Academy Island

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My dreams washed around me, ideas roaming through a sea of worries; the faces of the men, the screaming tiger, fire and sea all mixed in with too many things to bother remembering because it was so mixed up, none of it made sense. In it all I held tightly to the one solid thing close to me, a rock stubbornly resisting the tide washing me away. It was, calming, enough so that the voice that suddenly spoke didn't startle me at all.

"Pumpkin. It's time to get up. Besides, if you keep that up any longer, you're going to give Owen an aneurysm."

Dr. Green. I could sense him hovering above me as I returned to consciousness and felt the rock cough under my arm. My eyes popped open, a man's ear in my vision. The rest of Mr. Blackbourne's profile, disgruntled gray eyes glancing sideways and meeting mine as I looked up had me gaping. I lifted my head and noticed that not only did I have an arm draped over the top of his chest, but also his leg pincered underneath mine. I shocked back away, astonished, regretful, a mouth full of stuttered apologies as I tried to come to grips that it was morning. Mr. Blackbourne sat up stiffly and got to his feet, still dressed in the clothes I'd seen him in last night, except far more rumpled. He tugged at the bottom of his cuffs and ran a hand through his hair, picking a bit of straw from it and and letting it fall, disdain written across shoulders held militantly rigid.

I swept my own hair back and around and wrung at it as he clipped a curt good morning and thanks to the doctor and left as quickly as he'd gotten up, one shoe missing. What had happened last night? Why was I with that shark, Mr. Blackbourne in a...bed? I glanced around, taking in the straw that was strewn around the inside of a hut and the naked back of Luke laying on the other side of where my hug buddy had lain. I quickly averted my eyes to Dr. Green crouched at my feet, a wooden bowl of steaming brown rice and chopstick-cut sticks held out to me. He smiled as I stared at it, nudging at the chopsticks so they pointed more in my direction.

"Know how to use these?"

I looked down at the offered meal and glanced back at the door, my stomach still grating with the impression I'd made enough to make me second guess breakfast. The doctor smiled knowingly and placed the bowl in my hands, invitingly warm as I cupped it and brought it closer so I could smell the grainy steam better. It made my mouth water, but I couldn't help the regretful sigh I let escape. The doctor chuckled.

"Never mind. His feathers have been ruffled, that's all. He'll be preened and less prickly again before you know it. I'm actually kind of jealous. You had quite the grip on him, all night."

He swept a hand over the top of my hair, singling out a lock and pulling his finger through it to draw it towards himself until he had it near the end, losing a strand or two in the process. His mouth twitched as he rubbed the strands together back and forth between his thumb, green eyes ringed with gold entranced, the sensation he was creating strange. I wanted to pull away, but I also wanted to see what he'd do with it. The attention was enough to make me hold my breath.

Luke sat up in the middle of all this, rubbing his eyes and glancing around as he woke, but Dr. Green had already dropped the gentle tether he had on my hair by the time he got around to looking at us. I was still caught up in the moment, heart straining to keep up with the heat rising in my cheeks. I put a hand up on my hair to smooth down the lingering sensation of his touch as Luke glanced into my bowl and made a face.

"Rice again. Bletch."

And so the day started, the sun already risen before I was up on a night I couldn't remember sleeping through. Despite being dejected at the morning's menu, Luke was bright at the mention of beach combing with North after breakfast. I watched them all gather and talk outside the hut as I fumbled the final mouthful of rice, glad everyone was too busy planning activities to notice my struggles with the unfamiliar way of eating. A hand plopped on top of my head and I froze with the chopsticks still in my mouth, glancing up through my bangs to find Silas towering above. The way he was intently peering into my face, he definitely wanted something. I almost choked on the rice and he withdrew his hand, folding his arms but still intent on my face.