48 Loop 2, part 2

“Awake? That’s debatable,” I said.

Finn’s hands were already moving on me. One went to my wrist, two fingers pressing for a pulse he clearly didn’t need to check for. The other hovered near my face, green mana surrounding it. I knew he was doing his whole healer routine—the one he ran whenever anyone so much as stubbed a toe.

“Don’t move. How many fingers am I holding up?”

“I’m not concussed, Finn.”

“That’s exactly what a concussed person says.” He held them up anyway, but I didn’t bother counting. He was crouched over me with his patented golden retriever look. Then he said, “You went down hard. Stay there a second.”

But I got up. And I started floating, three inches off the ground.

One thing I hadn’t gotten used to about the time loops was seeing people who had died, or gotten hurt, or almost gotten hurt, alive and well. And Finn was alive and crouched in front of me, wholly intact.

“I’m fine,” I said. It was a bald-faced lie, but. “I’m fine, really.”

“You are anything but fine, dumbass. You’ve been out for almost eight hours.” He finally let go of my wrist. “Where were you even going, man? You shouldn’t be leaving here until tomorrow, at the earliest.”

“Eight hours?” I asked.

So it was, what, late afternoon? Fuck. I had missed breakfast. Hell, I had missed most of everything.

“I don’t know, why was I out?” I wasn’t sure how I wanted to play things yet. So I acted a little unaware. “Did something happen to me at breakfast?”

Finn blinked as if he were thrown by the question, despite it being the obvious one. Then he ran a hand through his hair. For a second, he wasn’t looking at me. He was lost in the memory of that morning.

“It was bad, Laz. Really, really bad.” He blew out a breath. “Davos went after Kalin, same as always. Except this time, he put some extra mana into it. I think it may have been what actually knocked you out. He sent Kalin flying, and Kalin hit you in the head when he landed. And then he jumped up and summoned shadow wolves right there. There was even a big one that almost killed a kid.”

I knew exactly how big that one was. But had it really almost killed someone? My first time through the day, I’d dropped all four before they’d gotten that far. Well, sort of.

“It was pandemonium,” Finn went on. “People went over benches, plates flew everywhere. I tried to get a ward up around you, but a shadow wolf hit me before I could, and I spent the rest of the fight on the floor.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You’re the one who was knocked out all day.” He waved it off—which was rich, coming from the man who was treating me like I’d died.

“So, how’d the fight end?”

“A third-year student stopped it.” Finn shifted, as if he was trying to shake the memory loose. “Some girl, I don’t know. She cast this spell called [Blinding Light], and it just packed the whole hall with… well, white. Couldn’t even see my hands. When it cleared, the wolves were gone and Kalin was on his knees.”

Huh. I wondered how much that one cost. Smart of her.

“She almost got hauled off for it by a teacher, you know, casting combat magic in the hall. But Bain, of all people, stepped in and smoothed it over. And then some dude from the ministry in a grey suit arrested Kalin. Had people take him off campus and everything.”

I raised an eyebrow. Bain smoothing things over. That didn’t make sense to me. Though I guess he could’ve been playing the reasonable man angle in front of the ministry. I saw a flash as the masonry fell on his head. I winced.

Finn was watching me, and he didn’t like it.

“Hey. Earth to Laz. You’re doing the faraway thing. That’s not good. You took a knock to the head, and you were out for eight hours. This could be a symptom of something worse.”

But I wasn’t listening to him anymore. My brain had caught on a sentence I’d ignored earlier. They’d arrested Kalin.

Something warm and entirely too pleasant unfurled in my chest. Fuck, I’d woken up on the right side of the bed today.

I floated straighter. “They arrested Kalin. They actually took him away?”

“Yeah, that’s just what I said.”

“Oh, that’s great. Finn, that’s fantastic. The best thing anybody’s said to me all day.”

The grin came up so fast it felt like I’d pulled a muscle. I was relieved, but right behind it was the soul ache flaring, deep and bone-level. I grabbed the edge of the cot to steady my floating. Despite the rush of pain, it was worth it. Entirely worth it.

Finn’s whole expression changed. He didn’t look happy. “Laz,” he said slowly. “A kid got dragged off campus by the government this morning. And you’re celebrating.”

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“I heard you the first time, man. You don’t have to sell it. That’s wonderful news.” I had a full-blown manic grin now. For five days in a row, I’d been dealing with the consequences of that little asshole and his attempts to burn down the world. And now his entire thread of cascading consequences was gone. “Honestly, whoever that grey bastard is, I could kiss him on the mouth.”

“You don’t mean that. Surely.”

“I absolutely do mean it, and don’t call me Shirley. That man just bought me all the freedom in the world.”

Finn didn’t say a thing. Just looked at me, worry heavy on his face.

“That—are you okay? Listen to yourself.” He stood up off his heels and studied my face. “That’s not a thing you’d normally say. You’re talking about a student. A person. Who got hauled off in front of the entire school. And you’re celebrating.”