CHAPTER TWO
Monday morning arrived and Amelia, dressed in black pants, white shirt and the customary black cape, headed down to the school infirmary where children could come to her if they needed help. The infirmary was on the ground floor and was a large room, next to the garden doors. The room was long and each side was lined with a bed with crisp, white sheets. Next to each bed was a side table and cupboard with a lamp on top. Each bed had a straight back chair next to it for visitors. At the end of the room was Amelia's new office. She made her way to the office and tried not to think of Manfred Bloor.
The day was quiet slow until after the first break when a small albino boy of about eight came into the infirmary looking worried.
"Erm…excuse me?" the boy murmured. Amelia looked up at the albino boy and saw that he was holding his knee which was bleeding quite badly. Amelia got to her feet immediately and rushed over to the small boy.
"Oh dear, what happened, sweetie?" Amelia asked kindly.
"I fell against one of the logs in the garden and hurt my knee", the boy said shyly. Amelia went over to a cupboard and got out an antiseptic wipe. She gently cleaned his wound and then gently placed her hand on the boy's injury and muttered,
"Heal." Almost at once the skin on the boy's knee knitted itself back together. The boy felt no pain only a warm sensation in his knee. When Amelia took her hand away the boy's wound had gone completely, only the boy's ripped pants showed that he had hurt his knee in the first place. Smiling at the young boy, Amelia stood up and said, "There you go, all better."
"Thank you. But how did you do that? Are you endowed too?" the boy asked excitedly.
"Yes, I'm endowed. I'm endowed with the ability to heal."
"That's great. I'm Billy Raven, I'm endowed too. I talk to animals", Billy said, Amelia smiled and said, "Wow, that's impressive, Billy. I'm Amelia Fairchild and I'm the new school nurse so if you or your friends are sick, you can come to me instead of Matron."
"Great, well, I guess I should go to class now. It was really nice to meet you, Amelia", Billy said.
"It was nice to meet you too, Billy." Amelia smiled as she watched Billy leave the infirmary looking happier then when he had come. What a sweet boy, Amelia thought and then she thought of another boy who had been sweet towards her when she arrived the night before; Manfred Bloor. Amelia sighed and wondered why she couldn't stop thinking about Manfred. She wondered if Manfred was thinking about her.
Manfred Bloor was, indeed, thinking about Amelia Fairchild but wishing he wasn't. Manfred was no fool; he knew Amelia could never be his. She was good; his father had explained that, it was why he had to keep an eye on her. But even as Manfred sat in his study and told himself to try and forget the beautiful healer, the very thought of forgetting Amelia hurt, the thought of not being with her hurt and for the life of him, Manfred couldn't understand why. Why did this girl have such an effect on him? Sighing, Manfred looked down at the paperwork on his desk but couldn't find the motivation to do any of it. He wondered how Amelia's first day was going. He decided that rather than sit and mope he should go and find out, telling himself that he was just going to make sure she wasn't causing trouble. Manfred wasn't fooling himself, he simply wanted to see and talk to her again.
Manfred arrived in the infirmary to find Amelia filling out an accident form for the scrapes and bruises she had healed. He cleared his throat to get her attention. He watched Amelia look up and he saw the pleasure at seeing him in her eyes and it gave Manfred a wonderful sensation that he had never felt before.
"Hey, I was just wondering how your first day was going?" Manfred said.
"It's going great, thank you. All the children here seem really sweet and nice", Amelia said, smiling up at Manfred. Unable to help himself Manfred smiled back, her enthusiasm was infectious and rather than be annoyed by her cheerful attitude, as he normally would be, Manfred found he liked seeing Amelia so happy and wanted to make sure she remained happy.
"Dinner's in the great hall in five minutes. You'll be sat at the staff table next to me. Would you like me to show you the way?" Manfred offered, not wanting to be out of Amelia's company for longer than was necessary. He watched Amelia's eyes light up again and felt a surge of hope. Maybe he and Amelia being together wasn't such a hopeless idea after all.
Walking beside Manfred towards dinner Amelia decided to try and get to know Manfred better.
"Manfred, what made you stay and work at Bloor's rather than go on to university or employment elsewhere?"
Manfred was silent for a moment and Amelia wondered if he was thinking about his answer. She watched a small frown appear on his handsome features before he finally answered,
"I stayed to work with my Great-Grandpa and my father", he replied quietly, he said nothing more on the subject but Amelia got the feeling there was more that Manfred wasn't saying but decided not to push the subject. Instead she asked random questions about Manfred, what food he liked, what sort of films and books he enjoyed and in turn Manfred asked her similar questions. Amelia really enjoyed her conversation with Manfred. He was taciturn at first but he steadily became more open and relaxed and he seemed to enjoy their conversation just as much as she did. Before Amelia knew it she and Manfred were sat side by side at the head table and still enjoying each other's company; both were completely unaware of the astonished looks they got, not only from the students, but from many of the staff as well.
Amongst the students sat at the music table was Charlie Bone, a small, twelve year old picture traveller with brown eyes and untidy brown hair. Next to Charlie was his best friend, Fidelio Gunn, a musical genius and opposite the two boys were their friends, Gabriel Silk who had a long face and was endowed with the ability to sense scenes and emotions through people's clothing, and next to him was little Billy Raven. All four boys had watched Manfred Bloor enter the great hall chatting happily to the most beautiful girl they had ever seen. They looked at the top table where Manfred and the beautiful girl where sat side by side, deep in conversation.
"Who's that girl next to Manfred?" Charlie asked in astonishment. He had never seen Manfred talk to another member of staff with such enthusiasm.
"I know her. She's the new school nurse. She's endowed with the ability to heal. She healed the cut on my knee. Her name's Amelia Fairchild and she's really nice and kind", Billy explained excitedly. His three friends tore their gazes away from the top table and looked at Billy in surprise.
"Sounds like she's on our side but if that's true then why is Manfred so friendly with her?" asked Gabriel.
"Well, just look at her, she's beautiful", Fidelio said. Charlie, Gabriel and Billy all agreed and returned to their dinner.
Once dinner was over the endowed children headed to the King's Room to do their homework, Charlie found they were amongst the first to arrive. While they waited for the other endowed to arrive, Billy told Tancred Torsson, the spiky blonde storm boy, Lysander Sage, the African spirit-caller and Emma Tolly, Tancred's girlfriend who could turn into a bird and fly, all about Amelia Fairchild and her endowment. The friends then started to discuss what they saw at dinner between Manfred and Amelia.
"It's weird, I've never seen Manfred get on that well with anyone except his cronies", said Tancred, taking a seat between Lysander and Emma.
"Me neither, but it sounds like she might be on our side, so maybe he's just making friends with her so he can keep tabs on her. That won't be easy to do with a member of staff, like it is with us. If we do something that annoys or angers them we get detention but you can't give a teacher detention can you", Lysander said, giving all of them something to think about. Before anyone could say anything else Dorcas Loom, a heavy set girl who could bewitch clothing, Idith and Inez Branko, telekinetic twins who looked more like porcelain dolls then real humans, entered the King's Room closely followed by Joshua Tilpin, a boy who's magnetism meant that he always looked a mess as scraps of paper and other such things clung to him and Dagbert Endless, the drowner. The last to enter was Manfred Bloor who looked distracted. Everyone took their usual seats around the round table. Manfred, Dagbert, Joshua, the Branko twins and Dorcas on one side and Charlie, Gabriel, Billy, Lysander, Tancred and Emma on the other.
As he always did during homework Charlie found himself gazing at the Red King's portrait that hung above the door.
"Focus on your homework, Bone", Manfred told Charlie sternly. Charlie was stunned, normally when Manfred caught him starring at the portrait he barked at him to do his homework and made a snide remark about Charlie never entering the portrait. But Manfred had simply gone back to his work. What was going on and did the beautiful new nurse have something to do with it? Charlie wondered. Maybe Amelia Fairchild would be good for Manfred Bloor.