Reckless Magic (10 page)

9.

I regained consciousness in an
unfamiliar place. My head was pounding and my mouth felt like
sandpaper. The electricity inside of me had slowed to a soft hum
and my blood temperature had cooled down a bit. I must have been in
the nurse’s office because I was laying on a soft cot and a metal,
medicine cabinet sat directly to the left of me.

I slowly pulled myself into a sitting
position and realized I was not alone. I rubbed my eyes and moved
my tongue around in my mouth, but it was no use. I was dying for a
glass of water.

Principal Saint sat sitting at a desk,
arms folded, staring. A wave of trepidation swept over
me.

“
Are you feeling all right,
Ms. Matthews? You took quite a fall,” his distinct, elegant voice
was crisp and serious. He stood up and reached over to hand me a
glass of water. I took it, my hands trembling a bit, and drank it
quickly.

“
I think so,” I still felt
weak, and my head was especially fuzzy. “Thank you,” I said
hesitantly. He took the cup out of my hand and walked over to fill
it again at a sink that was positioned behind him.

“
For what?” he sounded
surprised.

“
For the water.… and for not
letting me fall,” I replied matter-of-factly.

“
I did no such thing. You
did fall, you fell hard. The student, who brought you here, said
you possibly had a seizure. I am here to make sure that you don’t
have another,” his voice was full of conviction, but I could have
sworn I saw him catch me.

“
A seizure?” I said
pretending to be confused; although I thought I had been conscious
of what was happening to me, I was not so sure now. I didn’t
remember hitting the floor at all. I rubbed the back of my head,
but nothing felt sore or tender.

“
Yes, Mr. Angelo said you
began shaking uncontrollably before passing out; you were lucky he
was near and able to act so quickly. Do you not remember any of
this?” he looked at me skeptically.

“
No,” I said simply. I
leaned my head forward to look at the ground, letting my long hair
fall in front of my face. I could not look at this man in the eye
when I lied to him; he seemed as if he would be impervious to a
dishonest student. I was also confused though, I didn’t remember
Talbott there at all.

“
Hmmm…” he clearly didn’t
buy it; but I wasn't sure I bought it either. “Well, the important
thing is that you are alright. Do you have any idea of what could
have caused this? Has this happened before? What is the last thing
you remember?”

“
I don’t know,” I took a
long pause to clearly remember what happened. What made me convulse
so terribly? “I remember talking with Kiran and then
nothing.”

“
Mr. Kendrick?” Principal
Saint’s voice raised in alarm, although I had no idea why. “This
was worse than I thought,” he mumbled cryptically under his breath.
“Eden, I am afraid there is something we need to discuss. This has
gotten out of control,” he looked at me gravely, but did not
attempt to stand or come closer. A feeling of dread washed over me,
but before he could continue, Mrs. Truance stepped through the
door.

“
Eden’s aunt is here, sir.
Would you like me to send her in?” I was amazed at the tone of
respect Mrs. Truance used with Principal Saint. Her quiet,
subservient demeanor was nothing I had ever seen her exhibit
before.

“
Yes, that would be fine. I
am sure she is anxious to see her niece,” Mrs. Truance left the
room and Principal Saint turned his attention back to me. “Our
discussion will have to wait. I am sending you home for the day,
and strongly suggest you take the rest of the week off to
recuperate. Kingsley does not tolerate sick and fainting students.”
He said it with finality and stood to take his leave.

“
Oh my word, Eden are you
all right?” Aunt Syl was through the door and in front of my face
before I could react. She was still in her green doctor’s scrubs
and her hair was frazzled. She reached out to put my face in her
hands and I inhaled the strong smell of hospital soap.

“
I’m fine, really, I’m
fine,” I tried to reassure her, but she reached into her pocket and
pulled out a small flashlight to begin examining my eyes. I
attempted to push her away but she was persistent.

“
They said it was a seizure,
I was so worried,” she exclaimed, finally giving up the impromptu
check up to hug me tightly.

“
Aunt Syl, I can’t breathe,”
I said, struggling for oxygen.

“
Oh, I’m so sorry dear,” she
pulled back, but didn’t take her hands off of my
shoulders.

“
I have excused her for the
day, as well as the rest of the week,” Principal Saint interrupted
from the doorway. “Please, take this time to recover, and we will
see you back here on Monday, healthy. I will have Ms. Mason bring
over your homework and make sure you are caught up on classes,”
with his final instructions he left us alone, closing the door
behind him.

“
What happened?” Aunt Syl
asked exasperated. “The school called me at the hospital and I
rushed over here right away.”

“
I guess I had some sort of
seizure or something…. I don’t really remember to be honest. But I
feel much better now, I think I’m fine. Let’s just go home,” I
looked up at her with pleading eyes, giving her my strongest smile
and hoping to convince her.

“
Nice try, but seizures are
serious Eden. I am going to take you to the hospital for a full
checkup and then we will go home…. ok? Who is Ms. Mason?” Aunt Syl
was serious and I knew there was no getting out of all of the tests
I was about to have run on me. I inwardly groaned, not sure if I
was up to being poked and prodded. But still, I wondered if there
was a diagnosis for blood made out of lightning?

“
Lilly, the girl I was
telling you about yesterday,” I hopped off of the cot and adjusted
my uniform. Aunt Syl had to check out with Mrs. Truance before we
could leave, but we eventually made our way down to her car, parked
in front of the school a little askew.

To my utter despair and frustration,
before we could begin our escape, I noticed Kiran jogging down to
us from the Administration Building. I cringed, not sure why he
just couldn’t leave me alone. Since I was still not feeling like
myself, I really was in no mood to deal with him.

“
Eden,” he called from a few
feet away as I tried to slide into the passenger’s seat as quickly
as my trembling appendages would let me. “Eden!”

“
Who is that?” Aunt Syl was
both impressed and confused by the unbelievably good looking boy
jogging in our direction.

“
What?” I shouted
exasperatedly, stepping back out of the car and closing the door,
hoping to shield whatever this was about from my Aunt.

“
Are you ok?” he came to a
stop too close to me for comfort, but thankfully I didn’t feel any
more electricity than the soft hum that had come to be
normal.

“
I’m fine,” I said quickly,
hoping he would just get to the point.

“
Are you sure?” he reached
out to hold my hand and I was reminded of the dream I had about him
last night. I let him hold it for a moment, feeling butterflies
instead of overwhelming energy, before taking it back. He smiled
slightly.

“
Yes, I’m sure, but my Aunt
is taking me to get a checkup anyways,” I said slightly irritated.
“What do you want?” I hoped he was not here to ask me about the
trash can in the theater again.

“
I just wanted to make sure
you were ok,” he smiled wider and I found myself smiling back. I
couldn’t help it, he was just beautiful. His white teeth were
surrounded by perfect lips and adorable dimples. Even his eyes
smiled at me.

“
Thank you,” I said
softening a little. “But really, I’m fine. Like I said, I’m going
to the hospital, and I am sure they will tell me that there is
nothing wrong with me. So…… I’ll see you later,” I tried to turn
away from him and get in the car, but he was not
finished.

“
I brought you your
backpack,” he said suddenly, never taking his eyes off of mine. I
reached out to take it from him, willing myself to look away from
his crystal blue eyes. I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks and
let my hair fall in front of my face to hide the embarrassing
blush.

“
Thank you,” I mumbled
again. I took the backpack and our fingertips brushed softly
together. I felt a surge of both butterflies and electricity this
time and realized it was time to get out of there, before Aunt Syl
had to witness one of my “episodes.”

“
Can I bring you your
homework tonight?” his eyes wavered for a second and I realized
that he was nervous.

“
Um, actually I think Lilly
is going to bring it,” I said in a rush.

“
Mr. Kendrick, get back to
class,” Principal Saints’ voice called from the top of the hill.
Kiran looked up and then looked back at me, clearly annoyed. His
entire body tensed and I could see that he was torn. I was
surprised by his reaction, but could almost relate. Every time that
Kiran tried to talk to me, Principal Saint showed up out of nowhere
to keep us apart. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe
not.

“
We’ll see about that,” he
whispered before turning around and jogging back up the hill. I
stood staring after him for a moment, wondering if he was talking
about class or my homework tonight.

Kiran had left me once again confused
but excited at the same time. With so many mixed emotions no wonder
I couldn’t keep myself in control. I climbed back in the car,
thankful I would have something to distract me the rest of the
afternoon, I was almost looking forward to the promised MRI and CT
scan; maybe Aunt Syl would even throw in a PET scan just for good
measure…. one could only hope.

10.

I would have never thought I would
miss school, especially Kingsley, but sitting in front of my window
Sunday night, I could not wait to get back there. Or rather, I
could not wait to get out from under Aunt Syl’s watchful
eye.

The tests at the hospital all came
back normal. I knew they would, I knew that whatever was wrong with
me was not going to show up on a hospital chart or graph, unless
maybe it was a mental hospital.

Aunt Syl was less than convinced when
they told me everything was fine and I could go home. And since she
decided to use some of her accumulating vacation days just to be
sure I didn’t die, I had been under constant
supervision.

My week had been full of manicures,
pedicures, hair appointments and hours and hours of yoga. I had
done enough up-dog, down-dog, warrior two for a lifetime. At first
it was really great to spend so much time with Aunt Syl, but so
much relaxing was hard for both of us to accomplish.

My aunt was an important ER doctor.
She was used to constant movement and nights of sleeplessness. I
was used to her absence for days at a time, and taking care of
myself. I wasn't sure if we had ever spent that much quality time
together. It was nice at first, but we were both too used to being
alone.

Finally that afternoon, she couldn’t
stay home any longer and found an excuse to go to the hospital.
Since I’d never had an episode at home, I was pretty sure she
believed I’d be ok by now.

The only other person I had seen was
Lilly. She had faithfully brought me my homework every night and
stayed for supper. She had also sat with me for hours explaining
it, especially French. She was just as fluent as everyone else. Why
I hadn’t thought to ask her for help to begin with was beyond
me.

Lilly was what Kingsley called a
“boardy”; which meant that her parents lived elsewhere and rented
her an apartment during the school year. Apparently most of the
students at Kingsley lived like that. Their parents were all super
important and super rich, so they sent their children far away and
provided them with all of the teenage necessities: food, lodging,
chauffeurs, cooks, maids, tutors and no-limit black American
Express cards.

I had heard of that sort of thing
before, but my idea of a prep school worth all of that kind of
trouble was located usually near an ocean, not the middle of
nowhere. When I asked Lilly why these students didn’t go somewhere
like New York, or North Carolina she informed me that Kingsley was
the trifecta for people of our stature. Since that only confused me
more, she explained that Kingsley was not only the best of the best
in the world of academia, but it was located where students
couldn’t find too much trouble and most of the parents were either
close friends with the school board or Principal Saint.

I doubted I fit in to any of those
categories for attending, but remembered Aunt Syl’s sizable
donation to the science department before my admission forms were
accepted. Despite all of her freedom however, I could tell that
Lilly was lonely. Thankfully, Aunt Syl loved her just as much as I
did and so she spent most of her time at our house, only refusing
to spend the night. Eventually I figured I would just convince her
to just move in with us.

I saw headlights flash into my
driveway and they pulled me out of my musing. Aunt Syl must have
just gotten home from the hospital. I threw an oversized navy blue
Kingsley sweatshirt on over my tank top; it hung down over my
shorts and made me look like it was the only thing I had on. I gave
up on my Calculus homework and headed down to the kitchen, hoping
she brought home something to eat with her.