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Christopher was brought immediately to the hospital by the paramedics standing by. Harry was carted off with much less care. The Director strode towards Nicholas, and spoke solemnly. "Nicholas, thank you for saving my son." He was about to say more when Nicholas cut him off. "It was nothing sir. I was just doing my duty. Chris would have done the same." The Director suddenly asked. "I thought I brought two cadets along. Where's the other?"
"I told him to radio in and tell the rest the news. He may have taken a lift from the Met and gone back to the bus." Nicholas blurted out the first excuse that popped into his head.
He rushed straight to his room and opened the door. It was dark inside, he could barely make out his twin's head from below the coverlets. Nicholas walked over softly, then switched on the bedside lamp. Her blood-shot eyes looked up at him. "How is it?" he asked anxiously. "Deep but clean. It was bleeding like hell on the way back, but it stopped by the time I got here. I just bandaged it really tightly." Speaking was a huge effort that she almost had no strength for. "You should be in hospital. Did you see Larssard? How did you get back to the academy?" "No I didn't go to the infirmary because Larssard has a big mouth and would have told the Director. I hitched a lift from the big nosed police officer. You should have seen the look on the man's face when I practically commanded him to drive me back!" She chuckled at the memory, then grimaced. "How's Christopher?" "I don't know what's his condition but he seemed to be all right. He thinks I saved his life, I almost told him the truth." "You must not!" she said fiercely, though albeit weakly. "No one must find out about what happened, only you and me." "Leander knows you were with us earlier," Nicholas pointed out. "He could always tell the Director or Chris. They would definitely put two and two together…" "Then you'd better speak to him about it. I can't risk anyone finding out." "But you've still got another day of training before lessons officially end. How are you going to manage that?" "I'll find a way. Speak to Leander before the Director comes back?" Her twin nodded in response. "Thanks, I'm sorry to chase you out of your own room, but I need to sleep. My side is killing me." Nicholas took it as a rude dismissal and quietly left the room.
"I'm fine Dad! Didn't you hear what the doctor said?" Christopher told his father in exasperation. "He said there isn't any sign of concussion, I'm speaking clearly and there's nothing wrong with my vision." "I heard what he said, I also heard that he wanted to keep you under observation for at least a night! He's afraid there'll be complications." "Dad, if there were any complications I wouldn't be standing here arguing with you, would I? Come on, I want to get back." "All right, all right, have it your way but promise me you'll go straight to bed as soon as you do what you want to do." "Yes Dad, I'm twenty-three years old, I know how to take care of myself," he replied huffily. The Director's only response was a long-suffering glance at his errant son.
Christopher softly knocked on the door. It was opened by Nicholas, wearing only a pair of jeans. "Chris, I thought you'd be staying at the hospital tonight," Nicholas said, looking at his mentor in surprise. "Head wounds should be taken seriously you know." "I convinced the doctor and Dad that I was all right. Is Nykki inside?" "Yeah, but she's fast asleep. She's not feeling well, so she took a few aspirins and went to sleep. Nothing can wake her up now. Why do you ask?"
"It's going to sound a bit stupid but I thought she was out in town with you. I heard her voice somewhere… it's nothing to worry about - most probably just my imagination working overtime. Go and get some sleep, you look like hell." "Yeah, good night."
Nicholas closed the door and went back to his twin. Nykki was tossing and turning on the bed, her skin hot and sweaty. The fever was becoming worse. He carefully rinsed out a towel and placed it on her forehead, brushing away strands of hair as he did so. She moaned softly, and muttered unintelligibly. Her arms flailed and thrashed about, almost upsetting the basin of water beside the bed. He wondered what kind of nightmare she was having.
Nicholas woke up from an uneasy sleep into darkness. He looked to his sister's bed and saw that it was empty, but the light in the bathroom was switched on and sounds of water splashing came from behind the door. The wooden door opened. Nykki looked at the figure sitting up in bed and remarked wryly. "You overslept Nick, better rush before we're late again." He glanced at the clock by his bed, the luminous hands showed eight a.m. "Christ, I didn't hear the alarm!" He quickly got off the bed and started arranging the pillows which he had thrown off in the middle of the night. Nykki looked at the untidily made bed and raised an eloquent eyebrow at her twin without visible effort. "I'm not into domestic stuff," he joked. "Are you all right? How's the fever?" he asked in a rush. "The bleeding's stopped. I'm still a little feverish but there's nothing I can do about that is there?" She went to the wardrobe and selected a pair of jeans. "I'm all right," she said forcibly when her twin looked doubtful, pulling on her jeans. It took a lot of self-control to maintain a bland facade as pain asserted itself. Standing up was a big problem. Nicholas saw her hands tremble when she buttoned her white shirt. "I don't think you should be getting out of bed. You're still weak."
"I'm fine, don't worry…" Nicholas cut her off. "Nicholas Shane Storm, I may be three minutes younger than you, but I know how to take care of myself. I'm fine! I have to put in an appearance today or else Wilder will smell something amiss. I promise you I'll come straight back here after breakfast, and I won't go out again unless it's mealtime. I even promise you I won't leave the room even if there is a fire. Satisfied?" "Barely!" he snapped. "I won't be responsible if you fall flat on your face," Nicholas warned. "I don't need a nursemaid. It's getting late, all the food will be gone by the time we get there."
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