Obliviate my Destiny {Book 5}

4. Fallen Warrior

"Rory! Oh my god!" I heard a familiar voice screamed, and woozily I opened my eyes to find George and I half floating in the pond, fish surrounding us as the water turned red.

Pairs of arms grabbed my shoulders and I was dragged from the murky water, head feeling as if I'd been shot. "George," I mumbled, reaching out for him. "I need to bring him home, promised Lacey."

"He's fine, my mother has him." As I felt a soft surface below me as I was lowered down I realised who had rescued me.

Arthur.

"Arthur, you prat," I mumbled incoherently.

"Nice to see you too," he grumbled and my blurriness cleared to see I was on his sofa; he was knelt in front of me with gauze and bandages, looking concerned. It was even weirder to see him without his ear lobe and his disfigured neck and collarbones still red from his injuries last month.

"You were meant to be there."

"Yeah well things change." He said, and he sounded annoyed, distant.

"You realise that Alia was out there tonight? I heard her scream. She could be hurt because you decided to pout and stay inside."

"Don't you have a go at me as well," Arthur sighed, and I noticed how exhausted he looked as he wrapped a bandage around my head. It was then I realised I'd hit my head on the edge of the pond when we landed. "I told Alia not to go, and so did Cole, so don't paint me as the bad guy."

"Why didn't you come though? A few months ago you were crazy about protecting me." I said, feeling hurt. Arthur and I never argued that much, but it seemed like all his bad feelings about me from the last couple of months were bubbling up.

"I wasn't purposefully avoiding you, if that's what you meant—hold out your hands, they're burnt." Arthur said, and I held them out as he wrapped the sore red skin in antiseptic and bandage. "I have other priorities now."

I heard a baby cry from upstairs and I gave him an odd look. "Is Nathan here? Sam's brother?"

Arthur nodded, and didn't meet my eyes as he tied a knot on the bandage. "Yeah, I'm helping him look after Louis. He's not coping very well after Sam...you know. So he's moved in."

"Nice to see you've moved on." I said with a small smile.

"Rory—"

"No, I'm not throwing shade Arthur, honestly. I was unintentionally awful to you, and I want you to be happy."

"Arthur!" Bonnie, Arthur's mother called from the kitchen. "Bring Rory out here, the portkey is almost ready to go!"

"Come on," Arthur said, helping me to my feet, and I followed him out to the kitchen.

George was slumped on a kitchen chair, bandages covering the left side of his face, though they were heavily stained red. I bit down on my lip, "Is he going to be okay?"

"He's lost an ear, but he'll live." Bonnie said with a smile, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It was cursed off, there's nothing that can be done for it. Just have Molly stop the bleeding, that's the only danger he's in right now."

"Thank you, both of you. You saved our lives." I said, helping George up, who looked out of it, leaning onto me. "I can never repay you both."

"Don't go crashing into our pond again, that's repayment enough." Arthur said with a small smile, passing me a pikachu toy. I gave him a weird look. "That's the portkey. I wanted to give it to Maia in any case, so it's a win-win situation."

"Be happy Arthur, okay?" I said sternly, placing George's red hand onto the toy's ear.

Arthur went to open his mouth to reply, when a feeling like a hook in the gut went through me, and with a flurry of colour and light, George and I disappeared from the kitchen. I held onto George tightly, fear starting to eat me up when I thought about everybody else.