Chapter 4 - Circle
It still gave me chills to go into that office - the office which used to belong to Neferet. I shuddered. It was a lot brighter looking. Pictures of horses were hung all around it. I smiled, only to wipe the smile off again by Lenobia's concerned look. We were really tense now, not daring to look at each other or speak. Lenobia circled round us to sit in her chair, and held her hand out - motioning for us to sit down as well.
"Girls... I'm afraid I have some bad news..."
My stomach did a jolt. Lenobia kept eye contact with us.
"I'm afraid your friend, Erin Bates, has been taken into hospital."
I burst into tears, as did Stevie-Rae. Aphrodite just sat there, frozen. Her face was horror-struck.
Lenobia continued.
"Erin was attacked in her dorm, while her room-mate was held back in her last class. She has gone into a coma... so unfortunately we are unable to identify the attacker at this time or how he or she got into Erin's dorm. Believe me, it is being addressed. I have called for the Sons of Erebus to come back to the campus and stand guard outside the dorms, especially the ones of your circle... we believe the attacker was after all of you."
I gripped onto Stevie-Rae's hand, tears flowing rapidly down my cheeks. I didn't care about how the dorm was going to be protected right now, all I cared about was seeing Erin. Aphrodite was soundless. I glanced at her, seeing a tear running down her face. She wasn't as heartless as she wanted everyone to think she was.
"Your friends Damian and Shaunee are at the hospital. Would you like Darius to drive you there?"
We nodded silently, sniffling.
The journey to the hospital was even quieter than the journey to Street Cats. Stevie-Rae's head was lying on my lap and Aphrodite had her arm resting on Darius's lap. He shot her a sympathetic smile, running his hand softly down her cheek as we stopped in the hospital car park. I kept a hold of Stevie-Rae's hand, as Darius kept a hold of Aphrodite's. We walked silently to the waiting room, where we spotted Darius consoling someone that almost resembled Shaunee. I say almost because her hair was a mess, her eyes were red, and her make-up had ran over her face. I perched myself in front of her and gripped onto her hand gently, while Stevie-Rae put her arm around her.
"She'll be okay, Shaunee. She has to be." My voice was cracked.
Shaunee looked up at Aphrodite, letting out a breath. "If you see anything, can you please let me know?"
Aphrodite nodded, perching beside me.
After a few hours of silence, sniffing and Shaunee's more vocal sobbing, my stomach started grumbling. Aphrodite jumped up, then looked up at me.
"Oh, shit. It's dinner time... none of us has eaten all day."
I nodded, but Shaunee just glared at the ground. "I'm not hungry."
I took a closer look at Shaunee. She looked awful. I had to get her to eat something.
"Shaunee... sweetie, you've had a shock... you need to eat something." Stevie-Rae said softly, rubbing her shoulder. "Y'all need to eat something."
I nodded, helping Shaunee to her feet. She was shaking badly. Darius rushed to my side, scooping Shaunee into his arms.
"Oh, dear.. honey, you look awful. We need to get you into a bed." Said one of the nurses from the desk just outside the waiting room.
"She's just suffered some shock, and she's worried about her friend." I replied, taking a look at Shaunee again. She really was shaking like hell.
The nurse noticed, too, and shook her head. "No, darling, I'm afraid I need to get her some help."
She motioned for Darius to follow her. We decided to let her go, maybe lying in a bed would help her a bit. I nodded at Darius, telling him to meet us in the cafe. The rest of them were already walking ahead, heads down.
As we sat at the table, ordering some light food, I shut my eyes and buried my head into my arms.
"Uh oh..." I heard Stevie-Rae whisper. "I need to go back after I eat, the sun's gonna rise in an hour."
I flinched. Was that the time already? Ugh. I felt awful.
We ate silently. I was thinking more in detail now my thoughts were a little bit clearer. Erin was attacked... in her dorm. I had a good idea who was behind it, but I couldn't fathom who the actual attacker could have been. Neferet never did anything for herself, she just got everyone to do her dirty work for her. Could it have been a Raven Mocker? I wasn't sure, they weren't really clever enough to get into the dorms. A student? That seemed more likely... A lot of students were suspected to be working with Neferet, but nothing was proven.
What we all needed was a good nights sleep. I knew what I had to do. I lifted my cell phone and dialled the number automatically. I stood up, walking out of earshot from my friends as the phone rang.
"Hey, babe, what's up?" The other end of the phone answered.
I smiled stiffly, before telling him about Erin. I could almost hear his concern.
"I... I need to sleep... I need a... dreamless sleep." I didn't want to come out and ask, in case someone was listening in. But he seemed to understand.
"I'll wait in your room for you."
My phone turned itself off. Shoot, I'd run out of battery. I was sure he got the point, though.
The thing was, Kalona was often in my dreams... and it didn't bother me so much anymore. Partly because I was trying to analyse these dreams, and partly because I was drawn to him. I sighed. I really didn't need that on my plate right now. The only way to stop him was to get a man to sleep with me. No, not in that way. In fact, Stark and I hadn't slept together yet. Not in THAT way. I had sworn off sex for a while.
I just needed some decent sleep.
A/N: Thanks again for your really encouraging reviews. I've been waiting for a few reviews here and there between chapters, hence taking so long to post the next chapter. The next one won't be long either, I've already started it. Just, as I said, waiting on reviews to post this one. Had quite a lot for Chapter 2 but waiting on some for Chapter 3.
Keep em comin! I'm hoping to upload the next chapter by Friday.
