The Children of Hypnos

Chapter 33: The Calm

Blood bubbled under the pressure of Emery's hand against her thigh. The faster she hobbled, the faster it came out, and she felt herself getting light-headed from the pain by the time Booling Hall came into view around the corner.

Like all the other dorms, it was empty. The lights were on, but no one was home.

"He's not going to be in there," Jacqueline said, striding ahead of Emery. "He's going to be up at the manor, with everyone else."

"No he's not. He wouldn't have gone there without me. He'll be...he'll be pouting in his room."

"You need a doctor." Wes's hand found Emery's shoulder. She shrugged him off. "You're bleeding out."

"I'm still walking."

She was damn near jogging, but if she lost too much blood, she wouldn't be able to do anything.

"She stabbed you with her fingers," Jacqueline snapped. "That's disgusting. And impossible, and—ugh."

Emery pushed her way into Booling. She hobbled to the elevator instead of the stairs and jammed her fist down on the button for the fourth floor. Wes and Jacqueline stood by the door, arms crossed. Jacqueline looked worried. Wes looked pissed. Emery wanted to shoot the elevator controls to make it stop pinging.

"I should have shot her," she said. "I should have shot her."

Neither of them said anything.

The fourth floor was quiet. Even the denmother was out. All the doors were shut and locked, all the lights off inside the rooms. Nothing had been disturbed, at least—there was no destruction. Emery jogged to Edgar's door and pounded on it.

"Edgar!"

"He's not in there," Jacqueline said.

"Edgar, open the door!"

Wes caught Emery's wrist. "He's not here."

Emery tore her arm away from him and shoved past him, back to the elevator. "Then he's at the manor."

"You need to tell the dean what's happening, and then you need to go to the clinic," Wes said. "We'll go to the manor to find Edgar."

"Do you really think a doppelgänger is going to make it past all those people at the party without them noticing her?" Jacqueline said. "With that hair? There'll be hysteria. She won't get anywhere near him."

Emery swallowed her panic and hit the first floor button on the elevator. Wes and Jacqueline piled in with her once again.

"What if he's not at the party, though?" she said. "What if he went somewhere else on campus? What if Morrigan finds him, and he's alone? She moved so fast, he'd never be able to run from her, and he doesn't even have a weapon to defend himself—"

"Em." Wes's voice was low and soothing; his eyes fixed on hers, hypnotic in their absolute blackness. "It's going to be okay. We'll find Edgar. We'll get the campus locked down. She was strong enough to get out, but she's not that strong yet. And we'll get your grandfather—he'll be able to help."

"We aren't supposed to tell him."

The doors slid open. Jacqueline made a small squeak and said, "I think it's too late for that."

Grandpa Al swept through Booling's front doors, followed closely by Ares Montgomery, Lewis, and Kris.

And, peeking out from behind Lewis's legs, Edgar.

"Edgar!" Emery collapsed to her knees in relief. Wes and Jacqueline both reached out for her at the same time, but she waved them off.

Grandpa Al strode forward, looked her over once, then swept a hand through the air. The ground beneath her bubbled upward, pushing her to her feet. Edgar moved out from behind Lewis and started toward her, but Grandpa Al held a hand out to stop him.