The nurse begins examining me, touching different parts until she gets to my left hand. I try to pull it away, but she catches me by the wrist. I wince.
“Is this hand injured?”
“No,” I say.
At the same time Piers says, “Yeah.”
She pulls off my fingerless glove to look at my bandages. “What’s this?” She starts unwinding them.
“No!” I cry, starting to panic. I try to pull away, but my back and head hurt too much. “Please. I’m fine, it’s no big deal.”
She tugs the bandages off and gasps. My hand is swollen and bruised. The gash hasn’t fully healed, and it’s starting to bleed again.
“This is old, by at least a week. Why didn’t you come in for this earlier?” she demands.
I glance at Piers. His eyes flash. Don’t, I think, but his mouth is already moving.
“We’re taking care of creatures this semester in creature handling,” he says.
“No,” I gasp.
“I’m a couple chambers down from her. I think it was her kelpie.” The nurse purses her lips. Piers grins down at me. I close my eyes.
“I’ll have to report this,” I hear the nurse say as if from far away. “Go back to class.” Piers leaves, and the nurse continues examining me. I fight tears.
I know what happens next.
After all this, after everything, Aurora is going to die.
Chapter Twenty
It’s been a week. Whatever medicine they’ve given me is working, but it’s slow going.
I open and close my hand. It feels fine now. My ribs are a little bruised, but they’re feeling better. I glance at the bedside table. The homework that Erin has been bringing to me sits there, long since finished. I hate being laid up in the infirmary. I miss Erin and even Sawyer, but I have a couple more days of this.
But Aurora … she only has a couple more days of life.
Just as I suspected, a short investigation found Aurora guilty and sentenced her to be put down. None of my protests had any effect … Piers made sure of that. If his story is to be believed, Aurora attacked me—viciously and unprovoked.
It is, of course, the exact opposite of what happened. What happened was planned, and implemented, by none other than Piers himself.
I can’t sleep because of it. Every time I close my eyes, I see my monster getting slaughtered.
So, it’s nighttime, and once again, I’m unable to sleep. I wait until I’m alone, and then I sit up and look carefully around. This is it, my last chance. I have to go see her one last time.
I gingerly ease out of bed, careful not to jar my ribs too much. The halls are dark and every noise I make sounds a million times louder in the silence.
The doors to the Menagerie are locked. Of course they are. They wouldn’t want students sneaking in there at night. It’s no matter, I use Sawyer’s paperclip trick to get in.
I make my way to W2, patting my pockets to make sure I remembered the bits of hamburger I filched from dinner. She deserves a good last meal.
When I get there, the door to the chamber has caution tape all over it, barring entry to anyone who might be curious to see the creature scheduled to be put down. The sight makes me grit my teeth. She’s not dangerous. She made a mistake, and it wasn’t even her fault.
Thankfully, the door behind the tape still unlocks with its old key, and I’m able to shoulder through it. Inside, it looks the same. Aurora is sleeping on her rock, but she perks up when she hears me come through. She squeals and dives into the lake, popping up onto the shore, placing her hooves on dry land with her tail splashing happily in the water.
“Hey, girl,” I say, walking up to her. She nuzzles into my pockets and finds the hamburger while I stroke her seaweed mane. Her scales have gotten dirty and her mane is tangled. Barnacles scrape at the inside of her ankles, leaving scarred patches of skin and scales.
She’s beginning to look like a wild beast again.