Chapter Forty-Three

Her recovery was slow but sure. She had trouble walking at first, and would hop here and there around her room to do stuff, but Gabriel was there throughout it all. He would hold her up as they practised walking around the room, and eventually her brace came off and was replaced by gauze.

As time passed, she began to lightly put weight on her feet. It hurt at first, but Gabriel encouraged her to keep trying. She gradually increased the weight she applied to that foot each time she walked around, and within days, she was walking well and only with a slight limp.

She wanted to return to her classes, but Gabriel wasn't as fond of that idea. He told her that she was special, and could take as much time off as she wanted without suffering any repercussions. But she was so bored staying in her room all day that she kept protesting to him to let her resume classes. He was adamant that she continued to rest, and they eventually came to a compromise. She would be allowed to roam about on the school grounds, but not attend lessons.

So the moment she had the chance to leave her tower, she took it. She walked about the school grounds, and found it surprisingly empty of any students. It was as if Ravenspire never had any students in the first place. She tried looking everywhere for any sign of life, but they had all but disappeared.

She spent her days and nights in the garden with her nose deep in a book. Butterflies fluttered about and cats stretched their backs, yawning. It jumped onto her lap and she patted it, and it purred for her. Smiling and feeling peace, she looked forward to every day.

Gabriel visited her often. But he gave her space as well. He only came when she asked him to, and she enjoyed his presence. He treated her with kindness and she adored that side of him, though she knew there would always be a dark side to him.

He was someone who loved her, put her first, but there were times where he put himself first. Times where she questioned whether she had any worth to him. But in the next moment, he would prove her value to him and purge all the doubts from her mind. He was an expert at gaslighting, that was for sure. But she still loved him.

The months wore on, Ravenspire still devoid of human life other than the two of them. She was at the garden, looking around for that cat when she saw some hedges in the far distance. She approached it and went inside, soon finding herself in a maze of tall bushes that reached past her head.

She wandered and wandered, trying to find her way out until the maze opened up to a wall that was lined with thick vines. There was a boy, dressed in the Ravenspire uniform staring at the wall, his back facing hers.

"Hello," she said. "I haven't seen another student in a while."

The boy didn't turn around. He was like a statue, staring at the wall.

"Where did all of you go? Was there a break?" she asked.

"Pity," the boy said.

"Pity? Pity what?"

"Pity that you will be the next victim of the Hex Beast."