SIDEKICK

Chapter Twenty Four: Holy Heck Are You Serious?!

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Holy Heck Are You Serious?!

Standing just a few feet away from us is someone dressed head to toe in black. Peter immediately spun around and stood in front of me, his body in a fighting stance.

The figure is wearing a hoodie and it's hard to see his face. He suddenly collapses to one knee, his hand pressed to his right side.

Peter steps forward cautiously, and my eyes trail down to the blood dripping onto the floor.

A familiar, husky voice snarls through gritted teeth, "Move."

Peter's eyes widen in surprise as he relaxes his stance. "Arus?"

She slowly pushes herself back onto both feet and straightens up. Her dark eyes pierce through the darkness of the hood, sending a cold shiver up my neck. She slowly walks over to the door as we follow.

"What happened?" I ask, wheeling towards her. "Why are you bleeding?"

She ignores me, the blood slipping through her fingers glued to her side. Arus stumbles slightly and Peter catches her, but she jerks her hand away.

"Leave me alone," she snaps and reaches for the door handle.

Peter and I follow directly on her tail, bombarding her with questions.

"How did this even happen?"

"Arus, what is going on?"

"John," Peter turns to me. "Go get Deidre."

Arus at that point snaps her head back at us. "No one's getting anyone. Now leave me alone."

She reaches for a door handle and I see the tattoo on the back of her hand glow. The door opens, and to my surprise, the hallway is no longer there. Instead, the room is dark, pitch black as she slips inside.

Moments before closes the door, she glares at us. "You didn't see anything."

The door slams behind her and Peter rushes forward and opens the door. We stumble out of the Vortex and back into the living room.

"What the hell was that all about?!" I hiss to Peter.

Peter ignores me, too preoccupied with running over to the dorms. I follow as quickly as I can, but as I reach the hallway, a door to my left opens and Les comes sprinting out, Peter hot on his trail.

I do a 180 and Peter grabs the handles from behind and without a word all three of us slip back into the Vortex.

"When did she come back?" Les asks as he rolls up his sweater sleeve.

"Only a few minutes ago," I answer. The image of her side bleeding appears before me. "She's hurt. Bad."

Les reaches the last door on the hallway and slams his shoulder into the wood. It bursts open and the door swings dramatically off the hinges. Les rushes inside the room, and to my surprise it's not another hallway or the training room, but a whole other setting.

Peter wheels me in and I notice the room is dark, nearly pitch black, only barely lightened with red lights on the ceiling. There's a yellow light and I follow the source, propped on a desk with a body in a grey tank top is slumped over it.

The head lifts up as Les roughly grabs Arus' arm away from her side and inspects the wound. I notice the desk is cluttered with papers and a creased map pushed to the side of the wall. Various jars filled with herbs amongst the clutter and Arus reaches for a jar.