Chapter 88. Through the Door
“Lina’s frowning again,” Fek said.
“Never mind,” I said. “Talk more about the teleportation if you want.”
“We do!” Grit said. “Did they avoid the Etherthorne Weave somehow? What if they did something other than teleport?”
“Both equally improbable,” Minnelil said. “Based on what Fek told us, it sounds like they let themselves get shredded. Maybe they are so untethered from their physical substrate that it doesn’t matter what happens to it anymore?”
Whoa, they really had gotten right back to it. I watched Minnelil and Grit wave at each other, discussing if exploding into a million tiny bone pieces would matter to a lich or not. Colors were still washed out for me. I kept it that way, holding on to the Null to keep from suffocating them. It also kept me from realizing how badly I had been hurt. The skeletons had clawed at me, but their fingers hadn’t been able to penetrate my skin or even scratch it. My robe was in tatters, though. The fingers were one thing, but what was going on inside my body was another. I hoped I had lined all the organs properly, insulated anything important and kept them from turning into a clump of ice.
“Time to go,” Marcus said from behind me. He lowered a hand on my shoulder, but yanked it away the moment his fingers touched it. “Yeah, seriously. You need to get into quarantine and start bleeding that off. Slowly.”
I stood. “How slowly?”
“Hard to say exactly. As slowly as you can. You can send for books later, but take that damn cat with you. It keeps trying to push the students off the tables.”
I paced around the room. It was comfy, but boring. Was this how Fek always felt? Clickens paced behind me, following in my steps. Black ichor beaded out of my skin and left dark stains on the floor. Clickens walked from one stain to the other, pawing at them.
A knock came from the door.
“Someone’s in here,” I called out.
“I know,” Marcus said. “That’s why I knocked. Are you decent, there’s a visi—”
I waited for him to continue, but heard only a grunt and steps.
The door opened and Falar stepped in. Marcus stumbled behind him and tried to say something, but Falar shut the door in his face. “Student,” he said.
“What if I hadn’t been decent?” I asked.
“You have been almost nothing but indecent so far, so the difference would have been negligible. Enough. How are you faring?”
I shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ve finished the book about taking care of undead. Marcus said I couldn’t have any visitors for a couple of days. Too dangerous.”
“Hah,” Falar said, and his eyes landed on Clickens. The cat wandered over and started to weave a figure eight around his ankles.
“Mr. Clickens. It’s helping me siphon the Null,” I said.
“I had heard of the workshop, but I hadn’t heard of the name.” He lowered himself onto his haunches and reached a hand out to Clickens. “It must be demeaning. We are being tried alike, beast.”
Clickens pushed its skull against his knuckles, rubbing white bone on almost as white skin.
“Don’t fraternize with him,” I muttered, hopping to sit on the bed in the room. The linens were stained purple from whatever it was that seeped out of my skin. “You came to see how I was doing?”
He scoffed, like I assumed he would. I grinned back at his scowl.
“Witty,” he said. “I came to let you know we’re working to finish the preparations for the ritual as soon as possible. The events of the Lunch Hall only highlight the importance of solving this situation properly, decisively, and soon.”
“Okay,” I said.
He crossed his arms across his chest, sniffing. “What happened was a sorely needed reminder that what we’re doing here isn’t only serving lunches and having meetings about politics.”
I chuckled at how he made both sound equally detestable. “You’ve all gone soft.”
He leaned down to me, lips curling away from his teeth. His eyes were pale blue, with the pupils tiny black dots in the middle, staring into mine. Clickens tensed and the metal wire rang a low trembling wail. “We have,” he whispered. “I will see it change. This institution isn’t a playground. Not for you, and not for us.”
Falar held my gaze for a moment, then straightened. “I’ll mention that the Chancellor decided to award everyone who survived an extra credit for hands-on experience. Mostly to placate doting parents, I imagine. Nevertheless, it was done.”
“Didn’t everyone survive?”
“Yes,” he said, distaste evident in his voice. He reached down to pat Mr. Clickens on the head one more time. “I’ll leave the credit slip with Marcus so it doesn’t rot in here. You can take it to the Credit Office yourself.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Falar raised an eyebrow at me, hand on the handle of the door. “You’re... welcome,” he said and stepped out.
Might have been the first time I said that to him, now that I thought about it. Definitely was the first time he said that to me.
Clickens climbed to my lap and I scritched its spine. I did owe him for a lot. He had saved my life multiple times. I might have to count even the times he had done it before I had wanted it. He had never asked for anything in return. Normally I wouldn’t put much stock in that. Gathering implied favors and debts was the way things worked on Tenorsbridge streets, but he didn’t seem to care.
I let the Null trickle to my upturned hand. Clickens pushed its face into my palm, like it was lapping it up. Based on the book, it should have been too soon for it to be infused with more, but Clickens seemed to know what it was doing, so I let it. After seeing it chew its way through all those skeletons, I didn’t want to risk anything else getting control of it.
“You’re dangerous, you know?” I said, mushing its bony face between my hands. It screeched at me.
The next day, I got a card from the Bursar. “Get well soon,” it said, and nothing else. I wondered if it was a thoughtful gesture or a command.
Minnelil came to visit a bit later. She peeked her head through the door, brows raised high. “Hey, Marcus said that it might be safe by...” Her face went pale and she stumbled behind the door. “I’ll actually stay on this side.”
“Wait,” I called weakly, but she shut the door. I walked to the door and pressed my ear on it. It was different from all the other doors, thick like a wall and filled with metal on the inside.
“I’m here,” Minnelil said from the other side of the door. Her voice was quiet, but audible as there were no other sounds on my side of the door. “There are still a lot of people here in the infirmary, so I won’t shout. You can talk to me, though.”
“Was this just your plan to make me talk?” I asked, sitting on the floor and leaning my back against the door. Clickens paced around the empty room. I had nothing but a bed, table, and a stack of books. I had read the book about reanimating and caring for undead twice already. Feeling how Clickens changed as it drank more Null had made the book more interesting.
She still didn’t speak, so I sighed. “Fine. I hope everyone is okay. At least you and Grit were outside. Fek got lucky, so I guess that actually covers pretty much everyone. I’m fine too. I met the Principal again. That dumb skull.”
Minnelil made a sound on the other side of the door, maybe a chuckle.
“They won’t help me. Not for real. They think we have to handle the thing on the mountain ourselves. I was so angry I wanted to go and kill it immediately, but I got locked in here, instead. Probably for the best. Falar and Jextor are putting together a ritual, but maybe you know about it already as you’re working with Jextor. He’s treating you well?”
“Yes,” Minnelil said. “It’s been educational. I have things to show you once you get out.”
“I’d show you my things right away, if there weren’t people on the other side of the door,” I said. I pressed a hand on my mouth to stifle the laugh and to hold in the embarrassment, imagining how she’d look.
There was a cough from the other side of the door and a moment’s silence. “Keep talking,” she said.
I let the grin fall from my face, leaning the back of my head against the door. “It’s not that bad being in here. I’ve had time to read a book and think.”
I waited to see if she’d ask me what I had been thinking about, but she didn’t.
“About a lot of things. Owing people, debts. You’ve all told me it doesn’t work like that, but it does. I’ve decided so, but I won’t be dumb about it anymore. I’ll help people and let people help me. And if someone tries to push me, I’ll push back.”
She sighed on the other side of the door. “I’m not sure how much healthier that is than what you were doing before. It kept going back and forth while you talked.”
“Hah,” I said. “It’ll make sense, you’ll see. I’ll behave.”
She stayed silent. Was there actually anyone else anymore in the infirmary or not? “Anyway. About some other things as well. We haven’t really had time to talk either, and now it’s just me talking.”
She stayed very silent this time. I waited for maybe ten seconds.
“Worth a shot,” I muttered. “The thing on the mountain wants me to give up. Turn into an undead, maybe. Two months ago I might have jumped at the chance. I really might’ve.” I took a breath before continuing. “I don’t, anymore. It’s dumb, but a lot of that is thanks to you.”
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Genres: time loop, LitRPG, Action, Comedy.
The MC Knell is a competent grown-ass man that has things well under control... until he hasn't.
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