Chapter 82

Anila’s POV

I knew Damien was yelling my name, but I couldn’t hear anything over the sounds of my own screams. I was going through the air so quickly that my entire heart was practically in my chest. Everything around me had turned into such a blur and I thought for sure I was going to fall off this damn thing.

I gripped the broomstick so tightly with both my hand and my thighs. My entire body shook in fear as the broom zoomed around the perimeter of the school. I screamed so loud my voice had become raw.

I could hear Professor Howl’s shouts for me to stop but I couldn’t stop. I wasn’t sure how to stop this thing and my life was quite literally depending on it. I knew this was a bad idea; I knew I shouldn’t have gotten on this broom. What was I thinking? Broomstick riding?

The thought would have been funny if my life wasn’t in danger.

I felt my body tilting and my grip slipping. I was so nervous and terrified that my palms were growing sweaty; it was getting harder to keep hold of this broom. I was going to fall off!

This new revelation only made me scream louder and this time, tears escaped my eyes and washed across my cheeks. Tears I hadn’t even known I’d been holding in. I thought my lungs were going to burst with all these raw emotions I was feeling.

Just as I let my body slip off the broom even more, everything halted and I was completely frozen in the air, broom and all.

My heart was in my throat and my entire body trembled, but I couldn’t move. Silence consumed the entire open field, which I was now moving slowly toward without any control. All the students were back on the ground, staring up at me with shock and fear written all over their faces and Sarah looked as if she was biting back a laugh.

I hated her so much more in that moment than I ever had before.

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t Professor Howl because he was also on the ground, with his arms folded across his chest and his lips in a thin line, glaring at me like I had done the most wrong in the world.

This was out of my control though; I didn’t mean to do this.

I looked around, trying to figure out what was going on and how I was moving, and also why I couldn’t seem to move my body. But then my eyes found his. Damien.

He was still in the air, his wand pointed at me, and he was drawing me closer to him. He was calm, though I could see the worry clear in his eyes, but he remained calm, and his eyes focused on me and me alone.

My cheeks flushed with humiliation, and I wanted to burst into tears and run away.

When I was close enough, he lowered his wand and said something to it that I couldn’t hear clearly with everything going on in my own mind. I felt my body being released and I was sliding off the broom again. But before the broom could take off, Damien’s arms were wrapped around me and his hand was gripping my broom, keeping it steady.

I buried my face in his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist and terrified of letting go of him. I kept my eyes squeezed tightly so I didn’t even notice when he landed us back on the ground.

“Anila Montgomery!” Professor Howl started to scold, his eyes blazing with fury as he marched over to me, the other students were walking behind him, curiously.

I was curled up on the ground with Damien sitting beside me and his arms still wrapped tightly around my body.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You could have been killed! You could have injured someone else… or worse,” he said through his teeth. “That was—”

“Out of her control, Professor,” Damien said, interrupting his rampage. “It seems you have found her limitations.”

Other students snickered with amusement.

Professor Howl breathed heavily out of his nose, and he put his hands on his hips as he continued his scrutinizing glare at me.

“Get her to the clinic wing immediately,” Professor Howl said, trying to keep his calm. “She should get checked out for damage. I’ll have Principal Rapport meet you there.”

I winced at this tone of voice and watched as he spun on his heel and marched away.

Damien sighed and without another word or glance over his shoulder, he lifted me into his arms and walked me toward the hospital clinic on the far side of the campus. I held onto him tightly, not wanting to appear weak, but I was pretty freaked out.

“Oh, goddess. What happened?” Nurse Lorelei asked as Damien carried me into the clinic.

I’ve met Lorelie a couple of times since my time at the school. She helped me get onto birth control a few weeks ago and I had to have a follow-up appointment a couple of weeks after I was put on it, just to make sure it didn’t affect any of my normal bodily functions.

I knew her to be very kind and yet I also knew she could be very strict. To took pride in this clinic; she worked here for decades and though she didn’t look any older than 40, I knew she was the oldest one at this clinic.

She was the head nurse and everyone there looked to her, even the doctor who dealt with the most severe cases. The doctor was only there a couple of days a week though; he ran his own practice somewhere else in Stardew Valley.

The school’s clinic had a couple of other nurses as well, but they mainly acted as Lorelei’s assistants.

“Broomstick riding accident,” Damien explained as he placed me down on one of the empty beds.

Lorelei rolled her eyes.

“I told Professor Howl that riding this wretched thing would get someone hurt one of these days,” Lorelie said, shaking her head.

“She just lost control of it,” Damien further explained. “I don’t think she actually hurt anything. But Professor Howl just wanted to be safe.”

Lorelei nodded thoughtfully as she walked over to my bedside. Her eyes were kind and showed so much wisdom that I trusted her immediately upon meeting her.

“Hello, Anila,” she said sweetly. “It’s good to see you again, though I’m sorry it’s not under better circumstances. Do you know where you are?”

I must have looked like such a mess to her, and I blushed with embarrassment. I knew she was just checking to make sure I didn’t hit my head and have some kind of concussion. Honestly, everything was such a blur that I wasn’t really sure if I hit anything.

“The school clinic,” I answered.

“Very good,” Lorelei said with a soft smile. “And how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Two,” I answered, looking at her outstretched fingers.

“And now?”

“4,” I answered automatically.

“Good. Does anything hurt? Your head, your limbs, anything?”

I shook my head.

“Just my pride,” I murmured.

This made her chuckle, but Damien looked more troubled than anything as he ran his fingers down my arm, making goosebumps form on my flesh. It was a strange reaction my body had to my mates, and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to get used to it.

Before Lorelei could ask any further questions, the door to the clinic swung open and Principal Rapport ran inside.

“What is going on? Why did I get a call from Professor Howl telling me I needed to get to the clinic right away?”

I couldn’t help the groan that escaped my lips as my head hit the pillow. Could things get any worse right now?

“Professor Howl is just being dramatic,” Lorelei said, waving away Principal Rapport. “She’s completely fine. Just a fright is all.”

“A fright?”

“There was an incident with the broomstick riding,” Damien explained before I could stop him. I really didn’t want the principal to know about this; I wasn’t sure how many more hits my pride could take.

“Ah, I see,” Principal Rapport said, eyeing me carefully. “Did you get hurt?”

I shook my head.

“Not really,” I answered. “It was just precaution.”

“What exactly happened with the broom?”

“I didn’t have any control over it,” I told him, my eyes filling with tears. I felt like a child, but I’d just been through something terrible, so I really didn’t care. “It went so fast, and I couldn’t stop it.”

“Brooms move according to your emotions. If your emotions were wild, the broom would follow in pursuit. Were your emotions all over the place, Anila?”

I thought about it for a moment before allowing myself to slowly nod.

“I was terrified of the gecko,” I admitted. “Professor Howl said we can’t let the broom control us and I thought that was a ridiculous statement because a broom is nothing more than wood. It’s not a life therefore it can’t control us.”

“All magic is alive Anila and must be treated as such. Your broom could sense your wild emotions and thought that’s what you wanted, a wild ride to match those emotions,” Principal Rapport explained, making me feel even more humiliated.

“You screaming only egged it on,” Damien added, agreeing with Principal Rapport. “When in doubt, stay calm. Always stay calm.”

I nodded, trying to understand what they were saying, but I was suddenly drained and wanted to just sleep for the rest of the night.

“I assume you’ll help her and train her on the broom?” Principal Rapport asked him, much to my shock and fear.

“Yes, sir,” Damien agreed.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not getting back on that thing,” I said a little too loudly.

Principal Rapport raised his brows.

“It’s an important skill to learn. You mustn’t give up,” he said, leaving not much room for arguments. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.

“No way,” I said defiantly. “That thing almost killed me. I’m not getting back on a broomstick.”

“You must, Anila. It’s important that you learn broomstick riding,” he told me.

“Why?” I asked, staring at Principal Rapport with narrowed eyes. “Why must I learn? What’s the point?”

“Because you need to know how to ride one… for the challenges.”