Chapter 185: Birthday, Part One

Chapter 185: Chapter 185: Birthday, Part One

Chapter 185: Birthday, Part One

"Ms. Sable, are you in there?"

The voice from outside the privacy curtain made Cyrus Calder and Vera Sable look at each other.

Neither of them appeared particularly nervous.

An attractive school nurse and a male student standing together behind a closed examination curtain was hardly the sort of scene anyone at St. Alder needed to see out of context. Even if nothing inappropriate was happening, one careless rumor could turn it into something much more dramatic by lunchtime.

Cyrus glanced toward Vera.

The student outside was looking for her, after all.

He expected Vera to straighten herself out and step into the main room.

Instead, she answered calmly, "I’ll be right there. Give me a second."

At the same time, she lifted her injured hand again.

Before Cyrus could ask what she was doing, Vera brought the finger with the small cut back toward him.

Cyrus immediately tried to move away.

Vera lowered her voice.

"Don’t move yet."

Cyrus frowned.

Then the first image appeared inside his mind.

His resistance stopped.

Vera had pushed another memory through her blood.

Only after she saw that he had received it did she pull her hand away, slide open the curtain, and step back into the main part of the nurse’s office.

A female student stood near the door.

The girl brightened the moment she saw Vera.

"Ms. Sable, I caught you hiding back there again."

Vera had already returned to her usual smiling expression.

"You make it sound like I’m avoiding work."

The student clearly found that funny.

She did not seem suspicious about Vera coming out from behind the curtain at all.

Apparently this sort of thing was normal enough.

Vera had a reputation for occasionally letting students hide in the nurse’s office during free periods, chatting with them, hearing school gossip, and generally behaving much less formally than most members of St. Alder’s staff.

The girl walked closer.

"I need a favor. Next period is independent study, and I want to run out and pick something up. Can you sign me out?"

She linked an arm loosely around Vera’s and gave it a hopeful shake.

The two looked oddly familiar with each other.

Vera pretended to think.

"I can do that."

The girl smiled.

"Seriously?"

"But you have to bring me milk tea."

The student immediately straightened and put on a mock-serious expression.

"Full sugar, right? I remember."

"Good. At least one person around here listens to me."

Vera signed the pass.

The girl took it happily.

"Thank you, Ms. Sable. I’ll be back."

"Don’t take forever."

The student waved and left.

Once the door closed behind her, Cyrus stepped out from behind the curtain.

Vera looked toward him.

The playful smile had already returned.

"I’ll bring your suppressants by tonight."

She paused, then added, "And what I showed you just now can count as a little bonus with your purchase."

Cyrus did not answer.

His expression gave Vera nothing.

He turned and left the nurse’s office.

As Cyrus walked back toward senior advisory three, his thoughts kept returning to the memories Vera had passed him at the last second.

If anything, the new information made the situation more troublesome.

One memory showed how the schoolwide physical examination had been arranged.

Vera had not simply happened to be there when St. Alder decided to conduct one.

She had used her family’s medical connections to make the entire examination happen.

A few calls.

A little influence.

Enough paperwork to make everything look completely normal.

Then, while collecting blood from students, she quietly took an additional tube from Cyrus.

That extra sample was how she learned he was Frostborn.

The ease of it bothered him more than the theft itself.

Vera had wanted access to his blood, so a schoolwide physical was arranged.

Just like that.

The second memory involved the anonymous complaint sent to the dean of students.

Vera had investigated it after Cyrus accused her.

The complaint had been typed rather than handwritten, which conveniently removed any chance of identifying the sender through handwriting.

She had seen the letter only because her family’s influence gave her access to information most school employees would never be able to touch.

Cyrus exhaled quietly.

Having a powerful family really did make everything easier.

Helena could fix a problem with the school in a day.

Vera could arrange a physical examination because she wanted a blood sample.

Rhea could search official records.

Audra carried an artifact capable of controlling people.

Meanwhile, Cyrus’s greatest personal achievement recently had been learning how to use food delivery apps without getting confused.

The comparison felt unfair.

When he reached the classroom, Owen Keats had just put away his phone.

The moment Cyrus sat down, Owen leaned toward him.

"Cyrus."

Cyrus looked over.

"What happened?"

Owen’s expression carried a mixture of amusement and disbelief.

"I just heard something about the dean."

Cyrus became slightly more attentive.

"What about him?"

Owen lifted his phone.

"Apparently Dean Lee managed to make two different families angry in the span of a couple days."

Cyrus’s eyes shifted.

Owen continued.

"It’s only student gossip, so I don’t know the details, but supposedly two separate complaints about him reached the head of school. Serious enough that administration actually has to deal with them."

He shook his head.

"I have no idea who that guy offended."

Cyrus considered the information.

"That sounds like good news."

Owen laughed.

"You really don’t like him now, do you?"

Cyrus did not answer that.

He did not need to.

One of those complaints was easy to explain.

Helena.

He had mentioned his problem at work, she asked for the dean’s name, and by the next morning she told Cyrus everything had been handled.

The second complaint was almost certainly Vera.

Considering what Cyrus had just learned about the reach of her family, creating trouble for one school administrator would probably be effortless.

Maybe she had done it because she felt guilty about being suspected.

More likely, she wanted another excuse to bargain for his blood.

Cyrus could already imagine the conversation.

I helped you with the dean, so let me drink twice.

It sounded exactly like Vera.

A mischievous idea surfaced.

He wondered how eager she would be if he pretended his suppressants were not working properly the next time she asked to feed.

After what happened at his apartment, Vera might suddenly discover some self-control.

The thought improved his mood.

The bell rang before Owen could continue talking.

Cyrus settled back into his seat.

As the teacher prepared the lesson, Cyrus let his eyes move casually around the room.

He had originally suspected Vera of submitting the anonymous complaint.

Now he knew she had not done it.

That left the question open again.

His attention briefly passed over Iris Wexley.

There had been something strange about her behavior toward him before, but nothing connected her to the complaint.

Then his eyes moved toward Owen.

No chance.

Owen had practically panicked at the idea Cyrus might suspect him.

Cyrus trusted him.

Next came Faye Larkin.

Even less likely.

Faye avoided conflict whenever possible, and Cyrus could not imagine what she would gain from reporting his job.

His gaze moved farther across the classroom.

Iris was one possibility only because he did not know her very well.

But another person stood out more.

The class president, whose attitude toward Cyrus had occasionally carried a subtle edge.

There had been moments in the past when Iris seemed to exclude him in ways that were difficult to call accidental.

Then there was Halloween.

She had been at The Full Moon Lounge.

That gave her direct knowledge of where Cyrus worked.

If the anonymous report came from someone in senior advisory three, she had more reason to be suspicious than most.

Still, Cyrus had no evidence.

And Owen had already promised that Iris would not cause trouble over the lounge.

Cyrus was willing to give his friend that much trust.

There was no point accusing someone based on instinct alone.

Especially now that the dean seemed unlikely to bother him again.

His eyes shifted once more.

Audra Sloane sat farther ahead.

Cyrus dismissed her almost immediately.

Whatever else could be said about Audra, their relationship had progressed well beyond the point where secretly reporting him made sense.

She helped him study almost every day.

She had offered to defend him to the dean without hesitation.

She also possessed one of the most important safeguards Cyrus knew.

Unless Audra had an entirely different personality hidden beneath the one she showed him, there was little reason to suspect her.

The language arts teacher entered soon afterward.

Daphne Whitlock began the lesson.

Her calm, educated voice filled the classroom at an even rhythm.

Most students gradually settled.

Cyrus listened well enough, though part of his attention continued drifting.

Earlier, when his eyes passed over Audra, he had felt something strange.

Not suspicion.

Something closer to the sense that he had forgotten a small but important detail.

Cyrus frowned faintly.

That feeling had become more common as his memories disappeared.

Sometimes he knew that something mattered without being able to immediately remember why.

It was irritating.

He glanced toward Audra again.

She seemed to notice.

Her face turned slightly toward the back corner.

Their eyes met.

There was something different in hers today.

A quiet expectation.

Not enough that anyone else would notice.

Cyrus did.

Audra looked away first.

Then it finally clicked.

November third.

Cyrus’s expression remained unchanged, but inside, the missing detail snapped into place.

Today was Audra’s birthday.

He remembered now.

During one of their study sessions, birthdays had somehow come up in conversation. Audra had mentioned hers was November third, and Cyrus had asked almost automatically after she asked about his.

He had nearly forgotten.

Frostborn culture had never placed much importance on birthdays or ordinary holidays, so remembering dates like this was not instinctive for him.

The past few days had not helped.

The dean.

The suppressant shortage.

Vera.

The memory problem.

He had been too busy keeping his life from becoming even more complicated to think about a birthday.

Cyrus looked down at his notebook.

Remembering now was better than remembering tomorrow.

There was still one obvious problem.

He had prepared nothing.

No gift.

No card.

Not even some small thing he could hand Audra and pretend had been planned in advance.

Cyrus knew enough about human society by now to understand that birthdays mattered.

Especially between friends.

Audra had spent weeks helping him improve his grades without asking for anything meaningful in return.

If he completely ignored her birthday, she might actually be hurt.

That would be bad for reasons beyond ordinary guilt.

Cyrus still intended to borrow the glamourkin ring someday if circumstances became dangerous enough.

That plan depended heavily on Audra continuing to trust him.

Letting one of his most important human relationships cool because he forgot a birthday would be unbelievably stupid.

Cyrus stared at the page in front of him while Daphne continued teaching.

He needed to fix this.

Preferably before Audra realized he had almost forgotten.