The Songs Of The Flames (The Curse Of The Thirteenth Series)

Chapter 17

Priscilla's friends visited the next day. She was propped up in bed with a tray of food when they arrived. Priscilla was now able to use her broken arm, but it still hurt moving it. She practiced using it to build up her strength, but was not able to use that arm prolonged or it would ache real fast. Priscilla passed the day slowly by sleeping on and off as well as studying. Priscilla hated sitting around all day. She had managed to slip in some time to read up the research Juniper and she was doing. She had told the curious med witch that she was doing a project on the school to cover up her real intent. Priscilla had yet to find a solution for the wraith problem. Nor had she figured out what was hidden behind the door downstairs. She was becoming frustrated with the research, feeling like she was at a dead end. She would not give up though.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Trisha asked as they ate lunch in the infirmary. A nurse had pulled up chairs for her friends to sit around her bed. Priscilla still felt tired from the healing potion, but she stayed awake to eat with them. She had been in the infirmary for three days now. Sinclair finally left her side for classes. Priscilla had to admit, she missed him. The infirmary was quiet and lonely when it was just her.

"I didn't want you all to stop me." She replied to Trisha. She felt bad for not informing her friends, but at the time she thought it was for the best. She felt so hungry to know what the creature was she put herself at risk. 

"Of course, we would have stopped you. You were being foolish. You almost died." Hazel snapped. She looked angry slightly, but she was more concerned than mad. Priscilla knew the only reason she was alive today was pure luck. She would have died if Sinclair had not saved her. She felt foolish for what she had done. What if he had not been around to hear her? 

"I know it was stupid now. I shouldn't have done this alone. I'll admit, I was being foolish." She hung her head ashamed. Priscilla played with the food on her plate. A nurse had come in earlier with her food, and it sat cold now on her tray. The fork shook in her bad hand.

Juniper sat in the chair Sinclair had sat in the previous night. She had fretted over Priscilla since the moment they had come in. Juniper had fluffed her pillow, grabbed her water, and even cut her food. Eventually, Priscilla had to request Juniper to sit down. She knew the girl was worried, but she could not stand being taken care of anymore. Juniper fidgeting in the chair, unable to sit still. Her eyes kept glancing towards Priscilla's broken arm.

"When are they going to release you?" Juniper asked her.

"By the end of the week I can leave. I'm going to be behind in my classes again." Priscilla had just caught up in her classes enough. This injury had set her back a whole week. She tried studying a little to pass the time alone in the infirmary, but the potion made her too drowsy. Priscilla also could not write anything since it was her dominant hand she broke. It would be another three weeks before she could write with that hand. Priscilla was anxious to be released.

"We brought you some more clothes." Trisha said. She leaned over and grabbed a bag from behind her chair. It was a purple drawstring bag. Trisha opened the bag, and pulled out some of Priscilla's belongings.

"Thank you." She said to her friend.

"You know, Benson asked about you." Alyse said while wiggling her eyebrows. She bit into the pickled green bean she held in her hand making a snapping crunch sound. That sparked a giggle to arise in Priscilla's throat. The tension eased as the girls laughed. Priscilla felt that she was not quite forgiven, but they were no longer mad at her.

"What did he say? Does he know what happened to me?" Priscilla asked. She had not thought about Benson for the past few days.

"He heard. The whole school knows by now. You're the only one who's gone up against the murderer, and survived." Trisha said.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe the sort of gossip I have heard about you." Hazel piped up. Her eyes blazed with humor.

Priscilla chuckled. "What have they been saying about me?" She asked bemused.

"Oh you know the usual, you battled the murderer which turned out to be a wraith- no a ghoul, or maybe a cyclops?" Alyse joked. The girls broke into a fit of laughter. Priscilla held her side in pain. Her ribs still hurt despite the healing potions she had taken. "They also said you killed it."

"Then they will be confused when it starts killing again." Priscilla said coldly, all joking gone. A silence fell in the group like lead.

"So it's still out there?" Juniper asked. Priscilla could see she was scared. Priscilla grabbed her hand in hers in reassurance.

"Yes, it is. I don't think Sinclair killed it. He might have hurt it, but it got away that night." She said. She remembered the creature's scream of pain.

The bell rang announcing the end of lunch. Priscilla's friends said their goodbyes and hugged her. With them gone, the infirmary fell into a dead silence. Every once in a while, a nurse came in and helped her. Priscilla was given another dose of healing potion. She dozed in and out of sleep throughout the day.