Twilit Mage

Chapter 58: The Shy One and the Coward

When she walked out of the principal's office, Mercury felt lighter than she had felt in weeks. For ages and ages she had kept asking herself the same questions, constantly wondering about so many things, trying to fit in, trying to understand, trying to find her place in this world. There was so much that hadn't made sense, so much that had scared her. So many opinions all around her that she had struggled to fit them into her head.

But now all her doubts were gone. She knew what she wanted now, what she should be. She didn't know how to get there yet, but she would figure something out. Maybe over time she could gather enough courage to reach out to more people, speak to them, inspire them. Maybe someday she would get the chance to contact willing Light Mages and pull them onto her side.

For now, however, there were other things to deal with. For the time being she needed to handle the current mess, needed to clear Raoul's name and make sense of the chaos all around her. Although maybe, hopefully, this time it wouldn't be her job, or Raoul's, or Georgiana's. This time around Principal Blake was the one searching for the traitor, and she really, really wanted to trust him.

Still, she needed to talk to Raoul, she thought as she walked across the schoolyard towards the nurse's office. She wondered if he had woken up already. If he hadn't, should she wake him? He deserved the sleep, but he also deserved a scolding–

"Mercy, is that you?"

She stopped in her tracks. Where had that voice come from? No matter where she looked, she couldn't see anyone.

"Mercy? Mercy!"

She looked up. Several stories above her head, Raoul's head was sticking out of a window, leaning out so far he looked ready to fall.

"Raoul!" she shouted. "You're awake!"

"Hey, that's my line!" Raoul yelled back. "Hold up, Mercy, I'm coming down!"

"Don't worry about it! I'm coming up!"

Raoul's head disappeared from the window as she spoke, and without thinking Mercury darted through the nearest door back into the school building, making for the stairs and leaping up, two, three, four steps at a time. "Raoul!" she called. "Where are you?"

One story above her head Raoul's head popped over the railing. "Up here!" he answered. "Wait a sec, I'll be right there!"

But Mercury didn't wait. She sprinted up the remaining stairs as Raoul leaped down until they met on the platform in the middle, crashing into each other and falling straight into each other's arms.

Mercury nearly lost balance. Raoul staggered back a few steps, pulling her with him, pulling her close and tightening his grip until she could barely breathe, clinging to her like she was a long-lost treasure he had finally found again. Mercury returned the embrace, burying her face in Raoul's shirt and holding onto him like a lifeline, emotions swirling around her chest too fast for her to comprehend.

"Mercy," Raoul said at last, gripping her shirt and nuzzling her shoulder and breathing a laugh that turned into a strangled noise. "You're alive."

Her breath caught in her throat. Something deep inside her chest responded to the strangled laugh, the choked-up sound of his voice, sending tears into her eyes for no explainable reason. "Yes," she rasped out, the words coming out thick and shaky. "I survived...I...I'm so sorry for making you worry...um..."

But Raoul didn't listen to her. "You're alive," he simply repeated, as if he himself couldn't believe it. "You're alive...you're alive..."

Mercury couldn't swallow the lump in her throat. Raoul's voice was small, shaking as his words fell muffled into her shirt, full of joy and fear and all the emotions he must have been holding back for the past three days. Three long days of sitting outside the infirmary door, waiting, waiting, hearing no news. What must he have felt? What in the world had he gone through?