The girl who collapsed in the entrance way was Rita Claire. Zoey told me that she was a fourth year. It was the exact same thing as what happened with Eva. She screamed, she passed out, and she hasn't woken up since. And Doctor Stuart still has no idea what happened to either of them.
Then the same thing happened again. This time it was a third-year boy named Marcus Glid. Three days before Christmas break he screamed and collapsed in the courtyard. What he was doing outside in below freezing weather I'll never know, but the point was it was the exact same thing that happened to Eva and Rita. So, my question is this, what is happening to the students at Gemstone Academy?
"Are you okay?" Lazarus asked me. We were sitting on a couch in one of his sitting rooms at his castle. We had gotten here last night at around dinner time. So, today was the first full day of Christmas break. I was so happy that it was finally break because I couldn't tolerate another second of school. I seriously did not want to look at another class assignment. Lazarus, however, had a book in his lap, already doing his homework. He was such a responsible human being that he sometimes irked me.
"I was just thinking about Eva, and the other people that had screamed and passed out," I said.
"Oh," Lazarus said without looking up from his book. "What about them?"
"Are they okay?" I asked.
Lazarus looked at me. He could probably tell how worried I was, so he closed his book and faced me. "I'm sure they'll be back to normal in no time."
"But no one just passes out, Lazarus," I said still freaking out. "Unless they have a medical problem, and if that were the case, than Doctor Stuart would have figured out what was wrong with them by now."
Lazarus cocked his head at me and narrowed his eyes slightly. "What exactly are you suggesting, Elizabeth?"
"I don't know, that something else happened to them."
"Like what? Like someone knocked them out?"
"Yeah, maybe, but then they would've woken up by now."
"You're thinking about this too much," Lazarus said tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. "Just relax, they'll be fine. Doctor Stuart will figure it out."
"You're right," I said. My mind flashed to Dario. Now that I thought about it, he seemed to always be around when someone passed out, which was kind of odd.
"Do you know someone named Dario?" I asked.
Lazarus' expression darkened. "Why?"
"Because I met him in the library. No one else seems to know who he is, but you know him?"
"Yes. And I suggest you stay away from him."
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Because..." Lazarus paused. He stared at me and apparently thought better of what he was going to say. "Just because."
"That's a terrible reason." I said crossing my arms. "I'm not a two-year-old, and you're not my father, so I'm going to need a better reason than that."
"He's just dangerous."
"Why? Is he a murderer?"
"No but-"
"But nothing! He doesn't seem dangerous to me. You're just jealous that I found another guy to talk to."
"Don't flatter yourself, Elizabeth," Lazarus snapped. "Unless you want me to be jealous for some reason."
I looked at him dumbfounded. Did I want him to be jealous of Dario? No, that's just ridiculous.
"I'm going for a walk," I said standing up and heading for the door. I've had enough of this conversation.
"Wait, Elizabeth," Lazarus said standing up too.
"I'll see you later," I said not even looking at him. I wanted him to know that I didn't want to listen to him.
I walked out of the sitting room wishing I hadn't opened my damn mouth.
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The stay at Lazarus' castle after our argument wasn't very fun. I wasn't ignoring Lazarus or anything, I spoke to him at meal times, but it was always forced. I could tell that the little smiles he was giving me were just for show. And I was doing the same thing, because neither of us wanted his parents knowing we weren't getting along. Then they'd want to know why, and neither of us would want to have that conversation. Knowing Lazarus' parents, they'd just try to fix the issue so we would get along again. But that would just be annoying to the both of us. Lazarus and I were perfectly capable of solving this argument of ours on our own, when we were ready to.
For the time being, I was mostly hanging around Lazarus' older sister Abigail, which a lot of times wasn't very entertaining because she had a lot of work to do. I mean, she was next in line for the thrown, and that entails a lot of work. Abigail was nice enough though, and it was interesting to watch her work sometimes. I liked how she worked so diligently. She would be given a task and she'd just sit and finish it, no matter how long it took her. Abigail refused to start a new project until the one she was working on was finished. I should take notes on the way she works, because I'm not like that at all. I get distracted way too easily. I'll be working on something and then decide it's taking too long and will start something else. Then I end up working on multiple things at once, and that just gets complicated.
On Christmas morning, I woke up freezing cold at around 11 o'clock. Damn I hate winter. Merry Christmas to me. Even though I knew this castle was heated thoroughly, it didn't make any difference, I was still cold, because it was cold outside. That's just how my body works, apparently. I would've stayed in bed longer, but I was so cold I couldn't get comfortable. I could've called the maids for more blankets, but I would feel awful about bugging them on Christmas. I know it's their job and everything, but still. Instead of being a whiny bitch, I got out of bed and threw on a sweatshirt, I may be a princess, but on holidays I could wear whatever I wanted.
If this were my castle, I'd be going downstairs right now to the kitchen to steal some food, and to see what we would be eating for Christmas dinner, but this wasn't my castle. And I'm pretty sure barging into other people's royal kitchens is frowned upon. So, I left the guest room and headed for Abigail's room instead. I hope she was awake, although, she was usually an early riser, so she should be.
Abigail's room was one floor up from mine, so I climbed the carpeted stairs and took a right to find that Abigail was indeed up. She was standing outside of her room in a pink fluffy bathrobe talking to her maid. She caught sight of me and told her maid to leave. The maid nodded politely and walked in the opposite direction from us down the hall.
"Elizabeth! Merry Christmas!" Abigail said with a huge grin on her face while opening her arms for a hug. Ugh. Morning people.
"Same to you," I said yawning while returning her hug.
"Oh! I have your Christmas cards from your family, the mail man gave them to me this morning because he didn't want to wake you," Abigail said walking back into her room and I waited outside in the hallway until she came back. I've never been in her room before, and I was kind of curious to see it. But Abigail didn't ask me to come in and I didn't want to be rude and invite myself in.
"Thanks," I said taking the cards Abigail was holding out to me when she re-emerged from her room.
"No problem. Dinner will be at 4, by the way."
"Cool, sounds good."
"Abigail!" I heard Lazarus call coming down the long hallway towards us. "Oh, there you are," Lazarus said when he saw me. "I was actually just coming to ask Abigail if she had seen you."
"Well, here I am," I said.
"Can I talk to you?" Lazarus asked and I nodded.
"Merry Christmas, Lazarus!" Abigail called after him.
"And Merry Christmas to you sister!" Lazarus called back.
Lazarus and I were quiet for a while walking down the cold castle hallways. I crossed my arms tightly around my chest trying to conserve heat. I guess I should've worn a bigger sweatshirt, or more layers.
I noticed that Lazarus was fidgeting with a little red and green box he was holding in his hands.
"Are you still mad at me?" Lazarus finally asked.
"Not really. Just a little irritated," I said eyeing the box curiously.
"I'm sorry. I just want what's best for you, and I don't think you hanging around Dario is what's best for you."
"With all due respect, I'm pretty sure I know what's best for me better than you do, and you still haven't given me a specific reason as to why I shouldn't hang around Dario and why he's dangerous."
"Because he gets into a lot of trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
Lazarus shook his head. "Never mind, I don't want to talk about Dario. This is for you. Merry Christmas."
I took the small box Lazarus was fidgeting with earlier. "But I didn't get you anything," I said feeling guilty.
"Don't worry about it."
Actually, with all of the years we have known each other, we haven't once gotten Christmas presents for one another. It just wasn't something we ever did. Lazarus must have decided to get me something because he felt really bad about our argument, and it was one of his ways of saying sorry.
I opened the box to find a gold necklace with a small Ruby hanging at the end. I almost laughed about how ironic this situation was. Lazarus complaining about Dario, and then giving me a ruby, which is what Dario called me the first time I had met him. And then I even ended up writing an essay on rubies!
"Thank you, Lazarus, it's beautiful," I said taking the necklace out of the box. Lazarus took it from me and I turned around to let him put it on me. The necklace felt cold against my already freezing skin, and the ruby's weight settled onto my chest. I immediately started fiddling with the little gem.
"I'll only get the best for my fiancé," Lazarus said.
"Lazarus, don't say stuff like that if it isn't even final."
"Sorry. It's just a habit."
I turned to him and hugged him. "Thank you, I love it."
"You're welcome," He said wrapping his arms around me.
I'd still like to know why Dario was so bad, but I didn't like arguing with Lazarus. As I stood in his arms I realized that this could be the rest of my life, I could spend my life in his arms. Did I want to? But then Dario popped into my head and I thought about how I've never stood in his arms before. I wonder what that was like? Would I ever get to find out? Did I want to find out? Or did I want to stay with Lazarus, the boy I've always known and who already cares for me.
I decided that worrying about who I was going to be with at the moment didn't matter. It was Christmas after all, and all I wanted to do right now was eat good food, and work at becoming queen.