I woke to sunlight pouring through the gap in my curtains. It took a moment for the dream to replay in my mind, and when it did, I suddenly felt like shit. I knew it wasn't real- I'd had my fair share of nightmares last year, and this one was hardly any different, but at the moment it seemed as if the image of Haydn with Jake and Ronan had been lodged in the front of my brain. I hoped that these dreams weren't going to become a regular occurrence.
I got up, ate breakfast, and then sat at my laptop for a while, trying to do work. The others had already gone to uni, so it was just me in the house. It should have made it easier to concentrate, however, the silence only seemed to fuel my vivid thoughts.
Still, I did what I could before it was time to go to uni again.
Kate text me saying she was going to be late, and so I made my way to the lecture theatre on my own. When I got there, I was glad I didn't have any run-ins with 'Haydn', however the moment I stepped through the door of the building, I almost ran straight into Peter.
"Oh, hi." I said, unsure as to whether he'd want to talk but thinking it rude to ignore him if that wasn't the case.
"Hi, Millie." He said, also not sure what to say or do.
I frowned, and went to talk to him. I wanted to just ask him if he was okay with everything, or something along those lines, but he put a hand up.
"Look, Millie, I don't know what happened last year." He began. "I know for a fact that I saw things I shouldn't have, and quite frankly, I'm struggling to get my head around it. I can't decide whether I want to forget about it or try to understand it."
"I, um..." I wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sorry you got involved."
"It's not your fault." He said. "I was meddling in things that weren't my business, so for that, I apologise."
"It's okay." I said, wondering what he was even apologising for. "When you do decide what you want, I will answer your questions. Or I can drop the subject altogether."
Peter nodded once, mustered a smile, and then left. For a moment I just stood there, having not expected Peter to say any of that. I thought he was angry with me, or wouldn't want anything to do with me, but I guess that would be hard, what with him being my lecturer.
After a moment, I continued up the stairs to the lecture theatre.
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David was sat at the front, leaning back in his chair with one foot resting on the opposite knee. I'd got here early, hoping to see him before everyone arrived. He smiled when I walked in.
"Well, well, well." He said. "If it isn't the famous Millie Robinson."
I laughed. "Uh, hi." I said. "How you doing?"
"Not too bad, thanks." David said, as I walked over to the front desk. "And yourself?" He asked.
I nodded. "Good, thanks." I tapped in my card to register my attendance.
David stared at me for a good five seconds without saying anything.
"What?" I asked.
"You know Ronan basically tells me everything now." David said. "If it's Argent related."
I sighed. Of course Ronan had told David about me seeing Haydn all of a sudden, and probably about my inability to grasp any control over metal. I didn't mind, as such- I just thought I'd end up telling David myself. "Yeah, okay, so things aren't too great on that front." I admitted.
David uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, his elbows on the desk. "What's going on, then?"
I shrugged. "I don't even know-"
Someone walked in then, and sat at the very front of the lecture hall.
"I'll tell you later." I said. David nodded, and so I went to take a seat myself.
__________
Kate arrived nearly half way through the lecture, looking rather flustered.
"You okay?" I whispered. She wasn't often on time for things, however it was unusual for her to be this late.
She nodded, taking her notebook out. "Yeah, I walked here as fast as I could." She whispered back. "Now I'm out of breath."
I smiled. "Where have you been?"
"Overslept." She said, but the moment the word left her mouth, I knew she was lying. She said it too quick, and didn't make eye contact with me. Although, I had no idea what she would be lying about. Kate, out of all my friends, was the most open person I knew, which is the reason I didn't press it. If she was keeping something from me, then she must have good reason.
Besides, I wasn't one to talk, with the secrets I still kept from her. She still didn't even know the full story about why I was speaking to David so much last year- she thought I wasn't handling the accident, which was true to an extent, but she had no idea about the nightmares. Or any of the Argent stuff, of course.
David continued with the lecture, finishing quite promptly.
"Hey, I'm just gonna go speak to David." I said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Kate nodded, not asking why I was speaking to David or anything. In fact, she seemed to be in a rush to leave. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." She said, and then was gone.
I waited for everyone to leave the theatre before approaching David.
David was just putting his bag on. "We can talk better in my office." He said. "Less likely to be interrupted."
"Okay." I said, and we started walking. I saw what he meant by being interrupted when students started walking past me and back into the lecture theatre we'd just come from. "Have you seen Peter at all?" I asked.
"Only in passing." David said. "But he doesn't seem to want to acknowledge anything that's happened. Not yet, anyway."
"Yeah, I bumped into him earlier." I said.
David looked at me. "Did he say anything?"
"Sort of." I said. "We said hello really awkwardly, and then I was about to ask him. I don't know what I was going to ask, exactly, but I was going to ask him something related to what he saw. But he didn't let me- he put his hand up, and then started saying that he didn't know what to think of it all, he didn't know what he saw, and that he wasn't sure whether he wanted to ignore it or understand it."
"Woah." David said, his eyes a little wide. "That's way more than I got from him. What did you say?"
"I basically just said that whatever he decides, he can ask me questions any time."
"Oh. Fair enough." David said, just as we approached his office and went inside.
I sat down opposite his desk, the feeling all too familiar. I'd lost count of how many times I'd sat here last year to offload all the shit that was going on. At first, I thought I couldn't tell David any of the real stuff, until I found out that he was an Heir. After that, things became a little easier to explain.
"So." David said, slumping into his wheelie chair. "What's been going on?"
"What has Ronan told you so far?" I asked.
"Nothing, really." David said.
I narrowed my eyes. "You made it sound like he'd told you everything. In fact, you did say he'd told you everything."
David shrugged. "I may have exaggerated a little. Ronan told me that you were struggling with things, but didn't specify what. He said you'd want to tell me yourself."
"Oh." I said, quite happy that Ronan wasn't discussing things with David without me knowing. "Did he say what happened last night?"
David shook his head.
"Well." I said, slapping my hands down onto my knees. "We were training, as usual. Ronan said we would be focusing on metal, because it's the one element I still haven't got to grips with. But the thing is, ever since I've been back to Greenwich, I keep... I keep seeing him."
"Him?" David said. "As in, Haydn?"
I'd been looking out the window over David's shoulder all the while I'd been talking, but I looked at him to see him frowning. I nodded.
"But how?"
"I don't know." I said. "It's like, I'm walking, minding my own business, and then I look up and see his face. Then I blink, and he's gone." I paused. "I've barely thought about him all summer, but it seems that now I'm back, so is he. He's stuck in my head all of a sudden."
David rubbed his chin. "You didn't tell me what happened last night."
"Oh, yeah." I said, having got a little sidetracked. "So I was practising, using a coin Ronan gave me. I was just going to make it float, you know, sticking to the basics, when suddenly my stomach started to hurt."
David didn't seem to see what was wrong with this situation. Maybe he thought I meant a regular stomach ache or something.
"As in, really hurt. Right where Haydn stabbed me with the metal." I clarified.
"Oh." David said, understanding. He rubbed his chin again. "Let me guess. Ronan has already said that you've got some kind of mental block?"
I nodded. "Yeah. It makes sense- I haven't been able to control metal all summer. Ronan reckons it was a subconscious thing before, but now that I'm back, it's moved to my conscious mind. Something like that."
David nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Being back here is just bringing back all those memories. But you know that Haydn is dead, right?"
I sighed. "Of course I know he's dead. I watched it happen."
"You did handle it remarkably well." David pointed out. "Afterwards, I mean. You had no stress or anything like that."
"Well, no." I said. "I couldn't believe it. I'd gone from being beaten to a pulp to beating him. I was relieved it was all over."
"So perhaps this is a delayed reaction." David suggested. "What you're feeling now is probably what you should have been feeling before, but with other things to keep your mind occupied like university, you didn't quite let it settle in. Then, you went home, and things were back to how they were before. You probably almost felt as if it never happened, what with being around your parents again. Being around people who didn't know you as an Argent Eye, it allowed you to push those thoughts to the back of your mind."
I nodded slowly, following what he was saying.
"But now you're back." He continued. "You going home had paused your life here, if you like, and now you've pressed play again. Things are continuing from where you left them."
I didn't like what he was saying. A delayed reaction? So instead of me moving forwards with things, like I thought I'd been doing over the summer, I was basically going backwards again?
"Great." I said, non too enthusiastically.
"Yeah, not the best of things." David said. "But don't worry. I know you'll get through it."
I smiled bleakly. "I'm glad you and Ronan are there to keep my optimism levels up to scratch."
David chuckled. "Millie, maybe this hasn't quite sunk in yet either, but you defeated one of the most powerful Argent Eyes to ever walk the planet. That has to count for something."
The truth was, everyone made it sound as if I'd single-handedly defeated Haydn, but that wasn't the case. Yeah, I'd taken the beatings for it, but it wasn't really me. It was the light. Not to mention all the people around me. Stella's son, Jacob, had healed me enough to fight back. Without him, I wouldn't have done it. Not to mention the emotional support from Ronan, David, Stella and Jake. There's no way I would have stood a chance against Haydn without them.
I rolled my eyes at David's comment, just letting it wash over for now. "Maybe." I said.
"There's a new Argent here." David said, changing the subject, which I was glad about.
"Really?" I asked. "Who?"
He shrugged. "No idea. I can just tell that one is nearby. Within the university."
"You think it's a student?" I asked.
"I don't know. I don't think they are newly changed. I think they are just new to the uni. Could be anyone, really. Might not even be in our department."
"Well, let me know if you find out." I said. "I wanna know."
David chuckled. "Will do."
I started getting my things together.
"Was Kate okay?" David asked. "She's not normally that late."
"I don't even know." I said. "She lied to my face, but I didn't question her. Maybe she's just going through some shit."
"Maybe." David said. "You'd make a good pair if that's the case."
I laughed. "I mean, thanks."
David just shrugged.
"I'll probably see you tomorrow around uni." I said, shoving my bag on my back.
"See ya." David said, and I left.
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