Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 62: Into the courtyard

Harry woke to a gentle bell sounding in the room. For a moment, he wasn't sure where he was. He had been dreaming of riding on a train and the bell he was hearing now had been the bell on the food trolley announcing its progress down the corridor. He stretched and pulled at the covers and feeling their texture under his fingertips remembered that he was at the Center. He woke up a little more. The bell chimed again and he heard someone from across the room groan.

Did we all take a nap after the storm?

He opened his eyes and was surprised to find that the light in the room was flashing—from comfortable light to a blinding bright light. He shut his eyes against it. It was disconcerting and painful.

"It is 1:30 pm; please meet us for Instructor Introductions in the Mont Blanc room at 2 pm," a pleasant voice instructed from an area near where the bells were sounding by the door.

Harry stretched and threw off the blankets. He'd had a good nap. He heard Tony's bed creaking as he moved in it and gathered that he was waking up, too.

A splash from Mei's tank delivered some droplets on his face. He wondered if she slept in the water. It seemed like it would be cold, even though the water was pretty warm when he'd been in it yesterday. Not really warm enough for sleeping, though.

"Someone wake up Gemma so that they turn off that gorgon-infested light!" Mei's gravely voice rang out.

The bell chimed again and the message repeated.

Harry waited a moment, hoping Tony or Aminah would do it, but he didn't hear either of them moving that way.

"I'll do it," he said reluctantly to the room. He shook out his staff and said, " Navigant third bed on the right," when he was standing at the foot of his bed. He hoped it would work.

He went past Tony's bed and then his staff announced that he was at the third bed on the right. He tapped the end of it with his staff and then trailed his hand along the mattress until he got closer to the head of the bed. He shook the bed a little to give Gemma a warning that he was there.

"Gemma, time to wake up," he said.

"She can't hear you," Mei reminded from the far end of the room.

Again the bell chimed and the same clear voice read out the message.

Aminah groaned in response and he heard her toss noisily in her bed. Harry heard Tony shuffle to the bathroom and the door close behind him.

"I know," Harry retorted, shaking the bed a little more. He thought about how surprising it was to have people touch him when he couldn't see it coming. He imagined it would be the same for Gemma, if not more so when her eyes were closed.

She turned in the bed toward him, her breath still heavy.

"Hurry up, Potter, would you? That blasted light is giving me a headache," Mei shouted from her tank.

"Close your eyes," Harry said over his shoulder.

Mei groaned in response.

He shook the bed again, then tentatively reached out a hand, feeling along the blankets until he found her form under them. He grasped her shoulder and shook very gently.

"Gemma, time to wake up," he said more softly this time, hoping that she had opened her eyes and saw the note that he could hear fluttering by his lips.

She started and he was pretty sure that she had opened her eyes.

"Good afternoon, Gemma."

She pulled her arm out from under her pillow and tapped twice on his hand that was resting on the mattress.