Fate's Revenge (Twisted Fate, Book 4)

Chapter Seven

The infirmary wasn't at all like I expected it would be, having been remodeled with more beds since I'd come with Deryk to check on Tyler the first time I'd healed him.

Was that because more and more Dark Souls required accommodations?

The room was round and posh, like something set up for a college girl's slumber party. Queen sized beds were scattered evenly against the walls without curtains separating them for privacy, and each was littered with over-stuffed pillows in browns and greens to accentuate the uniform beige of the walls. The headiness of disinfectant that always made me nauseous was absent; rather, the freshness of the fruit basket on the counter of the desk directly in front of me permeated the air until my mouth watered.

Tyler was the only patient inside of the infirmary, lying in a bed to the left of the doorway. There were no IV's or monitors to provide updates on his condition, and I immediately felt stupid for psyching myself out. Of course, the Dark Souls couldn't actually get sick, what with being dead and all. How would doctors check the heartrate of someone whose heart didn't beat? Energy fueled them and, if what Justine had said was to be believed, Tyler didn't have any. Or, at least, he didn't have enough.

Looking straight, the only other person I could see was a girl who appeared to be about sixteen. She sat at a circular brown desk in the center of the room, reading, and looked up for a moment when I entered. A second passed. She did a double-take, slowly lowering her book from eye-level as she stared. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, making her plain-Jane appearance almost comical. I didn't remember meeting her before—Marcus brought a lot of Dark Souls to me that had brown hair and eyes—but it was no surprise that she recognized me.

"Hi." I waved, bringing my hand up to waist-level and letting it fall back to hit my thigh. "I'm Aly."

She swallowed, closing her mouth, and shook her head. "I'm, uh, I'm Hailey," she said, and then looked down to place her bookmark in her book to mark her page. As she stood, she set the book on the counter and glanced back up, narrowing her eyes. "Are you back?"

It was like watching someone go through a transition, from awe-struck to confident with a shake of their head.

"I just came to check on Tyler," I told her.

"Oh. Well, there's been no change," she said, and we both shifted our focus to Tyler as she added, "We take turns sitting with him so that he's never alone. That way any changes can be realized right away."

"Has there been any change since the wards? I mean, since he collapsed?"

"No."

"What is it you check? What kind of changes are you looking for?" I turned my gaze back to her to find her already watching me.

She shrugged. Her gaze remained glued to me with a mixture of curiosity and wonderment, like she was discovering a seahorse swimming on land. It wasn't a good thing and I had to consciously keep myself from fidgeting so that she didn't see how ill-at-ease her attention made me. I would have to enlist her help until it came time for Q & A with Tyler, then get out as soon as I learned about what I needed.

"So, you just check on him and look for visible changes?" I asked. "Like what?"

She shrugged again. If she were a real nurse, the recovery of patients would have dropped in numbers, she was so unconcerned. Had she volunteered or been drafted? I wouldn't want her checking me for changes, though it may have been handy while pretending to be away while in Glory Academy. If anyone ever did what I did and we had to keep an eye on them, I would be sure to remember Hell's Fire's tactics. It was smart given the unpracticality of normal medicinal means.