Eden's Gate

Chapter 10: Revelation!

Eliza sat outside the ER, breathing deep to keep herself calm. She couldn't lose Edelweiss. There were so many reasons. Such potential, wasted by a terrible accident. The loss of one of her children. The emotional damage this would cause Kaitlyn. And those were just the personal problems. The legal issues caused from all of this would be a problem. Eden's Gate was allowed to function as it was because it often flew under the radar. Eliza hadn't been Headmistress when any of the events occurred, but there was a history of...problems occurring once the Blanks found out that the children at the school were psychic.

Children had died. She was not going to let that happen on her watch, and prevention is the best medicine in that case.

"Eliza Henderson?" She heard suddenly.

She looked up to the large double doors leading into the ER from the waiting room, where a tall, round man with brown hair and brown eyes stood dressed in scrubs. She didn't often like to think of people in that way, but not only was he rotund, but his cheek bones were rounded, his shoulders were rounded - everything about him just looked round. The nurse?

Eliza stood up and raised her hand weakly to draw attention to herself.

"The doctor wants to see you."

She followed him in to the ER, where she then led to a conference room of some kind. Waiting for her was the doctor, Meredith Cane. She was an equally tall but almost malnourished looking figure with blue eyes and black mop top hair.

"How is she?" Eliza asked, immediately.

"Well she's...she's stable. Somehow. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Dr. Cane leaned in close and spoke in a hushed roar, "I know you know better than to lie to me. So why the hell are you?"

Eliza's eyes went wide and she leaned back in her chair. "I'm sorry?"

"If things happened like you say they did, then this child should've been DOA. I've seen all sorts of injuries like this, a 10 year old's skull is not strong enough to survive this. And yet here she is, alive, breathing and recovering."

Eliza put her hand to her heart, "you're sure about this?"

"Yes. Absolutely positive. I don't mind covering for you but I can't do that if you are honest with me about what happened."

Eliza suddenly felt something well up within her. "Meredith, you know I would never lie to you. And I haven't. What I described is exactly how everything happened. Something else is going on here."

She could feel Meredith getting the same cold chill of revelation. Though where Eliza was feeling potential excitement, Meredith was feeling horror, possibly revulsion.

"And your sorcery has nothing to do with it?" She asked.

"I'm positive. If I knew how to heal people with that I wouldn't have brought her here. Nothing in the campus grounds I have or own could have resulted in this."

Meredith leaned back in her chair, her jaw agap.

"Can...is she able to talk?" Eliza asked.

"Yes, she can. We're going to take her to surgery in a little bit to see what we can do about alleviating pressure on her brain, but you can talk to her before that."

Eliza nodded, "take me to her then. She can tell us what's going on."

Meredith got up and led her to the room, letting Eliza in.

5 minutes later, Meredith heard the alarm from Edelweiss' room - her vitals were all over the place. Something was wrong. She ran to the door immediately, and saw Eliza stepping out of the room, her cheeks wet with tears.

"What's going on? What happened?" Meredith asked.

Eliza, shaking and confused, stammered, "I-I don't know! I was just asking her about what happened and she just...she started going south. Please, help her. You must help her!"

Meredith nodded, and stormed into the room. She had 1,000 theories about what Eliza may have been talking to the child about or showing her, any of which may well have caused the child undue stress. She should have never let her in - damn that woman, she probably manipulated her into it. But she didn't have time to worry about what Eliza did, not at the moment. She had to save the child first.

Eliza, meanwhile, went back to the waiting room, her tears coming down a bit more as she reached into her suit pocket. She pulled out a strange thing, with a gold, engraved bottom and holding a clear piece of glass with a single rune-carved rod in the center.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

Kaitlyn had spoken with Ms. Westson, who had helped her feel better about this. She wasn't completely cured by any means, but she was no longer panicking at the mere thought of her friend dying. She, Clifton, Richard and Taylor all came to the Entrance Hall, waiting for Edelweiss or at least Eliza to get back. She rocked back and forth, squeezing Mr. Lepus as she waited.

It had been 5 hours since the incident happened. She had been waiting here 2, but it felt like the entire length of her life in that darkening wide open room. When the door finally opened and Eliza marched in, she ran up to her.

"Mum! Mum! You're back. Is she okay?"

Eliza looked down at her. Kaitlyn had never seen the look in the eyes of the woman she called mother ever before, in anyone, and probably wouldn't see it again. Her eyes were bagged and heavy, her cheeks clearly having been hastily whipped clean of tears from the puff in her eyes. Her lips were entirely neutral, and her eyebrows were also completely flat. In her eyes, though, she could see a swirling maelstrom of emotions.

"She is going to live," she began, "but Edelweiss' biological parents came when they heard. They no longer think the school is safe for her and have demanded her immediate removal. I'm sorry."

And then, a smile came to her face, her eyes lighting up ever so slightly.

"But Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn, my darling. All of you," she said, waving towards the other three who had also approached her at this point, "don't cry. This...this tragedy. It's the gateway to many wonderful things."

Her expression immediately went flat again as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I have a headache. I have to lay down. Please, children. Go rest yourselves. If you have more questions I will answer them tomorrow."

Eliza walked slowly and weakly towards her own room, at it's great distance from the hall. She must have known they were waiting and come to see them to let them know. Kaitlyn could sense that Eliza was, in fact, very exhausted in every conceivable way.

She felt that way too.

Her friends also felt that way.

The children went back to their dorm, to contemplate the bitter news they had just received.