HEART OF GOLD | CORIOLANUS SNOW

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 17

"Shut it, Gatsby," Archie growled, shoving Jason back with so much force the medical student stumbled several feet before finding his balance.

Cheeks splotchy, his chest heaving, Jason scanned his surroundings like he was surveying them. Then he glowered at the taller boy from afar.

Just before he fled, he muttered, "You know I'm right."

Regulus and Ptolemy combined only just restrained Archie, who seemed ready to hunt their classmate down and smash him to pulp. They managed to hold on to him until Jason rounded the bend and vanished. Wrestling himself free, Archie shouted at the bystanders.

"What are all of you looking at? There's nothing else to see! Get out of here, all of you!"

Not a muscle twitched. It was like his uncharacteristic outburst had been a spell, transforming them all into statues. Archie's bellow still seemed to echo between the walls when Regulus piped up.

"C'mon, guys, get a move on," he urged with contrasting composure.

This lifted the enchantment. Ptolemy and Demetrius helped him shepherd their peers away from the immediate vicinity, but even as they went, people glanced back over their shoulders, murmuring to one another. It was fortunate Archie strode up to her then. He wasn't broadly built, but his proximity allowed for most of the dirty looks to be shrouded from her view.

"Lil?" His voice had returned, all soft and gentle—the way it was supposed to be. She gazed up at him in a daze. The rage had dissipated from his face, which was now filled with pure concern. "Are you okay?"

No, she wasn't. It felt as if she would never be again. Her chest ached like there was no end. The stinging in her eyes was intensifying by the second, and she was holding in the quiver of chin as barely as Regulus and Ptolemy had held onto him. Lilith wanted very much to cry, but not here—not without Olympia and Athena. Athena! Lilith swallowed hard.

"I don't know how this happened," she croaked.

"Of course you don't," whispered Archie, squeezing her shoulders.

"It can't be me. It just can't be," Lilith mumbled. "There must be some mistake. Tell me there's been a mistake."

"There's been a mistake," he said obligingly, but it was no use. The dam collapsed, and a hot, fast, unceasing river of tears cascaded down Lilith's cheeks. Archie wrapped her in a hug at once. "Hey, don't cry. It's okay..."

"It's not okay," she spluttered. "Thena hates me..."

Saying it aloud only made her sob fiercer.

"She doesn't hate you," assured Archie, stroking her hair. "She just needs some time. Shh, it's going to be okay. Once she calms down and digests the news, she'll know it's not your fault."

"No," said Lilith, pulling back from him. Something was slicing through her disorientation, granting her mind sudden clarity—and determination. "No, she shouldn't have to"—she sniffed—"digest anything. There's been a mistake, and I—I can make it right. I just need to find Mr. Dolittle. He can help me."

Powered by her newfound resolve, Lilith wiped the snot and tears from her face with the back of her hand. Then she wheeled around, marched up to Mr. Dolittle's door, and rapped it. There was no response.

"Mr. Dolittle?" she called, knocking more vigorously still. She kept at this routine until Archie grabbed her wrist. She could have yelled at him, or thought she could, but then she saw the hand he was cradling—the skin glazed with yet-to-dry mucus, the knuckles red and raw. Hers—and all her anger and imagined scoldings evaporated.