“If you say infirmary one more time, I’m throwing a dagger at you,” I growl when she opens her mouth.
“You might throw a dagger at me anyway,” she says, stepping to the side. I see why.
Sawyer stands behind her.
“Avery,” he says, his eyes wide with fear. He pushes past Erin and over to me. I don’t have time to hide my hand—which he picks up gingerly, his face whitening at the sight of my blood.
“Sawyer, if you tell anyone—”
He cuts me off. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I should have been here for you.”
I know from the way he’s looking at me, that he doesn’t just mean after the bite. I shift over on my bed to make space for him to sit beside me. He wraps one arm over my shoulder while Erin starts redressing the wound.
It hurts just a little bit less with him by my side.
I wish I could say that the wound heals quickly, and that by the time the weekend rolls around I’m as good as new. But I’m not. And it doesn’t.
With each progressive day, the wound barely changes. It’s not bleeding so much now, but there’s a discoloration to the skin that makes me nervous.
“So, your parents thought they were being watched?” Erin asks.
I nod. It’s Saturday. This week has been hell. We’re sitting cross-legged on the floor, and she’s changing my bandages. Again. Sawyer sits next to me, trying to pet Cleaver, who still seems unsure about him.
“And my mom wanted Helsing’s help.”
Erin pauses and glances at me. “But he didn’t come?”
I shrug. “I don’t know—she never says in her journal. She might never have gotten the chance to ask him. They wanted out of the monster hunting business. Because of me.”
She looks back at her work. Her movements are a little slower.
“I just don’t get it,” I say. “Helsing claims he didn’t know anything about it.” I shake my head. “But so does Mason Dagher. I don’t know who to trust.”
Erin yanks on my bandage a little too hard. “I think I’d trust Professor Helsing over a Dagher any day.”
“Speaking of trusting Daghers,” S
awyer says, “Have you been back to see the kelpie after it bit you?”
“Yeah. She was fine immediately after,” I tell him. “Piers must have sprayed something on my glove and it made her freak out. It wasn’t her fault.”
“Besides the family cabin stuff, did you guys have fun on Christmas break?” Erin asks brightly, trying to change the subject.
Sawyer and I glance at each other. “Yeah,” he says awkwardly. He turns away and starts feeding Cleaver some of his snacks. All this time later, and I still never told Erin everything we got up to over break. We might be close … but I pride myself in being a private person. Why tell her something she doesn’t absolutely need to know?
Especially if I’ve sort of regretted that thing ever since.
“I mean, we met Cleaver, after all,” I say, cheerfully. At the very least, one good thing did definitely come from that trip. I take a second to reach down and scratch the hound behind the ears.
Erin finishes off my bandages, and I put my hand in my lap, trying not to move it too much.
“Who do you think was following your parents?” she asks, packing up her things.
“I’m not sure.” I frown. “I mean, Helsing says Mason Dagher was involved somehow. I know he denies it, but if what Helsing says is true … it could have been Mason.”
“Mason Dagher?” Sawyer asks, raising his eyebrows. “Why would he creep on your parents?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. He didn’t want to answer anything about that night when I asked.”