He scowled. "Like I said, no big deal."
Shelton and I took the lift back to the university, and I showed him the house. Bella came running from her room the moment she heard his voice.
She looked at him, her eyes soft. "I'm glad to see you, Harry."
"Don't even start with the Scrabble," he warned, looking around the cavernous den. "I used to come here for parties back in the day." He shivered. "But I heard this place was haunted."
"Is the mighty Harry Shelton scared?" Bella said, her eyes twinkling.
"Pssht. No, I just think this place has seen better days."
"What made you decide to come back?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Got bored."
"Bored, huh?" Bella blurred down the stairs at supernatural speed and thudded into Shelton, nearly picking him up off the floor with an enthusiastic hug. "You're so adorable when you try to act macho and cool."
He struggled, but was no match for the petite woman and her dhampyric strength. "Woman, put me down."
She giggled and set him back on the floor. "I knew you were a good man." She winked. "Even if you are terrible at Scrabble."
"I hate to break up the good mood," I said, "but Lina collapsed when we were out, Bella." "Oh, goodness, we have to go see her," she said.
It was all piling up in my head. Nightliss, Mom, and now Lina. Despite having Shelton back, the weight on my shoulders felt heavier than ever. How long did Nightliss have? How the hell could I find Ivy?
The three of us visited Lina.
Healer Hutchins, the same woman who'd treated me and MacLean was checking on another patient when we walked in. She saw me and quirked an eyebrow.
Shelton's eyes went a little wide, and he turned to grab a copy of Arcane Daily from the scroll rack, unrolling the yellowed parchment as if the juicy centerfold of a cute female Arcane waited somewhere on the page.
The healer approached us, her eyes glancing between me and Bella. "You again. Find anymore unconscious professors in the hallway?"
"Uh, no, actually one of my friends collapsed." I nodded my head at Lina's bed where she lay asleep. "She was looking really tired. I thought it was just from studying too hard."
"I see you've moved to rescuing girls now." An amused smile flickered across her lips. "You're either a knight in shining armor, or you get your kicks from knocking people out and bringing them to me."
I offered her an uneasy smile because I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. "She's been practicing her magic too hard. Is it possible she has magic poisoning?"
Hutchins shook her head. "You remember these children you saw the last time you were in here?" She looked at the beds where the same kids lay, their faces waxen, eyes surrounded by dark bruises.
I looked at Lina and immediately noticed the similarities. "Wait, are you saying Lina has the same thing?" I asked.
"It's possible." The healer crossed an arm over her stomach. "Her cells are absolutely saturated with magic. Unlike magic poisoning which occurs from within, this has happened from an outside source."
Bella pressed a kiss to Lina's forehead. "Poor sweet girl."
Shelton glanced back from his magazine and sighed. He walked to Bella, and put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure the kid just overdid it. Heck, I remember a time or two I passed out—"
Healer Hutchins's head snapped toward Shelton. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the incorrigible Harry Shelton."
"You know him?" I asked, realizing that with Shelton's apparent notoriety at the university, it was probably a stupid question.
"Oh, Harry was a regular here in the infirmary." Her eyes narrowed. "And that's not including his victims."
"Victims?" Bella turned a shocked look to Shelton.
"I'm all grown up now," Shelton said with a groan. "Don't we have more important things to discuss?"
Hutchins waved a hand and turned to a filing cabinet. "Of course. I'm not sure there's enough time in one life to discuss everything you've done anyway." She pulled open a drawer on the cabinet. It extended further and further, every inch packed tight with manila folders. She continued to pull the drawer open until it stretched nearly across the room. It seemed the otherwise ordinary-looking filing cabinet should topple over from the weight at any moment, though it never did. Once I finally found a home again, as opposed to living in Shelton's secret hideouts, I decided I could definitely use a sock drawer with an enchantment like that.
Hutchins finally stopped pulling, fingers flicking through the folders. "Ah, here it is." She withdrew a green folder. "I remembered it being color coded because it was so odd." She licked a finger and flipped through the pages until she reached the picture of a boy about middle-school age. His closed eyes were sunken, and he looked as if he hadn't slept for days.
I sucked in a breath. "Holy crap. It looks like the same thing. Did they figure out what was wrong with him?"
She glanced over the pages. Shook her head. "No. They found him in the Burrows after he'd gone missing for two days. His case is why they barred access to those tunnels."
"They used to be dungeons, right?" I asked, remembering what Lina had told me.
Hutchins nodded. "Even though they never found the cause, the administration determined some form of dark magic used for torturing prisoners might still linger there, and decided it was safer to close the place off rather than risk any further harm to students."
I picked up the picture of the boy. Behind it lay the portrait of how he had been before the incident, young, smiling, his rosy cheeks slightly plump. My eyes flicked to Lina. She looked like someone who hadn't slept for two days. The kid in the picture looked like he hadn't slept or eaten for a week. Was this what lay in store for Lina? I was just about to ask the fate of the boy in the picture when I saw the next page. The boy's name was Toby Peterson. Someone else, perhaps a doctor or more likely an uncaring bureaucrat had stamped a big red word across the page beneath Toby's name.
DECEASED.
Chapter 31
After badgering Healer Hutchins with more medical questions, she made it clear Lina might recover. Toby had lain for two days in the Burrows before receiving medical care while Lina had received almost immediate attention. The healer also made something else clear—she didn't know how to treat the condition. And then she kicked us out.
"The girl needs her rest, and I need all my concentration," she said before shutting the door behind us with a sense of finality.
I took a few steps down the hall before dropping onto a bench. I felt at a complete loss for what to do next. "Nightliss is dying, Lina and those kids might be dying, Daelissa is hell-bent on finding the Cyrinthian Rune and reopening the Alabaster Arch, my sister wants to convert me to the dark side and—and..." I gave Shelton and Bella a hopeless look. "I'm so confused. What do I do? Who do I help first?"
"Why, there's no question," Bella said, her eyes full of concern. "We should find out what happened to Lina."
"We can't do anything for Nightliss," Shelton said. "Unless your mom decides to play hero again."
"The Conroys are holding her in an astral prison," I told him.
Shelton gave me a surprised look. "When did you find that out?"
"Ivy told us," Bella said.
"That little bi—brat," Shelton said with some difficulty. "We've got to take her out of the equation."
"Do you suggest killing a little girl?" Bella asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," Shelton replied, sarcasm heavy in his voice. "Because killing kids is how I roll."
Ivy had nothing to do with Mom's imprisonment, but would she know how or be willing to help me free her? Would I have a better shot at convincing her to save Nightliss? No chance in hell. She thinks Darklings are evil. If I couldn't count on Mom or Ivy, I had to concentrate on finding the angel inside of me. Then I could cure Nightliss and hopefully myself.
Bella looked around the empty hall. "Perhaps we shouldn't discuss such things here."
I was about to comment on how empty the place was and how unlikely it was anyone would overhear us, then remembered Billy and his gang, not to mention Bigglesworth. "What's to keep our stalkers from listening to us at our new digs?" I asked.
"We ward the ever-lovin' crap out of it," Shelton said.
Once home, Bella and Shelton chose a large, empty room off the east hallway of the first floor, and plastered protective wards against eavesdropping and intrusion around it. According to Bella, it was a lot easier than warding the entire house.
I was ready to stumble to bed before they finished, but they made me watch in the hopes I might actually learn something. Instead, my mind ran circles around the many issues plaguing my wonderful life.
"I doubt it," Shelton said, his words penetrating the asteroid field of frowny faces circling my brain.
I snapped out of my reverie and became aware of him and Bella staring at me, arms crossed. "Did I miss something?" I asked.
"Only everything we told you about laying wards," Bella replied. She sighed. "I certainly hope you pay better attention in class."
"I can't help it." I jumped out of my chair and threw my hands up. "I feel like everything is on my shoulders, and I don't have a clue what to do."
"I believe I have one part of the solution," Bella said.
"And that is?"
"Obviously, we kidnap your sister," the dhampyr said without missing a beat. "At best, she can heal Nightliss. At worst, we could use her in trade for your mother."
"No," I said, surprised by how quickly the objection sprang to my lips.
They raised eyebrows at me.
"I've been talking to her. Getting to know her," I explained. "Maybe I can get through to her and convince her to help us."