Academy for the Strange

Chapter 16: Sickness

            Fiona stumbled out of her bed as her alarm continued to blare. She hit the snooze to get the awful noise to stop before she actually turned it off. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the window, grimacing as she saw the thick grey clouds and the grey-blue colour of the water. So much for the nice weather holding.

            She turned to where Meredith was still nothing more than a lump, buried in blankets. “Time to get up Mer,” she called, already changing into the nearest clean clothes and thinking about showering that evening.

            When she didn’t get a response or even movement after a few moments, Fiona crossed the room and gently shook Meredith’s shoulder. At least what she assumed was her shoulder. “Hey, it’s morning. We’ve got class.”

           The selkie shifted then, her face coming into view as she wriggled slowly. “I’m not feeling so good,” she said, her cheeks red and face sweaty. “I don’t think I’m going to class today.”

            Fiona reached out and touched her roommate’s forehead, yanking her hand back almost immediately. “You’re burning up! You stay right there, I’m going to go to the medical room to get the doctor.”

            She shook her head weakly, wheezing slightly as she spoke, “No, it’s not serious. It’s a selkie disease. I’ve had it before. I’ll be better soon.”

            About to argue with her, Fiona was distracted by their door bursting open. Two blurs raced past her, stopping to either side of her, identical green eyes locked onto Meredith. “You are sick!” Robin said, face crinkling up.

            “What should we do?” Henry asked, his face as equally lined as his sister’s.

            Robin shook her head. “You won’t die will you? Because you’re not allowed to die!”

            “We’ll get you anything you need,” her brother added.

            Meredith shook her head and opened her mouth before she started coughing. The twins looked at each other, eyes wide, before they reached out so they could hold hands. Fiona sighed and moved so she stood beside Meredith, facing the kobolds. “Right now the number one thing Mer needs is rest. I’m going to head over to the medical room and talk to Dr. Volkov. He’ll know what to do. You two need to get ready for your classes, okay?”

            “But-” Robin protested.

            “We can help,” said Henry.

            “We want to help,” they chorused.

            “I want you to go to class,” Meredith said, voice even quieter than normal and with a rough edge. “You skip too much.”

            The twins frowned, but Fiona knew better than to let them continue to argue. “C’mon,” she said to the siblings. “Let’s let Mer sleep, okay?”

            They opened their mouths, then shut them, almost in perfect unison. They let Fiona shepherd them out the door and down to the lounge. Only once they were on the first floor did they turn to her, neither looking happy. “We don’t want to go to class,” Robin said. “We want to help Meredith.”

            “We can bring her what she needs and keep an eye on her,” Henry added.

            Fiona shook her head. “Look, she’s just going to stress herself if she thinks you two are skipping. Just go to your classes, at least your morning ones, and let me handle it, okay? I’ll stay with her.”