Gravensnod (manxman)

Chapter Two

Alexei

Agatha gripped onto my hand as we exited the boat and finally started to walk towards the castle. She was getting more comfortable around the people of Gravensnod, and was already a little lady. Lately she'd been wanting to accompany me with the work I had around the country, and I loved it. I was never going to pass us an opportunity to be around her.

After getting her into the castle Genevieve met us and took Agatha away for a nap. God, I'd love for a nap right now. With a slight yawn I walked up the stairs and was about to turn down a hallway when I heard more coughing. My legs immediately followed the sound before ending up in the infirmary to instantly see Louise on a bed. She was extremely pale and her forehead was covered with sweat.

"Louise," I said while walking in and coming up to her bed.

She gave me a soft smile as I gripped onto her hand. "I was going to come see Dr. Penn, I really was. I may have passed out before I was able to get here."

Movement made me look up to see Victor walking back over to the bed before placing a cold washcloth onto her forehead. "What is it? What does she have?"

The expression on their faces was making a bad feeling swarm in the pit of my stomach. "Pneumonia," Victor said with a frown. "And unfortunately it is worse than I would have liked."

I instantly looked back down at Louise who was breathing quite hard. "Louise," I said. When she finally looked up at me I said, "You need to get Philo to come here."

"I don't want to bother him."

"You're sick Louise; you know he'd drop everything just to be here. But you need to tell him." She looked between Victor and myself before I whispered, "Please."

She finally nodded before grabbing the small bag next to her bed. It took her only a few moments to grab her phone and start to dial. Victor was then pulling me from the room and out into the hallway when she started to talk into the phone.

"How bad is it?" I asked while looking at his grim face.

"It's bad Alexei. I've asked her how long these symptoms have been going on and she said awhile. A guard found her passed out in the hallway earlier and her fever was awful."

My hands ran over my face before gripping onto my hair. I started pacing the hallway while saying, "Nothing can happen to her Victor. She means too much for everyone here, especially Philo."

"I know and I'm going to try and get her as healthy as possible."

The look on his face was making a cold chill run down my spine before asking, "What aren't you saying?"

He remained silent for a few moments before deeply sighing. "Philo needs to arrive soon."

That made me look into the room to see her hang up her phone and close her eyes. She was then violently coughing before Victor went back in to her side. Had we all missed the signs of her being sick? Genevieve had me running around the last few weeks trying to get everything ready for the party, I'd hardly seen Louise. And Jess was currently in America at a fashion show. It sounded like no one had noticed her coughing and if they did she probably just played it off. But there was no way she could play off being this kind of sick. Philo needed to get here, and soon.

Ari

My eyes watched the boat leave the dock and head towards the mainland, the wind starting to violently blow my hair around my face. My fingers were turning white from gripping onto the dock so hard but in a way it felt nice. On one hand I was terrified by the decision I had made and was afraid I screwed everything up. But for the first time in a long time I felt hope and actually excited about the future. That didn't stop the tears from running down my cheeks while remembering what I had just done.