Fraternity by Andy Mientus

Author:Andy Mientus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2022-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Nurse Gleason, tiny and efficient, patched Zooey up as best she could.

“These injuries were all due to the chapel collapse? That’s very concerning,” she said.

We all sat silently sipping paper cones of water she’d given us to chase our aspirins.

“I thought the damage was only to one room. I wonder if others are hurt.”

“It all happened so fast,” Leo said. “I don’t even know what did happen.”

“Someone called it a . . . microburst?” she said. “Some kind of shaft of air? That can happen during big storms? Apparently, they can be very destructive . . . as you may have seen. Anyway, the steeple blew off and must have flown through the air about a hundred yards. It came right in through the window of a dorm room. Just terrifying. I pray to God that . . .” She drifted off, shaking her head. “You’ll need a stitch here, I think. We’ll put this gauze on for now and get you to the hospital in Adders when things settle down a bit.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Ms. Gleason answered—it was Mrs. Wesley. She was crying.

“Excuse me,” Gleason said before joining Wesley in the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

When the coast was clear, Leo turned to us.

“Holy shit!” he whispered. “Our dorm is destroyed! They gotta send us home, right?!”

“You don’t think . . .” I hesitated. The rest of the sentence was almost too awful to say. But someone had to. “You don’t think we did that, do you?”

Leo’s face fell and was still a moment. Then he balked.

“. . . No! No way! There was already a storm. We knew it was gonna be bad,” he said.

“But would it have been this bad?” I asked.

“Daniel,” Leo said, “are you actually suggesting we controlled the weather?”

“Why not?! We know the book works. We don’t know the limits.”

“Or the methods,” Steven said, staring at the ground.

“Speaking of, Steven,” Leo said, turning on him. “When were you gonna tell me that the stuff you’ve been chanting when we use it is so damn . . .”

“Demonic,” Zooey said, fingering the gauze on his cheek, dazed.

“The other incantations were not like that,” Steven said.

“Well, that’s just terrific,” Leo said. “You could have maybe said something before we got into all that ‘awake and arise’ noise.”

“Since when are you interested in my feedback?” Steven asked.

“We can do all that later,” I said. “For now, how are we gonna get that book back?”

“There’s no way we can do it before tonight,” Leo said. “And even then, all those cops and firemen . . .”

“Why so many?” Zooey asked.

Ms. Gleason stepped back into the office, white as a sheet.

“Boys, buses are on their way to evacuate the campus to a hotel in Adders Lair. I’m afraid that the sophomores won’t be able to collect any belongings from Bass before departing. You can get anything you need when you return.”

“Return?” Leo asked. “How long will we be gone?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

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