The Paladin Prophecy

IT’S ABOUT US

It was almost noon when they returned to the Center. Rourke drove them to Greenwood Hall and walked him to the door.

“Stay close to people who care about you,” said Rourke. “Tell them how you feel. They can’t help you if you don’t. That’s where you have to start.”

Dr. Robbins walked Will inside to the elevator. A line of yellow tape sealed the open doorway to Lyle’s rooms. Lots of uniformed officers were working inside.

“Are there any friends or relatives we should notify, Will?” asked Robbins. “We could have them flown in. I’m sure they’d like to be here for you as well.”

“Thanks,” said Will. “May I think about that and let you know?”

“Of course.”

He didn’t want to tell her the truth then and there: He had no living relatives that he knew about on either side of the family. Nor did his parents have any friends that he was aware of. In fact, the only friends he’d known in his own life were the ones who lived upstairs in pod G4-3.

They got off the elevator. Knots of students were grouped in the atrium whispering to each other, with a partial attempt at discretion, as Will passed.

The story had made the rounds already. He wasn’t just the “new kid” anymore.

A security guard waited outside the door to their suite—Tika, Eloni’s other cousin. She opened the door as they approached.

“She’s not here to keep you locked up, Will,” Robbins whispered. “Just to make sure you’re okay. Call me, immediately, if you need anything.”

“I will.”

Will walked into the great room. Brooke sat at the dining table next to Nick, who was in a wheelchair with his right leg elevated. She jumped to her feet when Will came in. Elise rose from the sofa, and Ajay popped out of his room.

Brooke got to him first and hugged him as hard as she could. She tried to keep from crying and failed miserably, while everyone else bunched around him. Even Elise brushed away a tear when she got her chance to hug him.

“Damn it, bro,” said Nick. “Damn, I’m so damn sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

Will had to squat on an arm of the wheelchair to hug Nick, and Nick nearly broke Will’s ribs. The girls made hot chocolate. Ajay got a fire going and they gathered around it, even Nick, who climbed out of his chair and limped down onto the sofa.

Brooke started to explain that she’d been walking back from the library when two masked figures had come out of the woods. Will saw the trauma carving lines on her face and took her hand.

“We know the rest,” he said. “Don’t go back there.”

Brooke seemed grateful. “Were your parents really on that plane?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Will. “They were a few days ago. We’ll have to wait and see. Did they ever find Todd?”

“Not yet,” said Ajay.

“They nabbed six Knights at the Barn, three at the boathouse,” said Elise. “And Lyle.”

“That leaves three of the thirteen Knights still unaccounted for,” said Ajay. “Including Todd. Nick thinks you’re right. Todd must’ve been the Paladin at the Barn.”

“Any word on Lyle?” Will asked Ajay.

“I talked to a friend at the med center,” said Ajay. “He says Lyle is one hundred percent non compos.”

“Whoa, he’s not even on campus anymore?” asked Nick.

“Non compos mentis,” said Elise. “Look it up.”

“It means he’s fried his motherboard,” said Ajay. “Blown his circuit breakers. Catatonic and nonresponsive. A condition most often associated with a devastating and perhaps irreversible nervous breakdown.”

Will thought back to the cave, when he’d seen Lyle’s face inside the wendigo’s rib cage. What had that thing taken from him? How much of Lyle was left?

“Well, pardon me while I break out the world’s smallest violin and play a really sad song,” said Nick.

“He’s still a person, Nick,” said Elise.

“Or was,” said Ajay. “At least sort of.”

“He was a little kid once, like us,” said Brooke. “With people who cared about him.”

“I was told Lyle’s parents are flying in as well,” said Ajay.

“There, see?” said Elise. “He has parents.”

The word appeared to bring Nick back to the weight of Will’s loss. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

OceanofPDF.com