Unbound (Unbound, Book 1) ~Formerly Casting Power~

Chapter 52

"Can I help you girls?" A middle-aged woman asked as she stood from her seat at the desk to the right of the room, directly opposite a tiny cot like those used in an old army bunker. She wore an old-fashioned nurse's uniform complete with the hat perched on top of a neatly arranged French twist of dark hair.

I pushed Maible forward and said, "She's sick and refuses to go home to rest."

The nurse—her nametag said Susan—narrowed her gaze at Maible and then went to the back of the small room to wash her hands at the counter, rubbing in a healthy squirt of antibacterial gel into her hands once they'd been dried. She guided Maible to the cot and stuck a thermometer into her mouth, clucking at the result with a slight shake of her head.

"Lay down," Susan ordered Maible and turned back to me. She smiled, pleasant and sincere. "You should get to class. She needs to rest."

"That's what I've been saying," I said with a pointed glance at Maible.

I looked back to the nurse and nodded, stepping backward and inching out of the room. Maible would be fine, I knew, but I hated leaving her. "You'll come and get me if she needs to go home?"

"I promise."

"Okay. Maible, I'll be back during the break."

She didn't answer. She had already fallen asleep, tired from the trip to school. At least she wasn't arguing. I stepped out of the nurse's office and turned the corner to head to History. For once, I was about to be early. I was so preoccupied with thoughts of Maible that I didn't see Calin—without Duvessa—until it was nearly too late to avoid him. Thankfully, I was far enough away that when I looked up and met his penetrating gaze, I was able to pivot and speed walk in the opposite direction.

"Nora—"

I kept walking, the diversion taking me in the opposite direction of my class. If only I'd made it past one more classroom before catching sight of him, I'd be in my seat already. Now, because I wanted to avoid another confrontation, I was making a full lap of the corridors to get to a class I'd been standing beside just moments before.

Instead of arriving early, I was going to be late.

Calin is such an idiot.

* * * * *

Maible was still sleeping when I checked on her at lunch. She was likely absorbing more material than I had all day simply by some mutated form of osmosis. I had been too distracted to pay attention, hoping Maible was feeling better and worrying about being called into the office for another prank I hadn't pulled. Since half the day was gone, perhaps nothing was going to happen. Calin's mother was wrong and the pranks were over for good. That was too optimistic, though, and my self-diagnosed pessimism wouldn't allow me to hope.

Without Maible, there was no way that I could eat in the cafeteria or in front of the school. I bought myself an apple to eat on the way to the locker room. Running through my problems was going to sculpt me into the best shape of my life.

The track was empty when I arrived, just the way that I liked it. When I ran with other people, like I had yesterday, no matter if it was someone I knew or a stranger, I pushed myself harder and concentrated less on the problems I'd gone there to think about. When I was the only one there, I could set the pace, keep it tame enough to form a thought. Of course, running with others was always good for forgetting when the problems became too much.

I didn't know which I needed today, but I was glad to be alone to at least figure that much out. Start out slow and go from there. There was so much crap in my head I had to piece it out until it made sense. It had started with my mother, of course, and the moment in which she'd died. Before that with secrets between my mother and Zachariah. I would never know unless I found my mother's stash of Books of Shadows. She must have written it in one of her hidden passages. I would find it eventually, but I couldn't help but feel an urgency.