“Anyway, don’t worry about that stuff.” Jason patted my hand. “Just get better.”
“She’ll get better as soon as you all get to class,” Theo interrupted, elbowing them aside.
“Wait,” Jenna said, eyes glowing. “One more thing.”
She and Jason shifted over. Spencer grinned weakly at me from the next bed. His dreads spread out over his pillow.
“Spence!” I squealed. “I would so hug you right now if my head didn’t weigh seven hundred pounds.”
“Ditto.”
“You’re better! You’re out of quarantine!”
“Also, a vampire.”
I tried to sit up. The room wobbled. I lay back down with a thump. “What?”
“Turns out your Quinn here accidentally discovered the antidote to TH in humans,” Theo said. “Vampire blood.”
“Okay, I haven’t been in chem or bio class in a while but … huh?”
“Spencer got a transfusion too,” Theo explained. “For one thing, Will transmitted some of the TH poison to Spencer, and we had to get that right out of him. That’s what was stumping us—before Quinn’s help. If he hadn’t sucked it out of your veins, we might not have done enough transfusions with Spencer. Even so, the medications didn’t cure his Hel-Blar infection. We had to give him even more blood so he wouldn’t go feral. The doctor might get an award for that, actually. If she doesn’t get kicked out of the League for technically creating a vampire, that is.”
“I guess that means I graduate early,” Spencer said.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Theo cleared his throat menacingly. Chloe, Jenna, and Jason left but Quinn and Kieran stayed behind. Theo took my pulse and had me follow his flashlight with my eyes.
“Looking much better. How are you feeling?”
“Like a truck hit me and a bear ate my arm.” My stomach growled. “And I think I’m starving.”
“That’s what I like to hear. I’ll get some food sent over.” He eyed Quinn and Kieran malevolently. “Five more minutes and you both get lost. Don’t make me tell you again.” He smiled at me. “Doctor will be in to check on you soon.”
“They’re talking about giving you a medal.” Kieran grinned.
I winced. “No, thanks.”
“You’ll at least be the valedictorian.”
I saw some daisies in a basket on the side table. “Who are those from?”
“Your grandpa,” Kieran replied. “He’s a stubborn know-it-all too.”
“Is he here?”
He shook his head. “He won’t come, Hunter.”
I swallowed, trying not to let my lips wobble. “He’s still mad.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Quinn offered.
“No!” Kieran and I burst out together.
“He’ll just try and stake you,” I explained apologetically. “You can’t rush him.”
Theo glowered from the doorway. “Out!”
Quinn kissed me lightly. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
Spencer and I were left alone with the ticking and beeping of the machines and the tubes pushing liquid nutrients and medications into our bodies. There was enough blood being fed into Spencer via those tubes that I wasn’t in danger, not the way I would have been if I’d been lying around with any other newly turned vampire. He touched his fangs and then jerked his hand away.
“Vampires are in now,” I said quietly. “Don’t you read? All the girls will be hot for you.”
He tried to smile. “And I don’t have to study for any exams this year like the rest of you. I guess I’m officially a dropout now.”
“Oh, Spencer. It’ll be okay. Things are changing.”
“Yeah, I leave you alone for a week and you start making out with vampires.”
“I told you,” I teased, making my voice bubbly and high. “They’re like totally trendy!”
“Dude.”
“But you can’t hide away and brood and go all melancholy. That’s so yesterday. Plus, I’ll kick your ass.”
After a long moment he spoke again. “I’m going to miss the sun.”
“I know.” I turned my head. “We’d miss you more if you were dead.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Thanks.”
“Besides, just think, now you can go hang out with the Hounds and ask them all sorts of magic questions.”
He brightened instantly. “True.”
I shot him a watery grin when Theo wheeled my supper tray in. “And I don’t have to share my chocolate pudding with you ever again.”
Spencer was discharged the next night.
I didn’t know where he’d gone, but Quinn promised to help him with the transition to his new undead life. I wasn’t allowed to leave the infirmary for a full week, and even then it was only after promising that I’d take it easy and wouldn’t even look at the gym for at least two more weeks—and then only with a doctor’s permission. The doctor whom Grandpa would still talk to since he refused to talk to me. I’d called him twice and each time the conversation was the same.
“Are you still seeing him?
“Yes.”
And then he’d hang up on me.
But I wouldn’t let that ruin everything else. I was alive. Quinn was alive. Spencer was … a vampire but at least he wasn’t completely dead. Savannah and the twins were recovering, though slowly. Dailey was being held by the League disciplinary committee pending a full investigation. And Hart had called me personally to invite me to form a Black Lodge of carefully selected students, apparently the first at the school in at least three decades. It was a subgroup within the League that no one knew about except its members and the head of the Helios-Ra. None of the teachers even knew, except for the headmistress. We’d be like a secret roving band of spy-warriors. I couldn’t wait.