On the Meldon Plain (The Fourline Trilogy Book 2) (3 page)

“I’m sorry, Sister,” Nat mumbled as she shifted from one foot to another.

“Not a problem. I was hoping to run into you. Maybe not so literally, but I did want to see you. How are you, Natalie?”

“Fine, I’m fine, Sister. Just a little distracted today.”

“Hmm. I suppose you are wondering about Soris?” Nat’s head shot up when Barba said his name. The lines around Barba’s eyes deepened. “Ethet took him back to Fourline shortly after you returned. He is in good hands, Natalie,” she said reassuringly. But Nat felt anything but reassured. She wanted to run as far from the Sister as she could.

“I need to get to class.” A knot formed in Nat’s throat. “It’s . . . it’s good to see you,” she lied and pressed past Barba.

“You, too, Natalie,” Barba said. Her eyes lingered on Nat’s wrist when she opened the Science Center door. Nat glanced down at the edge of the vine-and-spear pattern, then at Barba. “There is a reason your markings never faded, Natalie. Please find me if you’d ever like to learn why.” The Sister gave her a sad smile and walked away, leaving Nat so rattled her hand shook as she let go of the door.

CHAPTER THREE

Nat stared at the campus health clinic posters lining the exam-room walls.

“I don’t see the necrosis normally associated with a serious spider bite. But there is an open sore,” the doctor said. Nat looked over her shoulder and clenched her fists as the doctor gently pressed her long brown fingers around the wound.

“Like I said, I’m not sure what caused it. I was just guessing maybe a bite,” Nat lied, knowing she’d been wounded by the Nala’s hand cutting into her skin. She swallowed sharply, feeling her gut twist.

“When did you notice the discoloration of the skin?” The doctor sat down in a swivel chair and pulled a rolling tray holding a laptop closer to her. She peered at the screen before looking over her glasses at Nat.

She looks like Sister Ethet,
Nat thought, instinctively glancing at the woman’s arm for the sun markings that covered the forearm of every Healing Sister. Ethet would have an idea why Nat’s shoulder hadn’t healed after her fight with the Nala. But Ethet was gone. Barba had said as much during their brief encounter three weeks ago.

“When did you notice the discoloration?” the doctor repeated.

“Sorry, um, end of January. Something happened to it during J-term. I can’t pinpoint anything specific, that’s why I wondered if it was a bite,” Nat said. The doctor would send her off to a behavioral-health clinic if she told her the truth.

“I have the write-up from your visit at the end of January.” The doctor read the chart notes on her laptop. “The pain is constant?”

“Yes,” Nat answered.

The doctor typed as Nat responded to each question.

“Same amount of pain as in January, or different?”

“A little different.” Nat wasn’t sure how to respond. Each morning when she awoke after her nightmares, the ache was sharp and deep, then it receded as the day wore on.

“How?”

“It’s intense in the morning. I must be sleeping in the wrong position.” She rubbed her forehead, feeling the creeping fingers of a headache.

The doctor nodded. “The PA’s notes from January indicate you were suffering from exhaustion and dehydration as well as the wound to your shoulder.” She pushed the laptop away and crossed her arms. “How much sleep would you estimate you get each night?”

“Enough,” Nat didn’t like where this was heading. “Enough for a college student.”

“Hmm. You’ve lost several pounds since January, so I won’t bother to ask how much you eat, because it is clearly not
enough
.” She grabbed a notepad and began scribbling. Nat clutched her paper gown and cursed herself for coming here. The doctor ripped two pages from the tablet and handed them to Nat.

“I want to run a blood test and do a biopsy of the skin.”

Nat looked out the window to avoid making eye contact. The April day was coming to an end, and a warm orange light shone through the windowpane. She bit her fingernail and looked away from the glow.

“You can come back tomorrow for the tests.”

“I can’t tomorrow,” Nat protested, finally meeting the doctor’s insistent eyes. She’d promised the biology department head she’d help him with a research project, and Cal was due to arrive soon for her three-day campus visit.

“Monday, then,” the doctor said definitively. “This is the contact information for the counseling center.” She pointed to a phone number on the second page. “I’ve seen enough students to know where you’re heading, Natalie. Please call the center, they really can help you.”

Nat’s eyes wandered from the scribbled handwriting on the tablet paper to the dingy linoleum floor.

“Call them,” the doctor said and left the room.

Nat sat on the exam table and stared at a poster listing the side effects of overprescribing antibiotics. After a few minutes, she crumpled the papers in her hand and slid off the table.
None
of these people can help me,
she thought as she gingerly pulled on her long-sleeve shirt. She was a fool to think they could.

She signed out at the reception desk in the empty waiting room and exited the clinic. What would counseling do? She didn’t need to talk to anyone except Soris and maybe Ethet, and that would never happen.

A bus pulled in front of her and parked by the Student Center.
I’ll get through this on my own,
she thought. She didn’t have a choice. Her shoulder would eventually heal. It had to.

Nat groaned inwardly when she recognized Cal’s long figure alighting from the bus. Her shoulder hurt worse than ever, her head felt like it was about to explode, and her stomach churned with the nausea she’d had all afternoon. She needed at least a few minutes to herself before she had to deal with her sister.

Cal set a duffel bag on the sidewalk. She glanced around, a look of uncertainty on her face.
No such luck,
Nat thought when Cal caught sight of her and strode down the sidewalk, bag in hand.

“Hey.” Cal fidgeted with the handle of her duffel.

“Hi,” Nat replied. Cal’s eyes darted from Nat to the sidewalk.
Is she nervous?
Nat wondered. She studied her sister for a second before her thoughts strayed to the conversation with the doctor.

“Are you waiting for someone?” Cal looked around.

“Huh? No, I’m just preoccupied. Let’s drop your bag in my room. I’ve got class in forty-five minutes and won’t be home until late, but Viv’s around.” Nat walked in the direction of her dorm.

“Suits me,” Cal said, matching Nat’s quick stride. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Good, because I wasn’t offering.” The familiar sense of irritation with her sister flared up inside her.

“Are you mad at me because I’m coming to school here?”

“Does it matter what I think? It’s your life, as you so often remind everyone,” Nat grumbled. She felt like she was going to throw up.

Cal dropped her bag and caught hold of Nat’s sleeve, pulling her to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. “I know I gave you a hard time when you came here, about Mom and Dad having to pay a stupid amount of money for your tuition.” She dropped her head, looking almost contrite.

“They aren’t paying any part of my tuition now, Cal,” Nat interjected. She took a deep breath to try to control the negativity brewing inside her.

“I know. So I get that you’re worked up about me coming. But Nat, I got this huge scholarship, and the dance department really—”

“Would you stop?” Nat held up her hands. “I am not worked up about you. Good for you for whatever scholarship you received, but I have bigger concerns than where my little sister is going to college.”

“Fine.” Cal grasped her bag and shrugged.

Nat felt a pang of regret for biting at her, but she had no energy to deal with her sister’s center-of-the-world attitude. They walked the rest of the way to Nat’s dorm in silence.

Nat punched in the key code. The resident advisor looked up from the check-in desk, and Nat pointed to the register. Cal signed in and followed her up a flight of stairs. They passed a group of sophomores who turned and watched Cal as she ascended. She winked at one of the boys.

“Cal, these aren’t high school boys,” she said, remembering her sister’s poor choices when it came to boyfriends. Soris’ face suddenly flashed in her mind.

“You care that I wink at a guy, but you don’t care where I’m going to school. Interesting.” Cal pursed her lips.

“Forget I said anything.” Nat took the rest of the stairs by twos even though she felt like puking. When she opened the door to her room, Viv had one arm in the sleeve of a purple tweed coat.

“Hey, Cal,” Viv said.

“Finally, a friendly greeting.” Cal tossed her bag on the floor. Nat took a few short breaths. Bile filled her mouth.

“Nat, you don’t look so hot,” Viv said as she set her coat on the striped chair and then took a step toward her roommate.

“I’m fine,” Nat said, holding up her hand, wanting everyone and everything around her to disappear. “I’ll be home late. Cal, find your own way around.” She slammed the door behind her and rushed to the bathroom at the end of the hall to lock herself in a stall. She heaved into the toilet.
When is this going to end?
Tears slid down her face, and she made no effort to wipe them away.

CHAPTER FOUR

Nat yawned and gazed at the protective beams of light Annin had taught her to visualize along the barrier of her dream space. They emitted a bright light, illuminating the empty darkness surrounding her. She brought the beams up each night out of habit now, even though nothing but the wisps of her nightmares tried to invade the safety of this refuge.

She yawned again and relaxed her body. She knew staying in her dream space night after night was keeping her from getting the rest she needed, but it was better than facing her recurring nightmare about Soris and the Nala. She settled back into the chair, worrying about her wound, and wondered if her recent nausea was somehow related to the injury.

She looked past the ledge to her dream landscape. A bank of thick clouds swollen with rain rolled across the horizon. Lightning crackled and raindrops hit the edge of the barrier. The sound of the storm reminded her of the crunching gravel on the banks of the river where the Nala had attacked Soris. A wave of guilt washed over her, and she quit worrying about her wound.
My problems are nothing compared to his.

“I am so sorry, Soris.” She dropped her head into her hands, feeling completely alone.

“For what?”

Nat tensed at the sound of the voice. She scanned the dream space.

“Over here.” Soris hovered on the other side of the ledge. His blond hair was plastered to his forehead. Rain dripped off the tip of his broad nose. His eyes were green, and his skin was a golden color, as if he’d spent too much time in the sun. She stared at him a moment, unable to see any of the markings of a duozi. No blue skin, no disc eye.

“Soris? How can you reach me here?” She looked at him in wonderment. She knew Annin could access someone’s dream space from a great distance, but she never heard her mention it was possible to reach someone across the membrane.

“I figured out a way to find you. Let me in.” His voice sounded faint. He floated a few feet away from the bars of light. Nat cautiously crept closer to the ledge.

“This isn’t going to hold me much longer.” He gestured to the cloud hiding his feet. He sank midcalf into its swirling gray wisps. “Let me in.”

“Lights down,” Nat said. The bars of light disappeared, and the room was thrown into darkness. A triangular pendant light appeared above her and cast a warm glow.

“You need to invite me in,” he reminded her. He sank lower into the cloud.

“Come in,” she said quickly before he fell out of sight. Soris jumped over the ledge. “You look completely healed.” Nat gazed at the exposed skin around the neck of his loose brown shirt, unable to find any hint of blue skin or bite marks. “She did it. Ethet healed you,” she said, amazed. Hope surged within her.

“No,” he said and turned away from her when she stepped closer.

She felt her heart ache at the coldness in his voice. She wrung her hands and was about to apologize when his voice cut through the silence.

“No one healed me,” he hissed. He spun in place and stood directly under the pendant light. Smooth blue skin rippled over his face, neck, and torso. His fingers fused together into the pointed ends of long spiderlike limbs. The brown shirt fell to the floor, exposing a gaping wound running down a rigid abdomen. Nat stumbled back as Soris transformed into the Nala she’d killed by the river.

The creature’s meaty back legs twitched, and then it sprang into the air. Nat’s instincts kicked in even though her mind was tied up with the horror of the metamorphosis in front of her. She sprinted into the darkness of her dream space. A thin, high-pitched hiss filled the air, its horrible sound wrapping around her. The Nala’s feet jabbed the ground behind her. She instinctively veered left and felt a slight breeze cooling her brow. Her brain started thinking clearly, and she remembered this was her dream space. She could visualize anything she wanted.

She imagined a protective space, and instantly a smooth cylinder thrust out of the ground, lifting her into the air. She closed her eyes and thought of Barba’s orb. She felt blazing warmth around her and opened her eyes to a hundred orbs hovering next to her. She focused on the balls of light to make them rain down on the Nala, pelting its skin.

The creature dodged the orbs and probed the slippery surface of the cylinder for some purchase to cling to. Nat felt the weight of Barba’s old cloak around her shoulders. A dagger hung from her belt. A sense of strength surged through her, and the Warrior Sister markings of a vine and spear on her arm pulsed.

“You’re dead!” she screamed at the Nala, enraged. The creature scurried around the base of the cylinder. “I killed you,” she growled.

As she watched it open its black mouth and bite at the orbs hovering around it, she felt her anger bubble over. The cylinder disappeared. Nat landed softly behind the Nala. She stepped to the side and punched the old wound in its abdomen. The Nala doubled over with a gurgling sound.

“What did you do with Soris?” she demanded. It stabbed the ground and vaulted toward her. Nat ducked and spun into the protective light of the orbs. The spheres brightened and locked together to create a blinding wall between Nat and the creature. The Nala dropped to all fours and shifted its weight back and forth as if it were winding up, ready to strike. Nat closed her eyes and let images roll through her mind.

A spiral of wind rose from the ground and lifted the creature into the air. Nat focused on the spiral, making it spin faster and faster. The orbs dispersed, and the wind whipped Nat’s cape violently around her legs.

“What did you do with Soris?” Her voice rose above the roar of the wind. The Nala responded with a long hiss from its narrow lips.

Nat screamed in rage and the funnel twisted toward the ledge. A human figure shot out of the tornado’s eye. Instead of the Nala, Soris floated over the ledge and spun head over heels into the storm clouds of her dream.

“No!” Nat screamed.

“Nat! Wake up!” Nat’s eyes flew open. Cal and Viv stood at the foot of the loft bed, shaking her.

“Are you okay?” Cal asked. Her eyes were wide, and her blonde hair stuck out at odd angles.

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” Nat pulled away from them, her heart pounding.

“You were screaming some weird name.” A deep line formed between Viv’s eyebrows. “It sounded like you were yelling ‘Soris.’”

At the mention of his name, Nat leaned over the side of the loft and threw up.

Viv brought Nat a cup of tea and tucked the edge of a blanket under her legs, swaddling her in the striped chair. Nat’s hands quivered when she took the mug. She sipped the hot liquid, burning her lip. Cal wiped the bottom rail of the loft bed a final time.

“I am so sorry, Viv,” Nat said. The room smelled of vomit and herbal tea. Cal tossed the paper towel into the garbage and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Could have been worse. You missed my bed, at least.” Viv shrugged. She pulled up a small square ottoman. Nat took another sip, then Viv removed the mug from her shaking hands. Cal emerged from the bathroom and sat on the edge of Viv’s bed, away from the freshly scrubbed floor.

“What’s wrong with you?” Cal ran her hand over her hair. “I mean, it’s not like I see you that much since you never come home. But even I can tell you’re a serious mess.”

Nat pulled the blanket tighter across her shoulders.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not
fine
.” Cal stood and paced the room. “Viv agrees with me and she lives with you.”

Nat turned to Viv. Her roommate gave her an apologetic look and said, “Ever since you got back from J-term, you haven’t slept well, you’re constantly distracted, you’ve dropped weight. Every time I try to talk to you about what’s stressing you out, you blow me off or avoid me.”

“I was busy like this before, Viv. I’m just not feeling . . .” Nat’s voice trailed off. The sharp pain burned deep in her shoulder. She grimaced and looked down, hoping neither Viv nor Cal would notice.

“And then there’s the money that magically appeared in Mom and Dad’s account,” Cal continued ranting. “I know that money came from you. I don’t know what you did to get it.” She tilted her chin so Nat had to look up to meet her sister’s gaze. “My bet is it has something to do with why you’re a wreck. Mom and Dad can figure out their own problems. They don’t need you trying to fix everything and suffering a nervous breakdown in the process.”

“Velvet touch, Cal, velvet touch,” Viv said. She pulled Nat’s hand into hers. “Look, can you agree with us that you need help?”

Nat swallowed and nodded.

“Good. Will you promise you’ll see someone?”

“And not next week or next month—tomorrow,” Cal interjected. Viv held up her hand.

“It’s okay, she’s right,” Nat admitted. “Tomorrow, I promise. I know who I need to see, and I’ll go tomorrow.” A strange sense of relief filled her as she spoke.

“Good.” Cal flopped onto the air mattress shoved against the desks and pulled the green comforter over her head. Her feet dangled over the edge.

“Do you need help getting back into the loft?” Viv asked, a look of concern on her face.

“I think I’ll just stay in the chair, Viv.” Nat pulled her hand away.

“Okay.” Viv switched on a dim light. “You’re probably not going to sleep, are you?” she asked as she got into her bed.

“Probably not.” Nat took a long breath to steady her nerves. “Viv?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Viv nodded and laid her head on her pillow, falling quickly asleep. After watching her roommate’s sleeping form and hearing her sister’s peaceful breathing, Nat pulled her arm out from beneath the blanket. She touched the vines and tiny spear, feeling a sense of calm even though Viv and Cal had just convinced her to do something she’d promised herself she’d never do.