As my mother pushed my wheelchair to the door, I handed her the old spiral-bound notebook. "Mr. Solomon wanted Zach to have this. Can you see that he gets it?"
"Give it to him yourself, kiddo. He's waiting right outside."
His face was still covered with soot and ash. His clothes had been singed. There were bandages on his right arm, and yet everything about Zach was perfect. He had come through it all unscathed. Alive.
My mom pushed me toward him, but he didn't take my hand. We didn't hug or kiss. The fire somehow was still between us, and neither of us moved toward the other, afraid we might get burned.
"Here. You should have this." I held out the journal. "When he wakes up . . ."
He reached for the journal. His fingers brushed mine. There were a million things to say, or maybe more, but the feeling of his skin was enough in that brief moment. We were warm. We were still alive.
"Cam!" My roommates' voices echoed down the hallway, followed by the sounds of hurried footsteps against the hardwood floors.
"Cammie, we were so worried!" Liz cried. Bex and Macey threw their arms around me with slightly more force than someone should use on a person who has a full-body bruise and a dislocated shoulder.
"I'm okay, guys," I pleaded. "I'm fine. Zach and I are -"
But then I trailed off. I turned to look behind me and saw nothing but an empty hall.
Chapter Forty-Five
PROS AND CONS OF THE LAST FEW
WEEKS OF OUR JUNIOR YEAR
PRO: Bex's mom volunteered to take a temporary leave from MI6 to teach CoveOps for the rest of the semester.
CON: Mr. Solomon was still sleeping.
PRO: Turns out, when a current Gallagher Girl gets seriously injured by and ex (and evil) Gallagher Girl, other Gallagher Girls from all over the world send awesome get-well presents - like chocolate. From Switzerland.
CON: Your roommates' new "Cammie doesn't go anywhere without two of us"
means the chocolates don't last very long. At all.
PRO: Being on the P&E "Cautious Practice" roster gives a girl lots of time to work on her crossbow skills.
CON: Crossbow practice almost always includes Liz (who only grazed Madame Dabney that one time, no matter what you might have heard).
PRO: An incredibly smart, incredibly hot, incredibly mysterious boy had come to the Gallagher Academy.
CON: Not one of us could let ourselves forget why.
________________
"What about Lisbon?" Bex asked the day I left the infirmary. The sun was shining, and she stretched herself out on a blanket by the lake, closed her eyes, then bolted upright again. "Oooh . . . Geneva! My mom loves Geneva, Cam. I bet we can get my parents to -"
"Geneva for what?" I asked, trying to sit down beside her. My pride hurt as much as my body when Macey took my good arm and helped me to the ground.
"For this summer, silly," Liz said.
Summer . . . I stared blankly at the lake. I'd totally forgotten about summer.
"I go to the ranch in summer," I said, as if they didn't know that.
"Well, see, Cam. I heard my mom talking to your mom about it, and -"
"It's too dangerous," I finished for her.
It was sunny there by the lake, and yet a shadow seemed to fall across my best friends'
faces.
"Mom and Dad are going to help," Bex blurted. "Just like winter break. And your mom too. And . . . it'll be fun."
"I don't know . . . It sounds . . ." Risky. Dangerous. Deadly. "I don't want you to give up your break for me."
"Are you kidding?" Macey asked. "It'll be great. Hey, what about my parents ski house in Austria? The place is a fortress." Macey crossed her long legs.
"Thanks, Macey, but -"
"No. Seriously. It is an actual fortress. In the Alps. No way the Circle gets you there."
They sounded so confident - so sure. It was the prettiest day we'd had in weeks, and practically the entire school was outside, rowing across the lake, jogging through the woods, or, like us, lying on blankets, studying in the sun. Fresh air filled my lungs, and I could almost forgot about the smoke and the tombs. Almost.
"Oooh," Bex said. "He appears." As she pointed across the grounds, she made it sound as if Zach's presence at the school at the was less visiting student and more ghost. Watching him walk through the woods, far out of earshot of the passing girls, I could easily see why.
His hands were in his pockets. His head was down. He seemed paler somehow.
"So . . ." I started slowly, "how is he?"
Macey shrugged. "We don't know. We hardly see him."
Bex looked at me. "How should he be?"
But I just stared off in the distance, thinking about all the things I did not know The Sunday of finals week, I woke up early and crept out of the suite, leaving my roommates sleeping as I softly closed the door.
The halls were empty. A heavy dew was on the grass, and as the sun rose, it cast a sort of rainbow across the grounds. The world was beautiful and quiet and seemed utterly at peace as I climbed the stairs to the infirmary and pushed open Joe Solomon's door.
The machines still beeped and buzzed, but the bandages were fewer. The bruises seemed to have faded. Fresh flowers sat in a vase on the table, but the biggest change was the fact that, this time, my mother sat in the chair beside his bed. Her head rested on his pillow.
Her fingers were laced with his as they both slept - both waiting for my teacher to come home.
It felt like I was spying on my mother (and not in the cool covert sense of the word), so I was easing back toward the door, trying to slip silently into the hall, when I ran into something tall, broad, and strong.