drapetomonia - the overwhelming urge to run away.
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When Junia Beaumont, her brother and their classmates get a last assignment before the end of the school year, she doesn't know just how quickly things will change for her.
Who would have thought t...
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26. last steps
June is pleasantly surprised when the kind lady at the reception actually allows her to see Clemmie.
Although she’s undeniably nervous to see her friend and is still battling against the butterflies in her stomach that just won’t leave, she’d like to think she manages to appear somewhat composed around Clemmie.
By now, Clemmie’s twitching has stopped. The scales seem to have almost disappeared completely, though it appears she was right when she told June they were going to spread — there’s still some bits on her stomach and arm, or so she says. She’s still picking at her skin but at least it doesn’t seem to be peeling as much anymore. The biggest relief is that she seems to be in control of her arms but her tongue is still a whole other topic. It's like it has a mind of its own.
June makes sure not to bring up the snakes or Dr. Gaul but in the end, Clemmie confides in her anyway.
It’s not that June and Clemmie aren’t close. It’s just that she’s the only person from the Academy, Coriolanus aside, that knows what happened to her. She tells her that she paid him a visit after June was released from the hospital to inform him what was happening to her, that they dragged her back to her room.
Coriolanus knows. She knew he was present when the snakes bit Clemmie but to know that he knows of the effects makes June feel a bit uneasy. She knows she has the upper hand since he has no way to access the antivenom but it still makes her feel uneasy.
However, that’s not all she tells her. When June leaves after about an hour and a half, she leaves with the knowledge that things are more complicated than she thought.
The first thing she does when she’s home is wash Treech’s clothes. They’re dirtier than she had assumed and she makes sure to tend to them carefully, not wanting to damage the fabric. There’s dirt everywhere imaginable, they smell of sweat and there are faint traces of blood left by scratches he endured during the arena bombing. It takes her a while but eventually, she’s able to hang them outside to dry.
Dinner follows and even though she manages to keep up the facade, she can tell from the way Cas looks at her that he needs to tell her something. Urgently. Thankfully, the only mishap of the Beaumont family dinner that day is Max refusing to eat his spinach. It’s tense but all things considered, June finds it bearable.
Immediately after though, she finds herself pacing up and down in her brother’s room. He’s sitting on the bed with his legs dangling over the edge, his pillow on his lap as an armrest.
