Magic University Book One: The Siren and the Sword by Cecilia Tan Page B

“I’ve seen plenty now.”
    They were just heading for the stairwell when a shout went up. “Here they come!”
    The blue glow that was Frost was getting larger and larger, but also seemed dangerously low to the rooftops. The yellow flicker of Nichols was overlapping as if Frost were carrying him. The yellow glow also did not seem very strong compared to earlier. “Oh shit,” Jess said.
    “They’re coming down!”
    Frost and Nichols had just cleared the roof of the physics building and were losing altitude, heading for the circle of grass in the driveway of Memorial Hall. Kyle found himself in the front of the group racing down the stairs, trying to get to them as quickly as possible. Halfway down, he wondered where Jess was. Had she been left behind because of her high heels? He couldn’t stop now, though, or the people racing down behind him would run smack into him.
    They burst out of the doors on the first floor and ran across Kirkland Street, and as Kyle got closer he saw Jess was already there, with Remy and Speyer each of them holding a broom. Jess was kneeling at Nichols’s head, her palms against his temples, her eyes closed. Frost was sitting next to her, looking as pale and drained as ever.
    Jess began to chant in a language Kyle didn’t recognize, as the students formed a circle all the way around them. Only now did Kyle make out a large bruise on Nichols’s forehead, the spot swelling up badly. Jess’s hands moved over his forehead and her chant stopped as she bowed her head. All of them were silent, the hiss of traffic going to and from Oxford Street the only sound.
    Kyle was startled as Jess suddenly threw her hands in the air with a kind of anguished cry, her eyes wide and unseeing. Then she shook herself and came to.
    The swollen spot was gone. There was still some evidence of a bruise, but Nichols’s forehead was smooth again. He opened his eyes. “What in Circe’s tangled loom is going on?”
    Remy let out a low whistle. “We’ll tell you about it over a cup of tea in the common room. Allan, Masterson, help him up and let’s get him back to the house.” Then, to Jess, “Will we have to treat him for a concussion?”
    “Probably better safe than sorry,” she said. “Watch him for the signs and take him to health services if they come up. But he should be clear of severe damage.”
    Frost got to his feet and offered her a hand up, but Kyle found himself in the way, helping her up with his hands on her shoulders. Frost glared and Kyle found himself glaring back, and he didn’t even know why. Frost had probably just saved Nichols’s life, if what he was hearing was correct.
    “She’ll need to eat,” Frost said then, but his words sounded spiteful somehow.
    “I know that,” Kyle said, but inside his own head he was thinking,
really? Is that how it works?
    “Come on. There’ll be a midnight feast at the house. If she’s with you, it’s okay.” And with that, Frost walked away, following the others moving off in the direction of Gladius House.
    Kyle held Jess for a few long moments in his arms. “Do you want to? Go with them, I mean.”
    “The Gladius House midnight feast is not something you should miss,” Jess said quietly. “But honestly, I really just want to order a pizza and get in bed.”
    “Okay.”
    She shook her head. “And I mean get in bed and sleep for a week. I’m sorry, Kyle. I’m just not up to...anything, after that.”
    Kyle stroked her back. “It’s okay. But, hey, do you feel like your arms and legs are made of lead and you can hardly move?”
    “Yes,” she said. “That’s exactly how I feel. But I can make it back to Camella House.”
    “Okay,” he said again, helping her move in that direction, their feet going slowly but his mind racing a mile a minute. That day in poetry analysis class—had he used magic? How else could he explain the seeming miracle of the interpretation just coming to him? And the fatigue afterward? Was that what Master