When The Stars Align

chapter thirty nine | drawing the line

Atticus smiled, walking over to my bedside. "You never truly understood the beauty of reading, Vera. If you stuck around, maybe either of us-" He looked up at Lysander. "-could've turned you into one of us."

He sat down onto the bed, and he looks like he's holding back something. He looks at me as if... I'm about to break, or I'm fragile. I really hoped he wouldn't look at me like that, because that look follows me wherever I go.

"How are you, Vera?"

I shook my head, rubbing my eyes. "If I'm being honest... terrible. I feel like shit." I touch the end of his suit. "I thought you were off a couple days after what happened. You don't usually work morning shifts."

He combed his hair with his fingers. "Yeah, well, I'm feeling better. We're down a lot of soldiers, since a lot are abroad in the attacked cities. And now-" He looks at Lysander. "-I've been asked to cover some of Lysander's shifts."

"You didn't have to, Att." Lysander ran his hands down his cast. I realised he did that a lot while in here. "I really appreciate it, though. But... didn't I ask you to bring me some of the papers in my office."

"Lys, you work too hard," Atticus argued. "Sir Lyall and I have it covered, you just have to work to get better. Spend some time with Soph, the kids. Don't worry about coming back any time soon."

"I don't think right now is the time to say that, not with trouble brewing so often," Lysander said. "So, is your shift over or..."

"I have a couple more hours, I'm just on a break." He turned back to me. "I just wanted to drop by, see if you were awake."

"About time," I muttered. Atticus raised an eyebrow. "What? I mean, it took you so long to come over, Tori said you didn't drop by at all yesterday. Didn't seem like you made an effort to come see me. And don't say any "oh, visitors are family only" bullshit because Tori treats you like a younger brother and she's the queen, so she practically gets what she wants."

"Vera-"

"Lys, it's okay." Atticus rubbed his forehead, biting his lip. "Vera, I don't think you were told what happened to you after you teleported out of Fox Grove. You said you didn't know where you were going to end up, right? You just needed to get the three of you out of there."

I nodded slowly.

"Well, so, Vic wasn't really dealing with the situation of you guys being gone, just, disappearing, very well. Lysander wasn't picking up his phone, we couldn't track the car. There was no way of us knowing where you were, and it took a big toll on your sister. She could barely handle being in the castle, so I thought, what better way to get your mind off someone than getting a few drinks with friends.

"Jason, right, his older sister, Merideth, is probably Victoria's closest friends. We went over, to their place, which was right near the lakeshore, you know. Walking distance. That's how Jason was able to get his camera so quickly that morning. So yeah, she got drunk. I couldn't stop thinking about where you were. I was looking out the window, thinking about where you would possibly be. And I knew. Fox Grove, it would be the obvious place, but I didn't go."

"You would've been an idiot for going, you know," I told him. If he actually went, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I couldn't let that place hurt him, even more than the first time.

"I know. I knew you would probably kill me if I didn't take care of Victoria, like you asked." He paused. "And then there was this... flash of light, over the lake. There were three things - people - that were falling."

My eyes grew wide. So maybe I was right for feeling like I was drowning.

"You... you teleported the three of you above Lake Ferron, which happened to be the deepest body of water in the area." Atticus drew in a deep breath. "I knew it was you guys the second I realised those were people falling. I ran to the lake, as fast as I could. I got there and somehow, your brother and Leo swam to shore. And you were just no where to be seen."