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“Let’s head back to the Rec Room and we’ll tell you guys there,” Bear said as he started to lead them away.

Jordan tugged on Alex’s elbow to keep her from following. “Are you all right? You look like you’re about to throw up or something.”

She grimaced. “I’m not feeling too good.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said. “You’ve had kind of a rough day.”

She chuckled at his understatement and winced at the pain it caused.

“Why don’t you go and see Fletcher?” Jordan suggested, his concern evident. “Whatever’s wrong, he’ll be able to fix you.”

Alex found herself nodding in agreement.

“I’ll cover for you,” Jordan said. “Come meet us when you’re done and we’ll all go to Jarvis’s assembly together.”

Alex thanked him and he hurried to catch up with the others while she headed down to visit the doctor.

When she reached the Med Ward, Fletcher was nowhere to be seen, so Alex pulled herself up onto one of the hospital beds to wait for him. She closed her eyes, wondering if a quick nap would alleviate some of her discomfort.

It was only when she started to drift off to sleep that she heard the voices.

Alex cracked her eyes open and raised her head to look down the long stretch of the uninhabited Ward. On the far side of the room was a door labelled ‘Contagious Infections’ and it was slightly ajar.

Alex lay back down and closed her eyes again, figuring that Fletcher was probably in there with a patient. She was ready to try and sleep once more, when an unfamiliar voice broke through the haze of her mind.

“Who raised the alarm?”

Alex snapped her eyes open and quietly slid off the bed, tiptoeing closer to the door.

“It was automatically activated,” came Fletcher’s muffled response.

“Automatically? How?” The unknown voice was deep and masculine, and sounded too old to belong to a student.

“Jarvis told us that the headmaster placed stronger security wards around the academy before he left,” Fletcher said. “The only people who can visit while he’s gone are those who have been welcome here previously—students, faculty and alumni. Other people can visit only if they’re in the company of a current academy resident. Otherwise they won’t be able to enter the grounds.”

“If no one unwelcome can enter the grounds, then why were we on Lockdown?”

Fletcher hesitated before replying, “The Lockdown was activated because the wards were breached.”

There was a pause after his words, as if the other man couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

“The wards werebreached?Marselle’s wards? How is that possible?”

Fletcher sighed. “I don’t know, Varin. I really don’t know.”

They were silent for a moment.

“Is Jarvis sure it was him?” the other man asked so quietly that Alex had to lean closer to the door to hear.

“Yes.” Fletcher sounded weary. “He’s sure.”

The man cursed, and Alex wished they would reveal more. Who was this person that everyone seemed so worried about? And what was he after?

“Fletch, you’ve got to get me out of here soon,” the man pleaded. “I’m no good to anyone like this. I need to be out there helping. Especially now.”

“Just a bit longer, Varin,” Fletcher said. “You’ll be back to normal by the time classes resume in the New Year.”

The other man groaned. “That’s almost a month!”