Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 33: Haircut

A noise at the door made Edie nearly jump out of her seat. She turned around quickly, not letting go of Corrie's hand. Had the doctors or nurses figured something out? She was slightly embarrassed by her first reaction, that it must be Paul coming back to attack them again... but the truth was better than any of her ideas. Dawn was in the front of the group, followed by Rico, Roe, Professor Lal, and a redheaded woman she didn't recognize, but who had to be on their side.

"Dawn!" She jumped up, deciding this was the one time it would be okay to let go of Corrie. "Are you okay? Your arm is healed?" She couldn't see the injury anymore—she had changed from the blood-soaked, ripped shirt she'd been wearing earlier into a thick blue sweater.

"Well, mostly." Dawn hugged her. "This is Professor Agnew—"

"Ginny," interrupted the redhead.

"Okay, Ginny." Dawn smiled. "She healed the injury, but apparently the knife was somehow enchanted to break my Sight. It's still not working in my arm."

Edie felt her jaw drop open as she started at Dawn's arm. "How does that... I mean, where is there Sight in your arm?"

"I can feel what's really there under a glamour on my skin," Dawn explained. "I'm pretty sure I can smell, hear, and probably taste the truth as well, but I guess I've mostly used it for seeing and feeling. But now if a faerie touches my arm, I feel their human glamour. We might be able to fix it, if we can find the knife..." She trailed off, walking over to Corrie. "What's wrong with her?"

Edie felt the misery and fear twist in her gut again. "They don't know. They think she has a head injury, but none of their tests show anything."

"I'm sure I can fix that," said Ginny, pushing through the small crowd to Corrie. "Magical injuries and maladies can perplex the best of modern medicine." She stood by Corrie's head while the others watched, passing her hands lightly over Corrie's closed eyes. After a moment she nodded. "The knife must have had some protection against destruction on it. It's just knocked her out. I'll have her awake in a moment."

"That's good, right?" said Roe. "If it was protected, then it must still be there somewhere."

"Even if that is true, it may not be a good thing," said Professor Lal. She looked unhappy. "If Paul picked it up, the police will have it now, and they may not allow us to take it."

"The police might not find it," said Edie. "It was made of stone, so a metal detector probably wouldn't be set off."

"I am sure they have changed his clothes and searched them," said the professor. "It was not such a small knife that it could easily be palmed, was it?"

"No, definitely not," said Dawn.

Edie was looking at Corrie. Her eyelids were finally fluttering under Ginny's hands. After a moment she gave a great gasp, as though she was emerging from water, and her eyes flew open.

"You're awake!" Edie cried, and went to grab her hand again. She was showing no signs of wanting to sit up quickly like the nurse had warned, for which Edie was grateful. "How do you feel? Are you okay?"

"I feel fine," Corrie said slowly. She blinked several times in the bright light and turned her head from side to side. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"You're in the hospital, and your friends brought you here," said Ginny. "I'm Professor Ginny Agnew—I came here to help with the healing, and it's a good thing I did."

Corrie frowned and lifted the hand that wasn't holding Edie's. "Why am I tied to the bed?"

"They were afraid you might freak out when you woke up," Edie said. She glanced at the nurse call button. "He also said to call him if anything happened, but I don't know if I should..."

"She'll need to be checked out by a doctor before they'll release her from the hospital," Ginny said. She leaned over and pressed the call button. "But I think we can take off these straps without risk." Edie immediately let go of Corrie's hand to undo the strap, and Dawn bent down on her side to do the same.

Once Corrie's wrists were free, she sat up and put her hands to her face as though to brush back her hair. Then she frowned and started patting her head. "What happened to my hair?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Edie felt awful. Why hadn't she managed to stop them? "They shaved it so they could look for your head injury, even though they couldn't find one."

Corrie stared at her for a moment. Her eyes looked even bigger in her shaven head. Then a grin spread slowly across her face. "Well, I always wondered what I would look like with a buzz cut. Now I guess I'll find out!"

She started to laugh, and everyone else joined in.