Gifts of the Living Phoenix

Chapter 7

            Mid-term examinations turned out to be easier for Faith than she had realized.  Although she had made sure to stay on top of all her subjects, she worried about how her practicals would be.   Reading and theorizing about magic was one thing.  Casting and performing magic however, another thing altogether.  Since there were no classes and only exams this week, Faith had been studying in the library because she had wanted to spread out some of her study material which she couldn’t do in her room. She was reading one manual about ancient spells when she felt herself get warm.  She wasn’t sure what was happening and looked around her surroundings.  

            The room was pretty quiet.  It was then Faith noticed that Dante was in a cubicle area quietly reading his manuals as well.  Faith wondered when he had arrived but diverted her attention back to her manual.  Again, as she read the ancient text she felt herself get warm.  What the hell?  Was it her?  Was it the room?  What was going on? 

           Without another thought Faith gathered all her belongings and took what manuals she could she could.   She quickly left the library and headed to her room to lie down.  Dante realized she was leaving and gathered his things as well, looking to chase after her.  He was surprised to find Faith right outside the library doors as if waiting for him. 

             “I wondered if you were following me,”  Faith said suspiciously. “Was I right?”

Dante looked at Faith and smiled. “No, you were right. I was looking for an opportunity to talk to you,” he said not breaking eye contact.

            “Well?  What did you need?”  Faith’s words were short and clipped. “Look, I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m not feeling well. Do you think we could have this conversation another time?”  Faith realized she was starting to sweat and felt immensely warm again.

            Dante c****d his head to one side and looked at her intently.  She looked a little bit pale and sick he realized.

            “Are you ok?  Did you want me to take you to the infirmary?” 

            “No,” said Faith, “I can manage by myself.” 

            “No, I’ll help.”

            “No, you don’t need to.” 

            “Yes.”

            “No. Wait, what?  Seriously, you’re confusing.”  Faith said exasperated. “Why are you talking to me a-“ 

Faith didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence as a power overcame her.  The manuals she had been clutching to dropped to the ground as she fainted right in front of Dante.  Dante was quick though and caught her in his arms, just before her head hit the ground.  He gently picked her up noting how light she weighed and headed off in the direction of the infirmary. 

Dante’s actions did not go unnoticed as people began to whisper what they had seen to one another.  News traveled fast and soon reached the ears of the Twins and Melody.  They had been waiting for Faith at the lunch table and realized she was running late.  Mild irritation at Faith’s tardiness turned into more urgent concern when they heard how a silver haired girl was seen passed out being carried in the arms of Dante Philosophe, the 3rd year student from the third realm.  Everett and Edric got up at the same time that Jacob and Kyle attempted to sit down at their lunch table. 

            “Guys, something happened to Faith,” Everett said worry showing in his eyes.

            “Come on,” said Melody.  “That girl said that Faith was being carried to the infirmary,”

All five of the students forgot about eating and headed quickly to the infirmary wondering what had happened to their friend.  As they got closer to the white doors of the infirmary, they were stopped by the healing elf who happened to be near the entrance. 

            “Ah ah ah! Where are the five of you going?”  exclaimed the elf healer.

            “We’re here to see our best friend, Faith,” said Edric with worry in his voice.

            “All 5 of you are her best friends?” 

            “Yes!”  was heard unanimously from all 5 students.

The elf healer raised her eyebrow in partial amusement but still didn’t let them pass.

            “I can only let one through. Who’s it going to be?” 

Everett stepped forward immediately with Edric.  “Could we both go?” he asked pleadingly.

The pretty young elf eyed them both and finally nodded her head and motioned them to go inside.

            “We’ll be back with news right quick!” Edric said to his friends.

The spacious halls of the infirmary were eerily silent and stark.  The white blank walls contrasting any other parts of the school where colors were the norm.  Everett and Edric didn’t see anyone around nor did they know where they were going.  They just walked through the hall knowing that this was the right way to Faith.  As they stopped at the third room, they peered inside to see Faith lying on the bed with her eyes closed.  They noticed Dante on the other side of her look up as they entered.

            “What happened to her?  What did you do?” Everett said accusingly.

            “I didn’t do anything. She looked sick and then she collapsed.” Dante replied calmly.

Dante was stoic, almost too stoic for Edric’s mind.  He wanted to throttle the shapeshifter for some unknown reason.  Sensing his anger, Everett put a hand to his shoulder to calm him down.  Everett was surprised.  Edric hardly ever got outwardly emotional, much less angry.  He didn’t know what was going on right now.  Faith looked like she was just sleeping, but she felt hot to his touch when he put his hand up to her cheek.

            “Why is she so warm?”  Everett said in alarm now.

            “They don’t know.  They think something is happening to her, but no one seems to know what. They went to get Faith’s healer from the First Realm.  She might know something more, but they’re not sure if she’ll have any answers.” 

The same elf healer came into the room just as Faith opened her eyes.

            “Wha…where am I?”  Faith said in confusion.

            “Hey hon,” Everett and Edric said at the same time.

            “What are you guys doing here? Did you bring me here?”  Faith asked.

            “No, Dante did,” Everett motioned to where Dante was siting.

            “Dante?”  Faith said even more confused.

            “Don’t you remember?  You fainted in front of the library door.” Dante said reassuringly.

            “No…and I don’t feel so good.  Are you guys hot?  I’m really hot… why is it so hot?”

All three boys looked at Faith with concern as she closed her eyes again and her brows furrowed in pain. 

            “What a way to spend my birthday, huh.” Faith smiled weakly.

            “Yeah, nice.  And Happy Birthday”  Everett said kissing the top of Faith’s head.

            “Happy Birthday Faith, and get better quickly,” Edric said kissing her temple as well.

            "Don't worry Faith, we'll do something grand when you get out of here!"  

Dante looked at both boys with narrowed eyes, as if he wanted them to leave.  From what he could see, the three of them had a bond.  His heart felt a small pinch as he realized he was actually jealous.  He had never felt jealousy before, nor of anyone.  But in that moment as saw the two young elves looking at Faith with affection, he realized he was jealous and that feeling floored him. 

            “Boys, you’ll have to leave for now.  Let Faith get her rest,” the elf healer said.

All three nodded and told Faith that they would be returning in the morning.  The twins eyed Dante suspiciously and said, “She has us now, you don’t have to come back.” 

            “Yeah, no.  I brought her here, I’ll see this through.”  Dante replied curtly.

            “Maybe you didn’t hear my brother, we’re responsible for Faith, we can take it from here,” Edric said, his voice sounding clenched and strained.

The three tried to quietly have their disagreement but their loud whispers turned more heated and they were clearly heard by others as they left the halls down back to the entrance of the infirmary.

            “Right, well, I’m interested in what happens to Faith, so I’ll be hanging around.” Dante said firmly, not budging an inch.

            “We’ll see about that,” Everett muttered, walking off with Edric at his side.

After the twins got outside the infirmary, they saw that Melody, Jacob and Kyle had still been waiting for them. 

            “How is she?” said Melody.

            “They don’t quite know what’s wrong with her. She’s burning up or some reason and they don’t know why.”  Edric said quietly.

Melody looked like she was mulling things over in her head.  Everett was quick to see the wheels churning in her head and asked, “What are you thinking?”

Looking a little skeptical at her own thoughts, Melody said, “Well… I happened across something in my research class as I was searching for battle tactics research for that Critical Research class I have with Faith.”  

            “Ok?” Edric said, not quite following.

            “I read some kind of mythological story and thought it was interesting at the time but chalked it up to another useless fairy tale we were told,” Melody said cautiously.

            “Do you remember it?  Or what it was about?” Everett said inquisitively.

            “Yeah, parts but I saw the story somewhere in the library.  We could go look for it.”

Melody sounded pretty firm in her decision to go seek out this manual. 

            “You guys don’t have this class with us, so you’ll have to wait for me to find it in the Restricted archives since you don’t have access or permissions.  I’ll bring it out to the regular common area once I find it,” Melody said.

            The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement and quickly made their way to the library.  Luckily midterms had made all their schedules flexible so no one had classes at the moment.

            Dante had heard bits of their conversation as he had waited in the shadows.  He did that a lot, waiting in the shadows, listening and waiting.  He was interested to find out what this other shapeshifter Melody knew.  He also knew that Melody wasn’t who she said she was.  She wasn’t their age, there was some weird casting magic around her and she seemed a few years older than even him.  More mysteries seemed to surround Faith and he was sure he wanted to unravel all of them.