A Grave Problem

46. Aftermath

The rest of the weekend went by too fast as far as Mia was concerned. Even though she didn't sleep at all, it seemed like there just wasn't enough time. Monday morning, her mom screamed as usual for Mia to hurry up. She headed down the stairs, still wondering vaguely where the rest of her weekend had gone.

Mia had been hoping to go over to where Summer and Heather sat in history and gloat about how she'd managed to kill a Dullahan, but neither of them was in school. Mia could feel her spirits drop just a little, but she managed to console herself with the knowledge that this just meant she didn't have to worry about them for an entire period. Besides, she could gloat when they came to school tomorrow.

Mia sat down at lunch and laid her head on her math book. She wasn't tired exactly, but the weight of everything that happened this year finally being taken off did make her feel more relaxed than she had been in months. Just as Mia's eyes were starting to close, Carmine sat down.

"So, I went shopping with my mom this weekend." Carmine said, dropping her backpack on ground next to her chair. "And I found these. I thought it would be a good idea if we each got one."

Carmine reached into her pocket and pulled out a mess of thick black string and a few pieces of metal. She dumped the whole pile out on the table and went to work separating it all out. When she was finally done, Mia realized that the mess that had been in her friend's pocket was a tangle of three black, silk-string necklaces, each with a metal pendant attached.

"What're those for?" Mia asked, as Carmine gave one to each of her friends.

Mia took hers, staring down at it. Three strands of dark gray metal swooped around, making a kind of square with a small loop on each corner. Mia looked over at Anna's necklace and the one that was still lying in front of Carmine. All three were made from the same metal and had similar loops and whirls, but slightly different patterns. Anna's looked more like a twisted diamond, and Carmine's seemed to be some kind of circle.

"They're called endless knots." Carmine said. "More, importantly, fae are supposed to be repelled by iron, so I thought getting these necklaces might help."

Mia wasn't sure how much help the necklace would really be, but she took it anyway. She could go the rest of her life without ever talking to Summer again, and if a piece of iron helped even a little, Mia would try it. Besides, it wasn't like it was dangerous or would require any real effort on her part, so she really had nothing to lose.

"I'm just glad we don't have to go back there." Mia said, making a mental note to never visit the woods again as long as she lived; nothing good ever happened when she did anyway.

"Me too." Carmine said, apparently mirroring Mia's thoughts.

"I'm just glad everyone's ok." Anna said, looking relieved all over again.

"How's Conner doing?" Mia asked Carmine.

Mia didn't have any classes with him herself, so she wouldn't be able to check on him. But she knew Carmine had at least one class with him. And she was relieved to hear that he seemed to be doing fine.

Mia was sorry to say that the same could not be said for Luke. She walked into English, scanning the room to see if he was there. When he saw her, he waved her over. The first thing Mia saw was a bright blue cast going from his fingers up to his shoulder.

"Wow. You really did break it." Mia said, surprised.

She'd hoped that werewolves would heal about as fast as vampires, but if Luke was anything to go by, it didn't look like that was the case.

"Yep." Luke told her. "As soon as my mom saw it on Saturday morning, she made me go straight to the doctor. She was actually pretty worried." Luke seemed surprised that his mom was as upset as she had been.