Chapter 59: Convergence Part – 10
Nick was still looking at the rubble when a voice called out from behind them.
"Nick."
He turned. Leah was coming toward them quickly, her expression shifting when she saw Leon kneeling on the ground.
"Why did you bring him here," she said to Nick, lowering her voice.
"He was insisting."
Leah looked at Leon. His face was down, turned away from them. She couldn't see his expression clearly but she could see his shoulders and the set of them told her enough.
Her phone rang.
She picked up immediately. "Miss Meril. Have we acquired the permission?"
The voice on the other end was crisp. "Yes. Sir Austin arranged it. You can proceed to verify the deceased. Have it done before the families arrive — after that, access will be restricted to family members only."
The call ended.
Leah looked at Nick. "We have permission."
They both looked at Leon.
He was still facing the rubble, still and quiet. Leah walked toward him and crouched slightly.
"Leon."
He didn't move immediately. Then slowly, one hand came up and moved across his face. He turned around.
Leah hesitated. What she was about to say sat uncomfortably in her mouth.
"There's — we have permission to go in. To see Noah." She steadied her voice. "Before his family arrives. After that, no one else will be allowed access." She paused. "And once the academy's exile order initiates and the guards come for you, you won't be able to — this would be the last chance."
Leon looked at her.
His hand closed into a fist at his side.
"Yes," he said quietly. "Please."
Leah extended her hand. Leon took it and got to his feet.
They walked. Leon's mind was full and empty at the same time, thoughts starting and dissolving before they finished. He was aware of the path under his feet, of Nick beside him, of Leah slightly ahead. Everything else was a surface with nothing underneath it.
The Emergency Health Centre was on the far side of the administrative block. A man named Oliver was already waiting outside when they arrived — medic staff, young, with a lanyard and an expression of practiced neutrality. He confirmed Leah's identity, checked something on his tablet, and took them inside.
The corridors were clean and white and got colder the further in they went. Leon's footsteps felt disconnected from him. His heart rate was something he could feel in his throat.
Oliver stopped outside a door, scanned his ID on the panel. The lock released.
Inside the morgue the cold was definite and still. Three covered forms on separate tables. The room had the specific quiet of a place where nobody raises their voice.
Oliver confirmed that the permission covered two — Krai Novak and Noah Clove — and moved to the first table.
He lifted the sheet from Krai's face.
Leah's hand came up to her mouth. She closed her eyes.
Nick looked and looked away.
Leon stood and looked at what had been done to Krai's face and said nothing. His fist tightened until he felt it in his knuckles. Seeing Krai here he felt like at the edge of holding something in.
Oliver moved to the second table.
He lifted the sheet.
Leon looked at the face and his legs stopped working.
The burns covered most of the face. The skin had gone tight and dark across the cheekbones, the nose had lost its shape, the lips were gone. But the jaw was still his. The brow line was still his. Leon had sat across from that face at a cafeteria table and on a bus seat and in a dormitory room for months and his eyes found what was familiar in it before his brain caught up. Oliver confirmed the name quietly.
Leon's legs buckled. He got one hand down on the floor before the rest of him followed. His stomach heaved and he turned his head and vomited onto the floor. Once, then again, with nothing to bring up the second time. He stayed on his hands and knees after, head down, one arm shaking.
Nick was beside him quickly, hand on his back, steadying him without saying anything.
Oliver spoke quietly into his earpiece. Leah had stepped back, one hand pressed over her mouth, eyes directed at the wall to her left. She reached down and put her hand on Leon's shoulder without looking at the tables.
A minute passed. Maybe more.
Staff came in with what they needed. Oliver had already put the sheets back. Leon was still on the floor. He could feel Nick's hand on his back and Leah's on his shoulder and the cold of the room on his face and none of it translated into anything he could organize into a thought. He didn't try to get up. He stayed where he was until someone gently helped him to his feet.
About an hour later Leon was on a bed in a medical room, a nurse finishing her check while Nick sat in the chair against the wall. Leah had gone out to follow up on something related to the incident.
The nurse said it was stress response, no serious physical issue, rest for a bit and you can leave when you feel better. She left.
The room was quiet.
Leon lay there looking at the ceiling.
After a while he said, "The Council."
Nick didn't say anything.
"They murdered him," Leon said. "The Council murdered Noah."
Nick stayed silent, his eyes on the floor.