’s a snake bite. I—”
“Oh my gods, Ellie!” Fifi screeches as she drops to her knees beside me and throws her arms around me. “I’ve texted you a million times. Are you all right?” She pulls back, studies my face. “You don’t look all right.”
“I’m fine,” I tell her, and it’s true. Besides being the truly exhausted recipient of about a dozen snakebites, I feel fine. Confused, but fine.
Which means the snakes really weren’t venomous, considering I’m pretty sure I’d be dead by now if they were. Especially since Underworld snakes seem way more aggressive than any of the others I’ve encountered since getting to Anaximander’s.
“I think we should go to the infirmary.” She stands up, then grabs my hands and drags me to my feet.
“And tell them what?” Arjun asks, brows raised.
“I don’t know. How about the truth?” She looks bewildered.
The responsible Penelope who believes in following the rules and doing all the right things knows she’s right.
But there’s another part of me, the part that keeps seeing that woman’s face—that keeps hearing Kyrian’s voice—that tells me I shouldn’t tell anyone but my two best friends what just happened to me.
That, maybe, I shouldn’t even tell Paris.
The thought stuns me even as it makes me feel really gross inside.
Paris and I aren’t the closest twins in the world, but before we got to Anaximander’s, I never would have dreamed of keeping something like this from him.
Now, though, I’m not so sure. Not when he’s got Rhea hanging off his arm—and his every word—whenever I see him.
“I don’t need to go see Dr. Henning,” I tell her as I move toward the stairs. My overworked leg muscles scream in agony with every step I take. “I want to go talk to Dr. Vicenzio and try to see if he’ll let me take my logic test even though I missed class.”
“We already did that for you,” Arjun tells me. “He said you can make it up on Thursday.”
“Seriously? How’d you convince him to let me do that?”
“We told him you were sick,” Fifi says, looking me up and down. “We didn’t know when we’d see you again, so we got you excused from all three classes today.”
Relief sweeps through me. Just because I’m suddenly willing to keep secrets from a few authority figures doesn’t mean I want to get a bad grade. I’ve never gotten a zero in my life, and I definitely don’t want to start now.
“You really are the best, you know that?”
Arjun smiles, but Fifi’s face becomes a thundercloud. “Oh, yeah. Well, I’m about to be the worst if you don’t tell me where you’ve been. And how you got all these cuts.”
“I can tell you this much,” I say as we start walking toward Aphrodite Hall. “It involves a lot of snakes.”
“More snakes?” she yells, then lowers her voice as people turn to look at us. “Bites?” she ends with a whisper.
“It’s a long story.”
“Good thing we’ve got all day then, isn’t it?” she shoots back.
“I have all day. You guys have to get to your second class.”
Fifi and Arjun exchange a look before Fifi turns back to me, her voice filled with outrage.
“If you actually think we’re going to leave you like this, Penelope Weaver, then I don’t think you’ve ever had a best friend before.
I mean, seriously. You’re soaking wet, covered in cuts and snake cooties, and I’m pretty sure that’s a black eye you’ve got forming. ”
“A black eye, really?” For the first time, I realize my eye actually does hurt. I wonder when I got it? Maybe when I fell headfirst out of the slide.
“For real?” Fifi rolls her eyes. “That’s what you got out of what I said?”
“I also got that you called me Penelope for the first time ever.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” she snorts as she marches me around the cafeteria and onto the path that leads to Aphrodite Hall. “Drastic times call for drastic measures.”
I think about dangling above the darkness as I tried to climb out of the Underworld. “You’ve got that right.”
We pass a bunch of people on the path, so none of us say much until we’re safely back in our room. Once we’re there, Fifi locks the door, turns to me, and says, “Go change into a tank top and shorts so I can clean up those bites while you tell us what happened.”
“I’m sure they’re fine—”
“Go!” she orders, hands on her hips and eyes narrowed. “Or I’m going straight to Dr. Dione’s office and telling her everything,”
“But you don’t know everything—”
“Do not mess with me on this, Ellie!” She marches over to my dresser and yanks out a set of clothes for me. Then points me toward the bathroom and says, “Go.”
I know I should be annoyed that she’s bossing me around like this, but the truth is, I kind of like it.
No one in my whole life has ever defended me so fiercely—especially from myself—and it’s kind of nice to know I’ve got someone in my corner, no matter what. Even if that someone is a little bossy.
So I do what she says, and when I come out, Arjun’s sitting in her desk chair and Fifi is sitting on my bed, waiting for me with her first aid kit. Something tells me I’m not getting out of this until I’m covered in rainbow, heart, and unicorn bandages.
The fact that they both turn pale the second they see me only reinforces that belief.
“Just how many bites are there?” Arjun asks, eyes wide with alarm. “Maybe we should go to the infirmary.”
“I’m fine. Just help me clean them, please.”
They exchange another look, but in the end Fifi says, “Fine. As long as you’re sure none of the snakes were venomous.”
“I mean, I’m still alive and I feel fine, so—”
“Oh my gods, Ellie! You’re not exactly encouraging me not to call Dr. Henning,” she shoots back.
Since that’s the last thing I want right now, I assure her, “The snakes really were all nonvenomous, I swear.”
I turn pleading eyes on Arjun. He doesn’t look any more impressed by my explanation than Fifi does, but in the end he nods reluctantly. “She’s right, Fifi. If a venomous snake bit her she’d be in way worse shape by now.”
“Okay, fine. But if you so much as blink wrong, I’m dragging you to the infirmary whether you like it or not.
” She nods for me to sit, then opens the bottle of peroxide and pours a ton of it on my cheek.
I hiss out a breath, but she ignores me as she starts swabbing at the bites. “Tell us everything that happened.”
“I will as soon as you stop trying to peel my skin off with a cotton ball!”
“It’s a gauze pad, thank you very much. And I’m trying to make sure they heal properly.
You don’t want scratches all over you for the festival this weekend.
” She opens up a tie-dyed bandage and slaps it on my newly cleaned cheek.
“And whining isn’t going to get you out of this. So show me your arm and start talking.”
I’ve known Fifi long enough to figure out when she means business, so I hold my arm out to her. And then I tell my two best friends everything.