Gloria Oliver by Cross-Eyed Dragon Troubles Page B

bath and soaked her unhappy appendages in the water they’d labored so hard to bring up. Once she got out, she felt heavy and slow. She got dressed and then decided to lie down on her bed for a minute. Before she realized it, she fell asleep.
    A knock at her door startled her awake. Momentarily disoriented, she scrambled out of bed, almost smacking her head against the upper frame. Her arms and shoulders twinged in displeasure at the sudden movement. She grimaced in discomfort as she stumbled over to open the door.
    “Hi!” Mandee’s bright smile greeted Talia. Yllin stood beside her. “We’re not disturbing you, are we?”
    “No, please come in.” She opened the door wide. “I—I accidentally fell asleep.” She quickly ran her hand through her curling hair and hoped it wasn’t too out of order.
    The two girls came in. “Sorry to wake you, but we did bring a gift.” Mandee pointed dramatically at Yllin and the other held up a small, earthen jar. “Yes, we know you can’t believe it, but it’s true. Salve for your aching arms and shoulders—delivered to your very door as promised.”
    Talia’s arms and shoulders throbbed as if the prospect of relief meant they needed to complain more.
    “Thank you very much.”
    “Sit down and let me put it on,” Mandee offered. “You look like you could really use it.” Mandee steered her to sit on the bed while Yllin opened the jar. A strange, pungent odor filled the room.
    As Mandee smeared the greenish concoction on her arms, they began to tingle.
    “Where’d you get this?” she asked.
    “The old pervert.” Yllin looked away. “When I first came here, one of the other students told me about it.”
    “Yeah, she was hurting so bad the first time even the threat of the old man leering at her didn’t make her hesitate.”
    Yllin threw her friend a dirty look. Mandee laughed.
    Late that same evening, Talia woke up in the middle of the night, but wasn’t sure why. As she lay in the darkness, not really sleepy anymore, she frowned as she recalled this happened before. Even as she sat there and thought about it, she heard a small, barely perceptible sound coming from the direction of her balcony.
    Not sure what it could be, or why it’d be at her window, she slowly rose out of bed, a chill of mixed fear and curiosity moving down her back. As she stared at her balcony doors, she thought she could make out a large shadow through them, but couldn’t really be sure if it was something she was seeing or just a trick of the night. She drew closer.
    Before she could get to them, however, her foot accidentally knocked over one of the buckets she’d forgotten to put away after her earlier efforts. As the sound of the wood hitting stone echoed softly around her, the dark shadow outside seemed to suddenly swell and then it abruptly disappeared. Rushing forward, she brushed aside the curtain over the balcony doors and peered out the glass. Nothing was there.
    Frowning, she went back to bed, but lay awake a long time listening for the odd sound to return. It didn’t. Sometime during her vigil, she was dragged back into sleep.
    [Back to Table of Contents]

Chapter Five
    A BANGING SOUND reverberated through the room. Talia gasped, the noise startling her, her heart rising into her throat.
    “Time to get up!”
    As she heard the muffled cry through her door, she realized her lights were on. Slipping quickly out of bed, she glanced at the clock in its niche and saw it was already six thirty. She’d overslept.
    Her arms ached only a little as she washed her face in the basin and then got dressed. In her mind, she profusely thanked Yllin and Mandee for the salve, even as she applied some more, knowing the slight discomfort she felt now was but a taste of what would have been hers without it.
    By the time she made it down to breakfast, the dining hall was filling fast. As was the case every morning since she arrived, the Administrator’s chair was empty. When she continued