Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 16: One Month Later

Briallen groaned and opened her eyes a little. Everything was bright and blurry and her head felt as if it weighed a ton. She could feel movement on either side of her.

"She's awake!" whispered a voice to her left.

"What? Are you sure?" asked another voice, whispering as well.

"Yeah! I saw her eyes open!"

"Hoh-ter?" mumbled Briallen as she tried to raise a hand to her eyes to rub them.

She heard a gasp that was quickly followed by a scream of excitement. "She is awake! Oh, thank Merlin!" And then there were arms encircling her and she could hardly breath.

"Ca-at..." mumbled Briallen again. She weakly tried to push away whoever it was that was embracing her.

"Briallen! It's me, Marisol! And Toby is here too! Can you hear us? Can you see us?"

Briallen opened her eyes wider and saw two blurs sitting to her left. "Sorta," she replied with a sigh before she closed her eyes again. "Wha' happ'n? Why d'I hur so mush?"

"Your grandfather thinks you were hit with the killing curse! Lucan Stone was with you. He pulled you into his shield and managed to duck just in time, though, so neither of you were hit with the full blast," said Marisol all in one breath.

"You've been out for weeks, Briallen," whispered Toby sadly. "Lucan was only out for about a week but he broke several ribs and had a punctured lung. They had to take him to St. Birger's because Mrs Krause didn't have enough medicine for all his injuries."

"Oh, he is so in love with you, Briallen! Isn't it just so romantic how he saved you?" whispered Marisol dreamily, forgetting momentarily that she was talking about Lucan.

Briallen tried to laugh but no sound issued from her throat. She knew Toby was wasn't exaggerating because she felt as if she hadn't spoken for a month. "I bin ou' fur wees? Wha' day is't?"

"December first. You woke up just in time for finals," mentioned Marisol, sounding strangely happy.

"Oh, yay."

Toby chuckled and then stopped suddenly as if he remembered something. "Briallen, there's something you should know. Another student disappeared on the same night you and Lucan were attacked. They say- "

"Briallen!" said a deep voice that resounded through the cavernous hospital wing. "Mr Davis, Ms Escudero, would you please excuse my granddaughter and me for a little while? I would like to speak with her."

Toby sighed and Marisol grabbed his elbow to drag him away from Briallen's bed. Briallen, whose eyesight was beginning to improve, watched as her two best friends disappeared through the infirmary door. She turned to her grandfather and tried to smile. He took her small hand in his, gently, and patted it.

"You had me so worried. Your parents stayed at my house in The Village for two whole weeks just so they could be by your side. They left a few days ago at my insistence, however. I honestly was not sure when you would wake up but I assured them you weren't permanently injured and would be just fine by Christmas."

"I unnerstand, Grampa. They're not ang'y are they? They're not gonna pull me outta Ber'mot?"

"No, no, no. Your father put up quite a good argument but your mother, and your grandmother, Apokni, and I wouldn't back down. What I don't understand is how you came to be here in the first place. Lucan Stone says that he can't remember anything from that night... perhaps you do?"

Briallen stared at her grandfather as the memories of Halloween night flashed through her mind. "I remember... trick-or-treating. Standing in front of Hoadley's Hollow with Mar'sol an' Toby. Drinking hot app' cider at the pub..."

"What about when you entered the hedge maze? Do you remember anything from when you were there?"

"Um... I was walking with Marisol and Toby when... someone pulled me back. It was Lucan. We..." Briallen paused and blushed, realizing that because she couldn't tell her grandfather the truth or he would think that she and Lucan were a couple. "We talked. And then we went on through the maze. We saw two people fighting. One was a student, for sure, but I don't know about the other. Lucan tried to break it up and then... I remember a green light. And then I woke up here."

"A green light. So somebody did try to hit you with a killing curse, which means that one of them most definitely was not a student. Did you recognize who the student was?"

Briallen shook her head. "Me and Lucan thought it was Marisol."

"And that's why you attacked the other person?"

"Yeah."

"There were arrows in the hedge and blood on the ground. Where did the arrows come from?"

"Lucan, I think. He cast some spell... something like rundovlo something or other. I remember some arrows hitting the hedge and one hit the person attacking the girl I thought was Marisol."

"Arundos Avolares? A spell that just happens to be illegal in many countries... I'm surprised Lucan knows it. At least I now know why he wouldn't talk with me. It's been illegal in Britain for nearly one hundred years and has never really been used here in the states. He probably learned it from his grandfather," said Cal, muttering the last sentence to himself.

"I didn't get him in trouble, did I?"

"No, you didn't get him in any trouble, dear. It's just... it's a surprise. I had no idea you and Mr Stone were... friends, however." Cal Bevin raised an eyebrow. He was obviously attempting to encourage Briallen to admit something about her relationship with Lucan.

Briallen groaned. "We just have some classes together and stuff. We mostly fight."

"But you get on well enough for him to attempt to save your life?"

Briallen moved her gaze away from her grandfather and towards the ceiling. "It all happened so quickly. I don't think he really knew what he was doing. It was a gut reaction."

"That says a lot about Lucan," said Cal, squeezing his granddaughter's hand gently. Briallen nodded. "If you're feeling alright, perhaps Mrs Krause will let you eat lunch in the dining hall with your friends today."

"Maybe," said the high-pitched voice of the tall, thin woman that had suddenly appeared to Briallen's right. The woman held up four fingers. "How many fingers do you see?"

"Four."

"Can you stand?"

Briallen kicked her blanket off, forced herself to sit up and slid off of the hospital bed and onto the floor. She was wobbly for a few moments but then regained her balance.

"Looks like those restorative drafts I've been feeding you have helped a great deal... I suppose you can go to lunch. But I want you to go straight to your room afterwards and stay in bed for the rest of the weekend! It's possible you could relapse into your coma if you exert too much physical energy."

"Yes, Mrs Krause," Briallen agreed in monotone.

* * *

Briallen walked slowly into the dining hall and toward the Withers' table. As it was late in the afternoon break and a Friday, most kids had already eaten their lunch and were now outside playing or in the library doing their homework so that they would not have to do it during the weekend. She spotted Noelle Dugan, one of her roommates, sitting at the far end of the Withers table and went to join her.

Noelle looked up from the book she was reading and smiled. "Nice to see you're doing better. Marisol and Toby mentioned you were awake now. It's been quiet without you."

Briallen gave her a wobbly grin. "So nobody has taken my place as the reigning Exploding Snap queen?"

"A few attempted to usurp the throne but they've all failed miserably... really, though, Briallen, I know we're not the best friends but we've all been really worried about you. People have been saying you almost died!"

Briallen's smile faltered. "I know. It wasn't like it was expected though, you know? It just happened."

Noelle nodded. "A lot of bad things happened Halloween night. A little boy was nearly trampled to death by a horse during the parade, Rex Hampton and Benjamin Beauvais got in a huge fight and were both nearly suspended - I don't know how Benjamin is still a prefect - and then you and Lucan nearly died, and an Almerick girl disappeared. It was horrible. The professors are talking about not allowing kids off campus for Halloween next year."

"Who disappeared?"

"Izolda something-Polish. She went into the hedge maze and never came out." Noelle looked around and then leaned towards Briallen and whispered, "I've heard rumors that it was a dark wizard. He was the one who attacked you and Lucan; he was the one who took Izolda. Some students think he may have set up a Portkey and that's how he got in and out of the hedge maze without being seen or found."

Briallen was not sure what to believe as she stared at the sandwich in front of her but the idea of a dark wizard running around on the school grounds kidnapping kids was the most plausible reason she'd heard thus far for all the strange things going on. She dropped her sandwich back on the plate. She could not remember the last thing she had eaten but her appetite was still practically non-existent, even more so now after hearing this terrible news. Briallen looked up to see Lucan sitting across from her at the Platt table, watching her hesitantly. His dark hair was untidy, which was unusual, and he had a faded bruise on his jawbone and bags under his eyes.

Briallen stood up, walked to the Platt table and sat down next to Lucan, not caring just then what anybody thought. The other Platts at the table eyed her suspiciously but left the two of them alone. Everybody knew what had happened to them in the hedge maze and believed that they had wandered off together for reasons other than chatting.

"Thank you, Lucan, for... well, doing whatever it was that you did. You saved my life," whispered Briallen. She was sure that Lucan would prefer that the rest of his house did not hear their conversation and even though he had saved her life, she knew it didn't make them friends. She wanted to thank him quickly and get it over with, since it was the polite thing to do, even if he didn't like her at all.

"You're welcome." He glanced at her and then look back down at the cup of iced tea in front of him. He wasn't eating either.

There was an awkward silence between the two kids. The silence was broken moments later by a sudden outbreak of whispers and giggles. Briallen looked at the other students in the dining hall to see them all pointing and staring at the ceiling. She looked up and smiled as snow fell from the mock sky and disappeared a few feet above the tables. "The first snow of the winter," mumbled Briallen.

"I'm not in love with you, just so you know."

Briallen's eyes shifted immediately to Lucan who was still staring at the cup in front of him. "What?" asked Briallen, not sure she had heard him right.

"I know you and your friends think I have a crush on you but I don't. I just... I do like you, I suppose. Or I'm jealous of you. I don't know. You fascinate me." His dark eyes moved away from the cup and he looked at Briallen, who just stared at him as she comprehended all that he had just said.

"Uh... well. Um - okay, then." Briallen was genuinely shocked. She replayed all the mean names he had called her in the library and wondered which Lucan was the real Lucan - the one she was with now or the one who appeared when he was with just his friends.

The awkward silence resumed again but once more did not last very long as Marisol ran into the dining room and to the Withers table. She spun around several times, obviously confused, before she spotted Briallen at the Platt table. She bounced over to Briallen and Lucan happily and took a seat on Lucan's other side and then ruffled his hair playfully. Lucan glared but made no attempt to fix his hair.

"How come every time I'm looking for something, it's always where I least expect it?" asked Marisol as she took a bread roll from a basket in front of Lucan. "At the Platt table, Briallen? Tsk tsk."

"And just what is wrong with the Platt table?" Lucan asked in a severe whisper.

"Oh, I don't know... the company, maybe? You Platts are always so grumpy and angry. Or you're laughing evilly. Either way, it's very off-putting."

"That's not true!"

"I want to hear more about this girl that disappeared," interrupted Briallen, effectively ending the argument between Lucan and Marisol. "She must have been the one that was fighting Mr Hoody in the hedge maze - the one we thought was Marisol."

"Mr Hoody?" asked Marisol, an eyebrow raised.

"What else are we going to call the attacker? He's always wearing a hood! I think Mr Hoody is the perfect name for him."

"Or Miss Hoody. Or maybe even Mrs Hoody! You never know. How about 'the kidnapper?'"

"Or maybe 'the kid snatcher' - it sounds scarier."

Lucan shook his head and spoke up. "I've already been looking into the new missing girl. Her name is Izolda Brodzki. She's a second year student, in Almerick. Her older brother, Rudolf, is a fourth year in the same house. I've tried talking to him but Almericks and Platts don't exactly get along. He won't even acknowledge me."

"I guess Toby and I could try. Maybe he'll talk to us. Mindy Price is in the same year and house as him - if he doesn't want to talk to us then maybe he'll talk to her."

"Why just you and Toby? Why not me?" asked Marisol, pretending she was hurt to be excluded.

"Because if he's even just a little bit cute then you'll screw the whole thing up."

Lucan snorted into his iced tea and Marisol glared at him.

"But," said Briallen sadly. "I'm under strict orders to stay in bed all weekend so it'll have to wait until next week."

"Oh, that reminds me: Miss Winsome moved up our final in Flying to next week, and she's still requiring both of us to take it at that time," said Lucan.

"What?" asked Briallen loudly. The students nearby at both the Platt and Withers tables looked over at them and began whispering. "She-she-she can't! I've been out for a month! I'll fail!"

"I'm sure that's her plan. You know how much she hates you, and she's hated me ever since... " Lucan cut himself off and stared at his plate. Briallen knew he was about to mention how he went to his head of house, Professor Stalkes, and told on the flying instructor.

"She hasn't changed the date of our class's final," said Marisol, confused. "Why does that woman hate you so much, Briallen?"

"I have no clue. I think she's hate me since before she even met me. She's always picking on me about my relationship with the Dean - I don't think she likes my grandpa at all and she just takes it out on me."

"Why in the name of Merlin wouldn't she like Dean Bevin? He's so nice. He sends me birthday presents and Christmas presents every year... my whole family just loves him."

"Not everybody likes Calhoun Bevin," said Lucan slowly. "And he definitely doesn't send presents to every single one of his students."

"Marisol, I think I'm ready to go. Help me back to Sir Lawrence's portrait, please?" asked Briallen, ready to get away from Lucan.

"Oh, no, I really have to get ready for my next class. See you later!" Before Briallen could convince her friend to stay, Marisol was gone.

"Do you really need help in getting to your common room?" asked Lucan. As usual, Briallen couldn't tell whether he actually wanted to help or about to say something mean.

"I'll make it on my own," Briallen said as she got up slowly.

By the time she arrived in the armor-lined hallway she was exhausted. Her entire body felt like it was vibrating with pain and her head was thudding. Briallen had no idea exactly what she injured on Halloween night but her theory was that she bruised every bone in her body because even just sitting down on one of the benches in the hall hurt.

"Are you okay?" asked a boy who had appeared in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just, um, resting real quick," mumbled Briallen.

"I think you were asleep a second ago... do you want me to help you to your common room? Or maybe I can go get your grandpa really quick? Or Marisol?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Hayden - Van Vlerah... I'm in Marisol's house, a year ahead. We've met already, though, at Hamlet Hall on the first day of school. Remember?" Briallen looked the boy over. He had big brown eyes and spiky hair and even though he was obviously concerned for her welfare, looked as though he was about to smile. She didn't recognize him at all. "I got you a cup of punch? Pointed you to Cass Elwood?"

"Oh... I remember. You never told me your name but Marisol's mentioned you," said Briallen. She tried to laugh but it hurt too much so she just smiled at Hayden. "And if you could help me to my common room, that would be nice."

"I've got her," said Lucan, who had suddenly appeared and had his arm around Briallen before Hayden even made a move towards her. Briallen didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Hayden before Lucan had her in the portrait hall and up a flight of stairs. "Where's your common room?"

"Sir Lawrence of Woodcroft on the fourth floor... Where did you come from?" asked Briallen, incredulous of his sudden appearance. "And you were really rude to Hayden - who happens to be bigger than you and could have helped me better."

Lucan was struggling to help Briallen, who was barely walking, up the stairs, though he acted as if he were just fine. "I don't like him," he huffed as he hauled Briallen onto the third floor landing. "And I was on my way to help you anyway. I knew you wouldn't get far on your own."

"Why don't you like Hayden? He was really nice to me back there! And Marisol really likes him too."

"Marisol likes anybody who is even moderately attractive," muttered Lucan. He helped Briallen onto the fourth floor and over to the portrait of Sir Lawrence of Woodcroft. "Do you need me to help you to your room as well?"

"I can make it!" Briallen whined as she pushed him away. Lucan snorted, making it plain that he disagreed with her.

"Password?" asked Sir Lawrence as he did his mid-afternoon lunge exercises in his pasture.

Briallen waited for Lucan to leave so that she could tell Sir Lawrence the password but after a few minutes of silence, she realized he wasn't leaving until he had made sure she was in her room, in bed.

"You're not allowed in," she told Lucan, as if she were explaining a difficult concept to a small child. "You are not in Withers."

"Just let me help you! You're not well, you won't make it to your room on your own," said Lucan, refusing to back down.

"I'll help her to her room," said Benjamin Beauvais, as he came down the stairs from the fifth floor. "You can go to your next class."

Lucan eyed Benjamin with a look of barely disguised contempt but did as he was told.

"Thank, Benjamin," mumbled Briallen just before she passed out.