Pangaia: Agendas (Year One: Fall)

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Cheyenne

 When they returned, it was early Sunday morning.

She was quickly taken to the infirmary so she could be examined by the school doctor, Dr. Claire Menchin, a gentle, thirty-something woman with light healing abilities. Cheyenne was then forced to stay there in a bed. Mr. Thantos stood guard outside her door, despite the threat being gone. He remained solely for her piece of mind, and she appreciated it.

Lucien had planned his attack well to orchestrate it so fluently, and on a day where Mr. Thantos was resting. How he made it onto the campus in the first place, no one knew. There would be a full investigation on the matter, her parents were seeing to that.

Cheyenne wished she could say Zes was in better condition than her. She could only assume the worst. Lucien had given his word Zes wouldn't be killed, which was a small solace, but she wished she could see him herself. No one was allowed to visit him yet though beyond family.

"We won't have any test results for a few days. Though we're sure everything will come back fine. It can be hard to say with demons sometimes. They're a strange brood. Everything else looks okay though. There were no signs of penetration," the doctor explained, walking her through everything.

She had blood drawn, her entire body examined and x-rayed for anything out of the ordinary, and all of her basic vitals checked. It had been a rather long and tedious process.

"Wait," Cheyenne said confused. "So he didn't do anything to me?"

Doctor Menchin nodded. "Correct, as far as I was able to tell, you still have your virginity. Which is great news, all things considered. Dr. Warhol will be in tomorrow to counsel you."

"Great," she mumbled.

Thank God. She rubbed at her forehead slowly. Nothing had happened. He hadn't done anything to her physically, but something about the spell he'd cast on her had her feeling off still. She wasn't out of the water yet, that much was certain. This wouldn't be the last she'd hear from Lucien.

She returned her thoughts to Zes. "How's—"

"Your friend is stable. We've put him in a magically induced coma so his body can focus on healing. Don't worry, it's nothing like a coma you'd find among the normal humans. It will help minimize the pain while we apply as much treatment, both magic and practical, as we are able. He was brought in about an hour before you and has had a rapid recovery already. Once he wakes up, you'll be able to see him. We'll let you see your parents soon. Is there anything I or a nurse can get for you?"

"No, I just want to see my mom and dad," she said quietly. Why did they have to hurt him too?

"I'll send them in." The doctor opened the door to reveal Cheyenne's father in a rather heated conversation with Mr. Thantos.

"It's still not acceptable. We don't give your school all of this money to have things like this happen," Erik said.

"And what would you propose I do? I believe if you have a complaint you should be addressing it to the president of the school, not a lowly teacher such as myself," Mr. Thantos said. "Regardless, am I to not do the things which are natural for my body? Why were you not there? You were certainly available. It is not my responsibility alone to protect the entire school, and I am only able to do so much. Had I been available, I doubt I would have been able to prevent the occurrences of last night from happening anyway. While I understand your anger and parental instinct is to blame all outside parties, I believe the true responsibility falls on everyone present on the campus aside from the children themselves."

"It's your job."

"It is also yours. She is your daughter. Or was the purpose of bringing her here to pawn off the responsibility once more on someone else? You can partake in all of the joys of parenting, but none of the actual work? My job is to educate first and advise second. I may have a past in guardianship, but that is not my job anymore."

"Talk about pawning responsibilities off on someone else. But I suppose with a past like yours, I wouldn't want to claim responsibility for a job I failed at in the first place."

"Then I believe we are in agreement for a change," Mr. Thantos said. "I am sure between the two of us we can come up with a more suitable scapegoat for the incident. Perhaps the fellow members of your cult, oh, I mean the Divine, my apologies. They are the ones who supplied the new wards to begin with. Maybe you should take it up with them and ask why their 'all powerful' magics have failed. Again."

"They wouldn't—"

Persephone entered the conversation. "Please, stop fighting. You shouldn't be talking about this here or be pointing fingers." She brushed past them and immediately went to Cheyenne's bedside. Mr. Thantos reached for the knob and closed the door.

She did her best to think about anything outside of what had happened to keep herself distracted so she wouldn't break down.

Eventually she caved, snuggled into her mother's arms, and cried.