Chapter 155 Medical Wing Conversations
POV: Luna
The medical wing was overflowing.
Beds lined every wall. Cots filled the aisles. Injured students everywhere.
Some from Victoria's ambush. Others from the various It-Girls traps over the past weeks.
All of them exhausted. Scared. Hurting.
I sat beside Nova's bed. She'd taken a nasty hit during the fight, breaking two ribs.
"I'm fine," she kept insisting. "Just bruised."
"You have broken ribs," I pointed out.
"Details."
Across the room, Aria was getting her arm bandaged. A rogue had clawed it during the ambush.
Sienna was treating minor cuts with healing salves. Lyric had a black eye but refused to admit it hurt.
And scattered among my pack were students I barely knew. From different cliques. Different social circles.
All brought together by shared trauma.
"This is surreal," a girl from the tech club said. She was in the bed beside Nova. "I never thought I'd be fighting rogues. I'm not a warrior."
"None of us thought we were," Nova replied. "Until we had to be."
"Are we even safe here anymore? At Silverwood?"
"Nowhere's completely safe. But we're safer together than apart."
I looked around the room. At all these students who'd been forced to grow up too fast.
Forced to face mortality before they were ready.
The door opened. Selene entered, carrying a tray of water cups and healing potions.
"Your Highness," several students said, sitting up straighter.
"Just Selene," she corrected. "And don't get up. You're injured."
She moved through the room, handing out water and potions. Checking on people. Offering comfort.
A senior from the combat track stared at her. "You're actually helping? Personally?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you're royalty. You could just order servants to do this."
"I could. But these are my friends. My classmates. People who fought beside me." She smiled gently. "Royalty means service. Not superiority."
The senior looked stunned. Then impressed.
"You're not what I expected, Your Highness."
"Good. Expectations are boring."
She continued her rounds, and I watched students' expressions change.
The ones who'd been resentful of her presence. Who'd seen her as a burden or a prize.
They were seeing her as a person. Someone who cared. Someone worth protecting.
Social barriers that had existed for years were crumbling in the face of shared danger.
I moved to check on other students.
Marcus, the senior who'd sparred with me in Cole's rigged combat class, was sitting up in bed.
"Eclipse," he said when he saw me. "Can we talk?"
"Sure."
He gestured to the empty chair beside his bed. "I owe you an apology."
"For what?"
"For everything. Cole manipulated me. Made me target you during training. Said it was for your own good. To make you stronger." He looked ashamed. "I should have questioned it. Should have known something was wrong."
"Cole was good at manipulation. You're not the first person he fooled."
"Still. I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"How do you do it? Stay strong when everything's falling apart?"
I thought about it. "I don't. Not really. I'm terrified most of the time."
"You don't act terrified."
"Because people are counting on me. My pack. The princess. The school. If I fall apart, they lose hope."
"So you just... fake it?"
"Sometimes. Other times, I lean on my pack. Let them be strong when I can't be."
"I wish I had that. A pack. People I could trust like that."
"You could. Build one. Find people who have your back. Who you'd fight for."
He smiled slightly. "Maybe I will."
Across the room, a younger student was crying quietly.
I went over. "Hey. You okay?"
She looked up. First year. Maybe fourteen. "I thought I was going to die today. The rogue had me cornered and I just... froze. Couldn't move. Couldn't fight."
"That's normal. Fear does that."
"But you never freeze. None of the upperclassmen do."
"We freeze all the time. We just push through it."
"How?"
"Practice. Training. And remembering that freezing gets you killed. So you move anyway. Even when you're scared."
"I don't know if I can do that."
"You already did. You're alive. That means at some point, you moved. You fought back."
She thought about it. "I guess I did. Someone pushed me and I ran. Does that count?"
"Absolutely. Survival is survival. No shame in running when you're outmatched."
"Really?"
"Really. Living to fight another day is smart. Not cowardly."
She smiled through her tears. "Thank you."
I moved through the room, talking to students. Offering comfort where I could.
And I realized something.
This attack had done something unexpected.
It had united us.
Students who'd been rivals were now making promises to watch each other's backs.
Different cliques were forming alliances based on survival instead of social status.
The whole Academy was changing.
The nurse appeared, looking exhausted. "Miss Eclipse. Can I speak with you?"
"Of course."
We stepped into her office.
"I wanted to thank you," she said. "For helping. For keeping morale up."
"I'm just doing what I can."
"It's more than that. You're giving them hope. Showing them they can survive this."
"Can they? Can we? This seems worse than anything Silverwood's faced before."
She sighed and sat down heavily. "It is worse. I've been the school nurse for twenty years. I've seen rogue attacks. Magical accidents. Student conflicts. But nothing like this."
"What's different?"
"The coordination. The intent. In the past, rogue attacks were random. Opportunistic. This? This is war. Someone's declared war on Silverwood. On everything we represent."
"Why?"
"I don't know. But something fundamental has changed. The old rules don't apply anymore."
That was terrifying.
"How bad can it get?" I asked.
"I don't know. But I'm preparing for the worst. Stocking more supplies. Training students in field medicine. Making contingency plans for mass casualties."
"You think it'll come to that?"
"I hope not. But hope isn't a strategy."
She was right.
We needed more than hope. We needed a plan.
I left her office and found Liam waiting.
"How are you holding up?" he asked.
"Exhausted. You?"
"Same. But alive. So I'll take it."
We walked through the medical wing together.
"This is going to change things," I said. "The Academy. The students. Everything."
"Good. Change was overdue."
"You think this is good?"
"I think forcing people to see past social barriers and work together? Yeah. That's good. Even if the circumstances suck."
He had a point.
We found Aiden sitting beside a student's bed. The kid was unconscious, breathing shallowly.
"What's wrong with him?" I asked.
"Rogue magic poisoning," Aiden said grimly. "He got hit by one of the enhanced rogues. The dark magic is spreading through his system."
"Can the nurse treat it?"
"She's trying. But it's not responding to normal healing. It's too aggressive."
The student suddenly convulsed. His body arching off the bed.
"Nurse!" I shouted.
She came running with Professor Cael.
They worked quickly. Casting purification spells. Using healing potions. Trying everything.
But the dark magic fought back.
"It's not working!" the nurse said. "The poison's too strong!"
"Let me try," I said.
"Miss Eclipse—"
"Eclipse power purifies. It's worth a shot."
Professor Cael nodded. "Do it. Carefully."
I placed my hands on the student's chest and channeled Eclipse power.
Silver light flowed from my mark into his body.
The dark magic hissed and recoiled. Fighting the purification.
I pushed harder.
Light met darkness. Battled. Warred.
Through my mark, I felt Miguel's essence helping. Guiding the power. Making it stronger.
Finally, the dark magic dissolved.
The student stopped convulsing. Started breathing normally.
"It worked," the nurse breathed. "The poison's gone."
I collapsed into a chair, exhausted.
"How many others have rogue magic poisoning?" I asked.
The nurse checked her charts. "Four. Maybe five."
"I'll treat them. Just give me a minute to recover."
"Luna, you're exhausted," Liam protested.
"So are they. And they're dying. I can help."
Through the mate bond, I felt his worry. But also his acceptance.
He knew I'd do this regardless of his objections.
"At least let me help," he said. "Channel power through our bond. Share the strain."
"Okay."
We worked together. Me channeling Eclipse power. Him feeding me energy through the mate bond.
One by one, we purified the poisoned students.
By the time we finished, I could barely stand.
"That's enough," Professor Cael said firmly. "You've done enough. Rest now."
I didn't argue.
Liam helped me to an empty bed.
"Sleep," he ordered. "I'll keep watch."
"You need sleep too."
"I'll sleep when you're safe."
Through the mate bond, I felt his protective instincts.
Overwhelming. Unwavering. Absolute.
I fell asleep feeling grateful. For my mate. My pack. My friends.
For everyone who fought beside me.
For everyone who survived.
And determined. To end this. To stop whoever was behind the attacks.
Before anyone else had to die.