Rise of the Coven (The Gateway Trackers Book 8) by E.E. Holmes

Author:E.E. Holmes [Holmes, E.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lily Faire Publishing
Published: 2022-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

12

AN UNEASY ALLIANCE

When I woke up the next morning, with vague dreams of drowning and crows still swirling in my head like water circling a drain, it took me a moment to realize why I had such a pit of dread in my stomach. But as my head cleared, I remembered what had happened in the woods with Gemma, and suddenly the pit of dread made perfect sense.

I rolled over, but Hannah’s bed was neatly made and she was already gone off to whatever meetings the Council had scheduled for the day. The only thing I had scheduled that day was my meeting with Gemma. The only problem was, I had no idea if she would be able to come to it or not. Finn had only stayed in the hospital ward long enough to make sure that Gemma was seen to by Mrs. Mistlemoore, but since that had been in the middle of the night, it seemed unlikely to me that she would have been moved back to her room. And so, I hurried to make myself presentable, grabbed two cups of coffee in the dining hall, and then made my way to find Gemma.

I backed into the hospital ward door, pushing it open with my hip, and turned to Mrs. Mistlemoore’s office to sign in when I heard voices along the rows of beds.

“Ah, Miss Ballard,” Mrs. Mistlemoore said, looking up from her desk. “How lovely to see you here and uninjured, for once.”

I grimaced. “Uh, thanks. Nice to see you, too. Listen, I was hoping to check in on Gemma Dawson.”

Mrs. Mistlemoore put down her pen. “Yes, she’s quite the popular young lady today. You’re her fourth visitor this morning, and she’s not yet had breakfast.”

“Really? Who else...?”

But a tittering of laughter broke out and I abandoned my inquiry and poked my head out of the office.

My stomach clenched. Standing around Gemma’s bed were none other than Aisling, Ciara, and Orla. All four girls were laughing, including Gemma, who looked slightly disoriented but otherwise okay. They hadn’t seen me yet, so I ducked my head back into the office, trying to make sense of what I’d just seen.

“How long have those other girls been here?” I asked Mrs. Mistlemoore.

She glanced at her watch. “Oh, I’d say about twenty minutes or so.”

“And there haven’t been any problems?” I asked.

Mrs. Mistlemoore bristled slightly at the suggestion that problems could go unnoticed under her watchful eye. “Problems?”

“It’s just that I was under the impression that Gemma and those girls didn’t... um, get along very well,” I said.

“Oh, I see. Well, as to that, they seem to be getting along swimmingly today. They brought her flowers and everything,” Mrs. Mistlemoore said, pointing down the ward towards Gemma’s bed, where there was a bouquet of bright pink flowers in a white vase. What the hell?

“Okay, thanks, Mrs. Mistlemoore,” I said, and set off down the aisle that ran the length of the room. The soles of my boots echoed on the floor, and all four girls turned at the sound of my approach.

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