Sleepless: Chapter Twenty-One

Up is Relative [And Down Doesn't Exist]

[First]
[Previous]

---

Margo hadn’t expected much to come of the day.

More than anything, she’d been content to coast through the waking hours and head right back to sleep when they got home.

What she’d expected to be an uneventful day had instead thrown a curveball or two her way. Or… were they still curveballs if they weren’t necessarily bad?

Jaime knew about her and the mask. That was definitely a curveball, and she wasn’t sure how she would’ve figured it out. She’d eventually come to the conclusion that it must be some kind of witch magic. Even if Felix insisted she wasn’t one, Margo was pretty sure she was the expert on Weird and witches fell quite handily into that category.

All the same, Jaime didn’t seem super upset or interested in everything going on with the Dream. She hadn’t asked a single question about it, just left Margo alone to doodle beneath the counter while she worked. It was rough going, doodling with her non-dominant arm while the other sat in its sling, but she was starting to get the hang of it.

The hardware store wasn’t as busy as the radio room. A lot of people came in to buy various tools and screws and use the 3D printer in the back, but there wasn’t constant noise the way there was when everyone’s literal job was communicating over a radio.

A few times, other teenagers came in and checked on Jaime. Sometimes they asked where Margo was, and Jaime told them she’d stayed home. What possessed her to lie for Margo was anyone’s guess, though she did appreciate it.

When Jaime’s shift was over, they packed up all their things and handed the responsibility for the shop over to the next person, who didn’t look at Margo even once.

Standing outside the hardware store, Jaime delivered the second curveball. She held up a hand for Margo to wait a moment, typing out the words, “Is there anything you want to do today? We could go visit Carina?”

It figured that Jaime’s witchmagic would have filled her in on the situation from last night. Admittedly, Margo wouldn’t mind going to see her — she might still be wondering where Margo was, assuming the news hadn’t gotten to her yet about the ball.

The main problem with that being… well… Margo didn’t know where to find her. However, she had a solid guess.

Which meant…

The hospital.