When Gwen, Balint, Nora, and Dominik reached the older orphanage, they hurried down the hallway. Unfortunately, Dominik tripped and fell to his knees. He caused Nora, Balint, and Gwen to fall with him in a domino-like effect, but they made sure to not drop Artie.
Gwen put her hand to his cheek and begged, "Artie. Artie." Eyes closed, Artie coughed, and his head slumped backwards.
The older orphanage's caretaker, a short but slightly plump woman who usually sat in the building's lobby, visited Artie in his room. Before doing so, she quickly stopped at Jualaline's bakery and picked up a hot loaf of bed. Now here she was, waiting on the other side of Artie's door, and she pulled some of her graying hair behind her ear.
Before long, the doorknob turned.
The door swung backwards, and standing in the doorway was Balint. "Mable!" he spoke with a slight pinch of excitement in his voice, "We're glad you could swing by." Nodding, Mable sighed.
She offered Balint the loaf of bread and said, "I brought some bread. It's fresh out of the oven."
"Thank you." Balint accepted the bread and waved her in, "Come in. You're not interrupting anything. He's just resting." With one more sigh, Mable held her hands in front of her and stepped into the room.
The first thing she saw when she came in was Artie lying in his bed, and Gwen was sitting on the edge of it. She picked up Artie's hand and rubbed her thumb across his smooth skin to comfort him. Balint moved off to the side and opened up the path for Mable. He set the bread down on Artie's school desk so they could snack on it.
Mable stopped next to his bed, and she gently took the boy's shoulder. "Hey," she said in a sweet voice, "You okay?"
"I'm fine." Artie answered, but as soon as he said that, he coughed again, "It was just sudden, ya know?"
"Talk about sudden!" Gwen said, "What on Earth happened to you? You were so excited when you woke up this morning!"
"I don't know. Its just, when we were heading to the dining hall, I suddenly felt chilled. My heart ached, and then it felt like it was breaking."
"But you were fine yesterday!"
"Mable." Nora turned to face the caretaker and asked you, "You know this orphanage and the children who live here by heart. Has he complained of feeling sick in the past couple of days?"
"Not once, Nora. Artie is normally a very healthy boy. That's why I am just as surprised as you."
Gwen jumped in on the conversation.
She leaped up from Artie's bed and came within reach of the staff members, "When I arrived yesterday, he was perfectly fine."
"And who are you supposed to be?" Nora wanted to know.
"Gwen. Gwen Emberblight. I am here on behalf of our mother. You see, Artie is my brother."
"You're brother?!" the adults spoke at the same time.
"Artie has a sister?" asked Nora.
"How come we've never heard of you before?" Balint inquired.
"It's a long story, and I don't have time to explain it. As soon as I finish with my business here, I am going to become a musketeer."
"A musketeer?" Balint chuckled meanly, "Dream on, young lady. There is no such thing as a 'female' musketeer." His response offended Gwen.
She glared at him and placed her hands on her hips, asking, "Well, that's more you're problem than mine's, right?" Balint did not appreciate the fact that she, a woman, had talked back to him, and he tightly clenched his fists. Before things could get too dicey, Artie called his sister over. On her way back to him, she gave the upset Balint an evil glare.
Scoffing, he shook his head and spoke under his breath, "A female musketeer. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all morning." Nora, who overheard him, slapped his shoulder and told him to shut up.
Gwen, Balint, Nora, and Dominik waited for ten more minutes. During this time, Nora snacked on the loaf of bread while Balint sat in Artie's reading chair, and Dominik stood in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. He carefully watched Gwen and Artie.
When the ten minutes concluded, another knock came from the door.
Balint was the first one to speak, "That must be the doctor."
"Well, don't just sit there." Gwen spoke in a stern voice, "Let him in." She had not left Artie's side. She refused to until she knew what was wrong with him.
Balint opened the door again, and now standing in the doorway was a tall, middle-aged man who wore a blue baguette and brown cloak with black shoes. A satchel hung from his shoulder, and hanging from the left side of his belt was a seventeen century beak-nosed-plague doctor mask that doctors wore to protect themselves from the plague during this time.
Balint smiled at the sight of him and said, "Doctor Kato! Good to see you again!"
"Whew! I'll tell you, Balint!" Doctor Kato (Kaw-toe) spoke. He shook rainwater off his cloak and rubbed down his satchel, "That is quite the storm out there! My horse did not like the journey one bit, but luckily the stable boy is washing him."
Nora suddenly appeared between him and Balint, and she held the piece of bread up to Kato's face, "Would you like some bread? It's fresh out of the oven."
"I'm fine, but thank you." Doctor Kato pushed past her and glanced at Artie's bed, "Is this the patient?"
Balint nodded, "Sure is, but not to worry, Doc. I'm sure that whatever is going on his minor."
"I see. Lovely." Doctor Kato nodded too, but instead of approaching Artie, he instead stopped next to Gwen, "Hello, young lady. What can I do for you?" He picked up her hand and gave it a quick kiss, "Are you feeling a bit under the weather?" Gwen looked absolutely disgusted.
She snapped her hand away from the doctor and told him, "No, sir! I'm not sick!"
"It's the boy, Doctor." Nora said with a small chuckle.
"Oh, the boy!" Doctor Kato blushed when he realized his mistake, "Of course it is! My apologies, miss." He gave Gwen a quick bow and moved over to Artie. Undoing his satchel, he reached inside and told her, Balint, Nora, Mable, and Dominik, "Um, I don't like people watching me work, so do you think you five could step outside for a few minutes while I examine him?"
"Of course, sir," said Gwen. She gave Artie's hand one last squeeze and let it go. Together, she, Mable, Nora, Dominik, and Balint stepped into the hallway, and Doctor Kato closed the door behind them.
Gwen rested her back on it and faced the staff members.
"Well, this has been quite an eventful morning, hasn't it?" Dominik asked.
"I just don't get what's wrong with him," said Gwen. She flinched when she heard Artie coughing behind the door, "This is so random. He was totally fine when he got up this morning."
"You're sure he hadn't been complaining of feeling sick in the past couple days, Mable?" Nora asked the nervous caretaker.
"Positive. Trust me, Nora. When something is wrong with one of my children, I know it."
"What if he's playing sick to just get out of class?" Dominik guessed, "There are plenty of kids who do that."
"Did that look like playing sick to you, Dominik?" asked Nora, "Gwen said he literally collapsed! If he was playing sick, then I have to say that he acted it out pretty darn well."
Gwen rolled her eyes as the staff members continued to argue, "Do you guys always argue over the stupidest things?"
"Whoa, easy there, tiger," said Balint, "I'll have you know that we are the top four staff members in all of Jualaline's high school."
"Then why don't you act like it? Thank you, guys for your help, but I can take it from here. Artie is my brother. Remember?"
"Why do I not believe you?" asked Balint, "Trust me, lass. If Artie had a sister, we would have known a long time ago."
"Who dropped him off at this school in the first place?" Gwen wanted to know.
"We don't know." Dominik answered with a shrug, "Mable found him on the doorstep of the orphanage fifteen years ago. There was no note. Nothing."
Just before Gwen could ask another question, the door opened behind her, and Doctor Kato poked his head out to the hallway, "You can come in now."
He diagnosed Artie's condition as just the common cold. With a little bit of rest and plenty of fluids, he should be back on his feet in the morning. The news was a relief to Dominik, Mable, Nora, Balint, and Gwen. Good. Nothing was seriously wrong with Arthur, hopefully. The rainy weather just chilled him a bit. One at a time, the staff members left the room to go teach their classes. Mable returned to the lobby and told Gwen that if she needed anything while she looked after Artie, then to just give her a shout. Eventually, Doctor Kato also left. It wasn't long until Gwen and Artie were the only ones left in the room, with the exception of Arabella spying on them from the corner of it.
Gwen pulled Artie's reading chair up to the side of his bed and read him a few stories from the many books he owned. He listened, intrigued, with his hands behind his head.
Eventually, he grew bored of listening to love stories, and he interrupted Gwen halfway through the newest story she was reading, "Can't we go train now, Gwen?"
"Train? What are you talking about?" Gwen shut the book and set it down on her lap.
"You promised me that you would give me my first lesson in musketeering today. We're still going to do that, right?"
"Forget it, kid. We'll do it tomorrow. Right now, you need to rest." With that, Gwen stood up from the chair. She tucked the book under her arm and headed towards Artie's bookshelf.
He sat up in bed and begged, "Gwen, please. You promised me."
"I said we'll do it tomorrow!"
"But." Artie held his hand out to the girl, but she continued towards the bookshelf. He thought for a moment, and then an idea popped in his brain. "Gwen, please," he spoke in a choked voice, and he rubbed a few fake tears from his eyes, "I need to become a musketeer! The kingdom is counting on us to find Illusion! I need to train!" He was a very good actor. Burying his face in his pillow, he pulled it close and sobbed behind it. Gwen tried to talk to him, but every time she did, he only sobbed harder and louder.
She sat on his bed and patted his shoulder, but when Artie did not stop crying, she just gave up, "Fine! We'll do the lesson today!" with hope that would get him to shut up.
Artie immediately recovered,
"Really?" and he pulled his pillow off his face, "Thank you, Gwen! You know how to make a poor, cursed soul happy!"
"Whatever, whatever." Here, Gwen stood up, "Stay here while I go get my things."
"Will do!" And just like that, Guinevere Emberblight left Artie's room.
Behind, he clenched his fist and whispered in an excited voice,
"Yes!" but he flinched when he coughed again. Artie slapped his palm to his mouth, and when he removed it, he said in a worried voice, "Oh no." for he, Arthur Emberblight, had coughed up a little bit of blood.
ns216.73.216.131da2
and then Add to home screen.