As promised, here's chapter two!
Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Quidditch Practice
Nightmares were a constant presence. The most vivid one of Klaus nearly perishing in a fire still had me a bit on edge. I kept trying to come up with new ways to avoid sleeping as much as possible—most of which consisted of procrastinating the time I went to bed at night. Sometimes, I would sneak downstairs to sit in the library with a book in my hands, all the lights on and doors wide open—in the library and the hallway. From here, I read and kept watch—in case someone tried to enter through that hidden passage—if it did actually exist. It was certainly a great opportunity to brush up on my magic knowledge and continue reading the novels Klaus recommended to me. My personal favorite right now was Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Part of it may be because I shared a name with the main character. Jane Eyre was also an orphan from birth, raised by a cruel aunt and she went to a terrible boarding school, probably not too different from my old boarding school. At last, there was a character I could really relate to. Anyways, each night I would read Jane Eyre until I became bleary-eyed and passed out in the chair, the lights still blasting.
Renée eventually noticed my absence from my room, because I would wake up in the morning back in my bed. I knew it greatly concerned Renée that I was still struggling in this way and it was difficult. Usually at Hogwarts, there were so many distractions—in some cases, almost as terrifying—that I barely had time to worry about past evil villains and threats of arson. Without the comfort of my normal routine and scheduled meetings with Dumbledore, I was at a loss of how to deal with everything. I didn't even have my sleeping potion.
Klaus experienced similar, serial nightmares, although his were less vivid. It got to the point where Klaus spent the night in my room so we would both feel safer. We laid out sleeping bags at the foot of my bed, and stayed up so I could show Klaus some of my new favorite music and then, we just talked about whatever was on our minds. With him here, I found I could sleep much better and it was the first time in a while that I had a dreamless, deep sleep. I needed it, and so did Klaus.
"Why didn't we think of that earlier?" I said to him when we woke that morning. "I didn't have a single nightmare or even a dream."
"I slept well for once," Klaus agreed and then, grinned, "No thanks to your snoring."
I laughed. "I do not snore," I replied, and playfully nudged his shoulder.
Klaus chuckled. "I think it's cute." He looked at me like he was going to lean in to kiss me, but I remembered that I probably had morning breath. I should probably take care of that first. And probably my hair too.
I settled for giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before I slid out of my sleeping bag and rose to my feet. With the curtains drawn, I could see the clouds bunched up outside the window in overcast. To me, cloudy was good, because it meant that we could play Quidditch.
"Another great day," I mused with a smile as I pressed the play button on my iHome to listen to Bastille. There was no better way to start the day than with music.
I turned my head to see Klaus was rolling up his sleeping bag, leaving it beside my dresser in case it was needed again.
"I'll leave you to get ready for the day," he said with a yawn. Just as he was about to open the door to leave my room, it swung open, causing Klaus to jump back before he was hit.
Mel stood in the doorway, already dressed for our agreed Quidditch practice and holding a camera case.
"Oops," she said to Klaus, giving him an apologetic look when she realized she almost hit him. "So much for trying to make a dramatic entrance, huh?"
"It's no problem, Mel," Klaus said, with a small chuckle.
"So much for knocking before you barge into places, huh?" I said back, in a joking tone as I made a face at her.
Mel just grinned and with a small shrug said, "Knocking is overrated anyways." She walked over to sit on my bed. By now, I was used to Mel barging into my room without knocking, since it happened nearly every morning.
"Well, I'm going to go get ready for the day," Klaus said, edging further out the now wide open door.
"Get your Quidditch stuff on," Mel said to him, "You're coming with us today. For real."
"If you want to come," I added, trying not to make it sound as if it were a chore like Mel. "Even if you just want to watch us play, it's cool."
"I'll think about it," Klaus said and gave me a small wave as he left.
I walked over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer, rummaging through for my Quidditch clothes.
"Did Klaus spend the night in here or something?" Mel asked. She had stretched out on my bed with her hands folded behind her head.
"Yeah," I replied. "Neither of us could sleep."
My Quidditch clothes really just consisted of some beige trousers and a Gryffindor themed sweater, or jumper, as Hermione called it when I received it on my birthday. I went into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth.
Before too long, my face was practically pressed against the mirror as I examined the ugly, pimples sprinkling my cheeks, which gave them an unattractive red flush. There were others too, dotting my once smooth cheek, reminding me that I was no longer a child, but a thirteen-year old girl. What was I thinking having Klaus spend the night? I was a mess.
"I hate puberty," I groaned as I turned on the faucet and used the face cleanser Renée had bought for me, among other things that went along with this phase. I scrubbed my face roughly, as if I could somehow rub them away. I changed in other ways too, which were all unpleasant. At least I grew a few inches taller. Also, I got a new haircut. I decided to go for a side part now and some layers.
"Let's go, J," Mel's voice drifted in and she knocked a couple times on the door. "Are you finished yet?"
"I can't go outside like this!" I complained through the door. "I look terrible."
"More pimples, huh?" Mel said, "Stop being dramatic, J. We've all been through it." She opened the door. "Let's go. No one will see them when we're up in the sky."
I sighed and turned to face Mel, but as I did, I was met with the sharp click and blinding flash of a camera.
"Oh my goodness," Mel said, leaning against the doorway, and giggling as she brought the small black canon camera up to her face, staring at the digital photo. I blinked repeatedly, my vision now obscured with white splotches. Renée had bought the camera, hoping to take more pictures, and encouraged us to use it when we wanted. So Mel had developed a somewhat aggravating picture taking obsession, including embarrassing photos. "Look at your face."
"You better delete it," I warned her, crossing my arms. "Or that stupid camera is going in the garbage."
"Oh, lighten up, J." She said, still laughing. She showed me the camera so I could see the horrible picture—now that my eyes had recovered. Even I couldn't help snicker at how ridiculous I looked. "See?" Mel released more sniggers. "It's funny."
"As long as that stays away from anyone else's eyes," I said as my laughter subsided.
"Don't worry," Mel said, "we'll take another one to make up for it." She threw her arm around me, and turned the camera around. We both made weird faces.
"There." Mel said, showing me the picture. "Now no one will find your picture anywhere close to as embarrassing as this one."
"You're lucky I'm even still friends with you," I said in a mock serious voice before I broke into a grin. Then, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror again, still pimple-faced. "Please tell me you have concealer."
"Right this way, J," she said as she walked past me and to the drawers to pull out a silver makeup bag. Apparently, she kept her makeup bag in here, which didn't surprise me because she seemed to be gradually migrating into my room lately. Mel handed me a tube of concealer and I turned back to the sink to dab some on my pimples.
"How did you get rid of your pimples so quickly anyways?" I asked. "Do you just have perfect skin or something?"
Mel shook her head with a chuckle. "No. Far from it. You should have seen me before I met you. Now, I was a mess. Eventually I found a solution."
I cocked my head to the side, crossing my arms as I did. "Would you care to share this solution?" I asked.
"Well," Mel began giving me the same innocent look she wore whenever she was explaining why she had another detention. "See, when Snape was distracted one day, I just happened to stumble upon ingredients in his potions closet. So I obviously had to take all the necessary ingredients to brew a pimple-removal potion. It doesn't last forever, but I can always just make another batch if necessary."
Just as I was about to reprimand her, I remembered doing something not too different to retrieve ingredients to make Polyjuice Potion.
"You know you could probably have bought a potion from Hogsmeade," I pointed out. "They must have a shop with beauty products of some sort."
Mel scoffed. "But that's not fun," she said. "Well, whatever. Your pimples are gone…for now. Now, let's go play Quidditch before the sun comes out."
After I laced up my Quidditch boots, Mel and I left my room and hurried down the stairs all the way to the basement. Mel opened the secret door where Renée stored some magic objects such as a few broomsticks. Renée got Mel and I broomsticks for our birthdays, each a Nimbus 2000 and there were a couple of Cleansweeps. I grabbed a Cleansweep for Klaus and then, followed Mel back up into the foyer. Klaus with Beatrice in his lap, Duncan, Quigley, and Fiona were all sitting at the island counter eating pancakes for breakfast.
"Jamie! Mel!" Beatrice cried and leapt off of Klaus' lap so she could race over to me. I scooped her up into my arms, spinning her around for fun as she giggled.
"Hello, cutie," I said, giving her a kiss on the forehead before setting her down. She gave Mel a hug too. "Are you eating yummy pancakes for breakfast?"
"I had blueberry!" Beatrice squealed and I could see some blue juice from the blueberries left on the corners of her mouth. "Sunny's making them."
"Show us where the good stuff is, Bea," Mel said, taking Beatrice's hand so she could guide Mel into the kitchen while I walked alongside them.
As Beatrice said, Sunny was standing on a stool near the stove, mixing some pancake batter. Her hair was tied back with a ribbon similar to Violet's and her apron was dusted with flour. An assortment of fruit, chocolate chips, and powdered sugar were each in separate bowls, laid out on the counter. On the far left of the stove, a mini television perched on the kitchen counter. The news was on and a tall, slender woman with short blonde hair was announcing a robbery that had occurred in the city.
"Hey, Mel, Jamie," Isadora said, "What do you want on your pancakes?"
"Chocolate chip for me," Mel said, as she hopped on a stool beside Quigley and then, hoisted Beatrice up onto her lap. "Bring it on, Sunny."
"I'll have banana, please," I said.
"Coming right up!" Sunny announced with a wide grin as she began pouring batter onto the pan.
"Come sit, Jamie," Klaus said, waving me over to sit between him and Fiona. It was a bit awkward, but it shouldn't matter what Fiona thought. He was my boyfriend after all.
I marched over to sit down, ignoring Fiona's piercing eyes. Since she had accused me of being at fault for Klaus ending up petrified, Fiona continued to remind me of it every time we were alone. I kept reminding myself that it was ridiculous to think that it could possibly be my fault when the basilisk was under Tom Riddle's control. It was Tom Riddle's fault—or more accurately Voldemort's. Still, no matter what I did to convince myself otherwise, a pit in my stomach remained as if apart of me felt that it really had been my fault.
"Jamie, Jamie," Klaus nudged me to get my attention as Isadora was trying to pass me my plate of pancakes.
"Oh, thanks, Iz," I said as I returned to reality. "Thanks, Sunny."
"My pleasure," Sunny said with a little bow. Now that she and Isadora were finished, Isadora turned off the stove, and they both took a seat around the counter.
"Where's Renée?" I asked. "She's missing our family breakfast."
"In her office," Duncan explained. "Fashion week is coming up in September so she's very busy."
"Violet isn't here either," Klaus said with a slight frown, "it's not a real family breakfast without her here."
"I miss her too," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder as I often did when he brought it up. It always comforted him, and he mustered a small smile at me in appreciation. "But she'll be back soon."
"Yes, don't worry," Isadora added as she took a bite of her own blueberry pancake. "Violet is having a great time.
"And when she gets back," I said, taking another bite of my pancake, "we can throw her a huge welcome back party—I already have the perfect music playlist in mind. It'll feel more like a family then."
As I spoke, my eyes shifted to the television where I noticed the headline had changed, it now read: A Series of Unfortunate Events Coming to Theaters Everywhere
We all fell silent as the reporter spoke:
"The astounding tale of four orphans being pursued across the countryside by their evil uncle for their inheritance is finally making its way to the big screen," the reporter announced with a cheery smile on her face as if the thought of a movie about children being terrorized was exciting. Maybe for Hollywood it was good news to have a new dramatic story to tell. For me, it meant more dread and misery. The Baudelaires and I, and the Quagmires, Mel, and even Fiona—who they often left out in their discussions—had already been through enough. We didn't need to see a movie to forever remind us of what we experienced firsthand.
Another thing, somehow the reporters were under the impression that Count Olaf had been our 'uncle' rather than a treacherous villain who had no relation to any of us whatsoever. The movie adaptation of our lives will be released in the winter, making me glad that I wouldn't be in the Muggle world for that. I had no idea who on earth would want to watch such a dreadful movie, but I certainly wasn't going to see it. The only redeemable part of the movie was the cast, with Meryl Streep, Jude Law, and Timothy Spall portraying Aunt Josephine, Lemony Snicket, and Mr. Poe, respectively. It freaked me out when I found out the actress who was going to portray me—Dakota Fanning. I knew as well as anyone that she was a relatively good actress, yet I couldn't imagine what would make her want to be me and have to experience living in Count Olaf's clutches for months on end. Besides, we didn't look that much alike except for our hair color and fair skin.
They picked someone to play Count Olaf too, and fortunately—after I double—or triple-checked—it wasn't Count Olaf. An actor named Jim Carrey was taking on the role, which I found odd, because he was a comedian and Count Olaf was far from funny. I avoided this aspect of the production the most—out of everyone—his appearance was the closest to being accurate. I was trying so hard lately to at least attempt to forget about him and this movie didn't exactly help. I could just picture the look on Count Olaf's face when he saw there was a movie about him with another comedic actor portraying him. I hoped Jim Carrey realized the risk he was taking by representing a villain. Since they were only working on the first movie, no actors or actresses were selected for the Quagmires or Melissa or Fiona. Not even Esmé was cast yet, which was probably a good thing. She would probably claw the eyes out of the actress who dared attempt to depict her.
Speaking of Esmé, I'd been thinking a lot about her lately. The truth was, as much as I tried to hate her for abandoning me, a part of me kind of wished she were in my life in some way. It pained me to think that she was living her life somewhere in New York—not too far from here—without me. Did she ever think about me? Or did she still hate me?
With a scowl, I remembered that Esmé was probably with Carmelita Spats, still fawning over every little thing she did. And I hated Esmé for making me care about her. Sometimes, I had to remind myself of how horrible she was. I reminded myself of how she had helped Gunther auction off Duncan and Isadora. And how she had crushed Violet and I under file cabinets. In the Village of Fowl Devotees, Esmé had shot that harpoon at the rope ladder—and after at the Quagmire notebooks—as the Baudelaires and I tried to climb onto Hector's self-sustaining hot air balloon home. She was the one who nearly convinced me to murder Madame Lulu to save the Baudelaires. I remembered that it was also Esmé who had helped lock Jacques Snicket up in his cell so Olaf could kill him. And finally, she had abandoned me to Count Olaf without a second thought. There was nothing more to it—she was just a terrible villain like Count Olaf. Nothing more. And I knew Esmé could never truly change her ways. The worst part was, the more I thought about Esmé, the more I felt like I was back to being plain old Jane, an orphan prisoner. I didn't like to think about that part of my past the most. I didn't like to be reminded of how useless and hopelessly trapped I felt. I needed to find a way to let go of even the smallest shred of hope—it was for my own good because I knew it would only hurt me if I let myself care even a bit.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and saw that it was now Klaus' turn to comfort me.
"Why can't they just leave us alone?" Mel growled, glaring at the news anchor as she interviewed the director of the film. She grabbed the remote and jabbed the power button. We were all silent now, our former excitement having faded as our past was once again thrown in our faces. Only Beatrice didn't seem too sad, only confused as her large brown eyes observed the mood in the room. Would we ever be able to really move on?
Mel drove Klaus, Fiona, and I out to the dirt trail leading into the woods. Together, we trudged along, stepping over rocks and collecting mud on the soles of our boots. The tall trees encircled us with the leaves casting a green glow upon us, and serving as a shield from the raindrops sprinkling down from above. Mel took the lead and we took turns lugging the sports bag containing our broomsticks. For the first few minutes, I stayed behind to walk with Klaus who was walking with Fiona.
"I didn't know you liked to play Quidditch," I said to Fiona with the attempting to give her the same sneering look she always gave me whenever she was trying to slyly prove that she was better at Herbology and Potions than me—especially whenever Klaus was around. Well, it was my turn. We'll see how well she fares on a broom.
"I'm a bit inexperienced with it," Fiona admitted. "But I'm sure you'll be able to teach me."
It was difficult to keep my scowl concealed. She always pretended to be nice and sweet around Klaus. But I knew better.
"Yeah…" I said failing at sounding enthusiastic. "I'd love to."
"I'll need some help too," Klaus said giving me a nervous look. "I'm not the best at it either."
I knew Klaus only agreed to come because he thought it would make me happy, and I wanted so much to do the same. At the same time, I wish he hadn't brought Fiona with him.
"It's just like riding a bike," Mel called over her shoulder. "Though you're up in the air."
"I hope it's not too much like riding a bike," Fiona said. Her eyes shifted in my direction and I could sense her building up to a sneaky attack. "Jamie might crash again."
"I'm perfectly fine riding a broom, thanks," I said, flatly.
"She doesn't need to worry about whether she can ride a bike or not anyways," Mel said and I was glad I could at least count on her to defend me. "Not when you can ride a broom instead."
We stepped over some fallen branches and I could make out the edge of the clearing at the bottom of the next hill. When we arrived at our small, makeshift Quidditch pitch, Mel dropped the bag to the forest floor to pull out the brooms. She handed one to each of us.
"Let's start with the basics," I said mostly to Klaus. "Do you still remember some of what we learned in first year?"
Klaus nodded. "I think so," he said. "I might be a bit rusty with taking off."
"Not a problem," I reassured him. "To start, you can't be afraid of your broom." I stepped forward so I could adjust his grasp on the broom. "Ease your grip a bit so that it's firm and in control. It's just the same as when you use a wand, broomsticks will respond the best the more confident you are."
Once his hands had changed to a more manageable position, I instructed him to mount.
"You're really good at this," Klaus said with a small smile from his mounting position. "Amazing is more like it."
I beamed at him. "Trying to score points with your teacher, are you?" I said and then, stepped forward to plant a kiss on his lips. "Well, you just did."
"Am I doing this right?" Fiona asked already in her mount position. My gaze shifted to her, hoping for a chance to prove I knew more about flying than she did, but I was disappointed to find that she had naturally assumed the right position.
I looked at Mel with a sigh. "You're fine," She answered for me.
Now that Klaus and Fiona both had assumed the correct mounting position, Mel led the lesson on how to take off. The take offs were rather rough at first, at least it was for Klaus—Fiona seemed to catch on just fine and I grew suspicious that she already knew what she was doing. Eventually, we were all in the air. Klaus was still a bit wobbly and slow on his broom, but after a bit more coaching from me, he started to relax and gain more control. Fiona seemed to catch on better than I expected, which was a bit disappointing. It would have been nice to see her crash like I did when riding a bike. Despite Fiona's natural talent for Quidditch, I found myself able to enjoy the thrill that came with zooming through the clouds on a broom. Maybe I wasn't at Hogwarts right now, but flying was the closest I could get to escaping from the Muggle world. Usually, I went on jogs every morning to channel the tension I was carrying from my various nightmares. But I found that flying could be used in much the same way—I could clear my head of unwanted thoughts of my fears and doubts for the moment. I could disappear into the clouds and leave all of my troubles behind.
After several more minutes of letting Fiona and Klaus get adjusted to flying, Mel and I decided we could play some Quidditch. We went over the rules and then, broke up into teams, Mel with Fiona and me with Klaus.
"Maybe you three can play, and I'll watch," Klaus said to me when we had returned to the ground. "I'm not sure if I'll be of much help on your team."
"No you'll be amazing," I insisted placing a comforting hand on his arm, "Just remember to keep calm and steady. And…also…" I hurried over to the bag and pulled out a small tin of black face paint. "I brought war paint."
His eyes lit up in amusement. "You really thought this through."
"I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it," I said as I unscrewed the lid. Taking my forefinger, I gathered some paint on the tip and added two black streaks under my eyes. I did the same to Klaus. "They'll be calling us the dynamic duo in no time."
Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?" he said.
"Yeah," I said placing my hands on my hips. "They won't know what hit 'em with us around."
Klaus chuckled and leaned toward me for a gentle kiss, sending a thrill all the way down to my toes. "Now, I'm convinced," he said after.
"Alright everyone, mount your brooms!" Mel called, already prepared to take off again. Under her arm was the Quaffle, the only ball we were allowed to use, since it wasn't enchanted with magic. We had managed to make some goal posts out of some trees on either side of the clearing. Due to the many limitations and a shortage of players, we had to modify some of the rules and reduce the size of the field. When Mel and I practiced together, we usually altered between each position. Today, we were mostly focusing on the Chaser-Keeper aspect of the game.
After going over the rules with Klaus and Fiona, we mounted our brooms. As we ascended, Klaus took off with much more excitement, smoothly gliding through the air like a jet. We all made a couple more laps around our Quidditch field and then, returned to the center. Mel initiated the toss and we were off. Mel and Klaus were starting as Keepers and Fiona and I were Chasers. Fiona must have been lying about how inexperienced she was, because even after I managed to gain hold of the 'Quaffle,' she swept into my path quite quickly, ramming into me so I ended up dropping it right into her ready hands. Klaus attempted to throw his hand out to stop her, but Fiona ended up scoring before I could catch back up.
"Great job, Fiona," Klaus said. "You must be a natural at this."
Fiona gave him a huge grin. "Thanks, Klaus," she said, "I'm sure you'll get better."
She turned around to fly back towards the center, sneaking a smirk at me as she did.
I looked back at Klaus, exasperated. "You're not supposed to congratulate her Klaus," I cried. "She's on the other team."
"I'm just trying to be a good sport," Klaus said, "There's no need to be so competitive. This is supposed to be fun."
"This can't be her first time playing," I pursued, "You can ask Mel, she'll tell you."
"It doesn't really matter," Klaus said with a shrug. "Maybe she was just being modest. It doesn't really matter anyways. Like I said, this is supposed to be fun, Jamie."
Just as I was about to retort, Mel called me back to the center for the next round. When I was facing Fiona again, she flashed another smirk at me. "Surprised that I can actually play well?" she asked. "It pays to be friends with people on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."
"Not really," I spat back at her. "I always knew you were a rotten liar."
If she wanted a rough game then, I was more than prepared for it. Mel tossed the Quaffle up again. I dove for it, snatching it up, and keeping it tucked in the crook of my arm as I zoomed for the goal. I could hear Fiona gaining on me, but I was faster. I hurled the Quaffle over Mel's head and into the goal. I smiled triumphantly as Fiona gave me a fierce glare.
For several minutes, Fiona and I continued back and forth like that. She scored, and then, I scored. Then, Mel blocked one so Fiona scored again. Klaus even managed to block one at some point and—after congratulating him—I scored. With each goal, Fiona and I grew even more irritated with each other. By the last round, the game was tied and we were growing tired. I managed to scrape up as much energy as I could to snatch the Quaffle first. But Mel was quite good at Keeper and she wound her broom back, wacking the Quaffle back the other way. It began to plummet towards the ground, causing Fiona and I to break into a sleek dive. We were neck and neck, shoulder-to-shoulder as we sped towards the leather ball. Fiona tried to push me, but I pushed back so we really were shoulder to shoulder, both struggling to knock each other off course. At last, I channeled all of my strength, picking up a bit more speed, and then, I reached my arms out to pounce on the ball. As I caught it, I swerved my broom, attempting to change direction quickly and throw Fiona off course. I sped towards the goal—but stopped when Mel waved her arms at me to stop. I looked down and saw that Fiona must have not been prepared when I cut in front of her. The force of her sudden halt, must have propelled her clean off her broom. She landed on the ground with a loud thump and a shrill cry. She rolled over onto her back, clutching her arm in pain. It was a relief that she hadn't been too far from the ground when she fell, but even from far away, I could see her arm jutted out at an awkward angle—like Harry's had last year. I knew it was serious. And this time, there weren't any magical, less painful ways of fixing it.
"Fiona!" Klaus cried as he sped to the ground, hopping off his broom and kneeling at Fiona's side. I glanced at Mel worriedly, afraid that it was my fault that Fiona had fallen off. Mel gave me an uneasy look in response she descended to help Klaus wrap his jacket around Fiona's arm in a temporary sling. With a sigh in frustration, I lowered myself to the ground and cautiously approached them. As I got closer, I saw that Fiona's arm was jutting out at a weird angle the way Harry's had last year. Unfortunately, we didn't have any magical means of fixing it.
"We need to get her to a doctor," Klaus said as he tightened the sling he had made around Fiona's arm. I quickly packed up the bag so we could get a move on.
"Do you want me to—" I started after I had stowed our brooms away.
"Don't worry about it, Jamie," Klaus said, his voice hard. "You've done enough. Mel, will you help me get Fiona to the car?"
With Klaus and Mel's help, Fiona was back on her feet and they were guiding her carefully out of the clearing. I carried the bag over my shoulder and walked alongside them.
Fiona was still grimacing in pain. "I'm so sorry," I said. Fiona only glared at me while Klaus remained impassive, to me at least. Only Mel didn't seem all that upset with me, sneaking a sympathetic glance my way, but keeping quiet except to reassure Fiona that we were almost to the car.
It didn't take as long since we were going down the sloping trail. When we reached the car, I loaded the bag in the trunk while Klaus and Mel helped Fiona get into the backseat. Klaus got in the back too. Mel and I got into the front, and then, Mel was pulling back onto the road. After I plugged in the address of the hospital into the GPS, I called Renée to explain what had happened. She was at a meeting in town and would hurry over as soon as she could get away. I glanced behind me, meeting Klaus' gaze as Fiona continued to moan in pain. Again, he was silent, but now he wore a deep frown. I looked away, concentrating my gaze out the window now—it was impossible to ignore the uneasy pangs of guilt that tugged at me.
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