A Walk Amongst Shadows (Book 2)

XX

I was practically assaulted by Deja when I returned to the apothecary the next day. No sooner had I opened the door did she fling herself upon me.

“Rose!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me, “Oh my goodness! I’ve been so worried! Are you alright?”

“Yeah, of course I am,” I laughed as I pulled myself out of her grasp.

“Well what am I supposed to think, after the way you left me?” she shoved me playfully, then in a more serious manner asked, “what happened?”

“I think I just got a little freaked out by what your mirror showed me.” I really didn’t want to regale Deja with what I had seen. Who knows what she would make of it?

“Yeah, I remember the first time I got a vision, it can be pretty intense…” she looked thoughtful, “I guess I did a poor job preparing you. I honestly didn’t think you’d see anything with it being your first go at it. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “Eh, it’s no big deal.”

“Well, if you’d like help interpreting what you saw, I’m more than happy to help. Though given how strongly you reacted, I sense you might already have some ideas of your own what it meant.”

“I have a hunch,” I replied, really hoping she would drop it. Luckily, Simon’s entrance gave me just the distraction I needed, albeit an awkward one.

“Ah good, Rose, you’re here.” He nodded as he walked over to where Deja and I stood. The tension in the room was instantly palpable, so much so that even Deja seemed to take notice. I had been dreading that our next encounter would be awkward after our run in yesterday. “You ready to go?” He asked, his tone even.

I nodded. As he turned to walk out of the medicine room. I shot Deja a glance. Her expression was cross. She quickly mouthed, “what’s wrong?” to which I responded silently with a “later”. She nodded curtly and watched us intently until we cleared the room. It was comforting to know Deja had my back.

“Listen Rose,” Simon said softly once we were out of Deja’s earshot. “I owe you an apology, you and Aris both really.” He said Aris’ name like it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. “I was just- Deja had been so worked up about you and no one had heard from you since you had left.” He sighed, “I don’t know, I guess I sort of forgot myself when I saw you with him.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait, so were you worried about me because of Deja? Or because I was with Aris?”

He scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Maybe a little of both I guess…” he trailed off, flustered. “Either way, I was wrong to react the way I did and I’m sorry.” He stuck out his hand, “friends?”

I nodded and gave his hand a quick shake. I was still annoyed by how he had treated us yesterday, but I appreciated the gesture. I suppose only time would tell if he meant it.

Once again, Simon kept an annoyingly close eye on me as we completed rounds. So much so, that I hardly used any magic at all. It made me angry. My ability to do my job was being hindered and patients were suffering for it. On more than one occasion, I contemplated dropping the facade altogether and dealing with the fallout from Simon directly. After what had happened yesterday, I hardly cared about having to defend myself against him. I could tell he was trying to make amends though. He kept going out of his way to make sure I had everything I needed as the day progressed. He was generally pleasant to work with, but today there was just more of an intentionality to his kindness. Maybe he felt bad after all. I wondered what Aris would think about all of this when I got home. Simon and I worked later into the evening than usual. According to him, there were signs of a new illness beginning to crop up in parts of the city.

“It’s nothing too worrisome,” Simon explained as we walked between rooms, “in short, it is a rather nasty stomach virus. I doubt it’ll cause any fatalities.”

We stopped just outside the next patient’s room.

“Looks like we’ve got a new check in, why don’t you handle this one, I need to go back to the supply room, I’ll rejoin you when you’re done.”

I nodded, relieved to be free of him for a moment. After he walked away, I opened the door to find a young girl, no more than twelve, cradling her hand wrapped in a blood-stained cloth.

“I- I was chopping up some vegetables for dinner,” she stuttered, clearly trying to keep a brave face, “when it s-slipped,”

“It’s alright,” I said softly, trying to keep her calm. “Let me have a look.” I took her hand gingerly into mine and unwrapped the makeshift bandages she had in place.

“M-mum said it’ll need to be stitched up, i-is that true?”

“Hmm…” I examined the wound on her hand. The cut on her thumb couldn’t have been more than an inch long. But it was deep, and still bleeding. Any other healer would’ve put a stitch or two in it to aid the healing the process. But I had other options at my disposal and no one to supervise me. I suddenly remembered the day in my family apothecary when I had healed the young boy while father had reset his sister’s broken arm. I had healed just enough to keep from raising suspicion. I did it then and I could do it now. I could feel the girl begin trembling.

“You know what?” I asked, keeping my tone light, “I don’t think it will.”

“R-really?” she asked.

I nodded and smiled warmly at her. “Mhm, let me just get you cleaned up a bit and you’ll be back home in no time.”

She smiled weakly and nodded. I used the smallest amount of life magic required to do the job. Any pleasant experiences she felt I explained as being a result of a topical anesthetic I had washed her wound in. In reality, it had been no more than alcohol and warm water. By the time I was done with her, she had nothing but a minor cut left on her thumb. I wrapped up what remained of her injury before sitting back.

“There you are,” I announced, “good to go.”

She beamed. “Thanks miss!” she smiled, then looking down at the ground, “I’m afraid I don’t have anything to offer for your services…”

While Wren’s Glen operated more communally, the royal city ran on coin. Not that the royal apothecary wasn’t sympathetic. All who came to us were treated, but there was an expectation of payment when possible.

“Nonsense, you barely required any tending at all,” I reassured.

“Thanks again miss- eh, what’s your name anyway?”

“Rose,” I answered, “and yours?”

“Darcy,” she smiled. And for a moment, I saw my sister sitting before me. Golden hair and sparkling eyes. My heart ached for her. But an instant later it was only Darcy I saw.

“Well Darcy, don’t you hesitate to come back and see me, alright?”

She nodded and was up and out the door a moment later. I saw Simon standing in the doorway before it was able to swing shut.

“Well, she certainly seems chipper,” he observed.

I nodded. “Yes, she was pretty shaken. I imagine it was all of the blood,” I commented as I began cleaning up after Darcy. There wasn’t much of a mess, despite all the blood she had shed while here.

“How’d she handle the stitches?’ He asked, coming alongside me to help me finish the job.

“Oh she didn’t need them,” I answered, “I think that’s why she was so happy. She seemed pretty scared at the idea of being sewn up.”

Simon furrowed his brow. “Hmmm, just seems like an awful lot of blood to not need anything…” he trailed off skeptically.

I felt myself getting annoyed. “I assumed as much, I was just about to get to work on it, but once I got her cleaned up, I noticed it wasn’t as deep as I had initially thought. I wrapped it properly, she won’t have any issues healing up,” I asserted.

Simon replied with a curt nod. Then he said something that made my heart leap into my throat.

“You know, you can trust us here, right?”

“Of course,” I answered, careful to keep my voice level. He walked nearer to me.

“You would tell me then,” he continued, “if there was something we should know about?”

I felt a chill run down my spine. He knows! I suddenly felt trapped. All I could think about was getting out of that room. I took a shaky breath. “Like what?”

He flashed a smile. “Oh, nothing in particular.”

“Does this have something to do with yesterday? Is this about Aris?” I asked. Hoping against all else he was just concerned for my safety living with Aris.

“I just want you to know you’re safe here, no matter what.”

I nodded. “Well...Thanks, uh, I appreciate it.” I straightened up and began to make my way to the door.

“See you tomorrow then,” I heard him call after me.

I walked as fast as I could while still looking natural. It wasn’t until I was completely out of sight of the apothecary that I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m telling you Aris, he knows!” I paced nervously around the bedroom. Aris lounged casually on the bed, seemingly unperturbed by my words.

“Did he see you heal the girl?” he asked.

“No, but he saw her injury before. He must’ve put two and two together.”

“Did he seem angry?”

“No…”

“Did he threaten you?” he asked.

“No,” I sighed, “I don’t know. He really shook me up though…” I felt silly. Thinking about it now, the way I had reacted made no sense. So what if Simon knew the truth. It’s not as if he could hurt me.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” He sat up on the side of the bed and patted the spot beside him.

I sat down.

“Of course you’re going to be scared about being discovered, but you and I both know that you can handle anything he or anyone else at that apothecary can throw at you.” He placed his hand reassuringly on top of mine.

I nodded. “I know. It’s just, everything has been going so well lately, I don’t want that to change.”

He nodded in understanding. “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it,” he said matter-of-factly.

I knew he was right. We had been through far worse. But still, I was restless that night. I was on borrowed time.