Oriana's Eyes Read Online Free Page B

and begins to leave the room through a thick white door that I am hoping has blocked out our conversation. Before he reaches for the handle, he adds, “Get used to it, it doesn’t just go away.”
    My stomach twists, and I gasp. He is right; I’m afraid, terrified. I’ve known all along; I never needed his simple diagnosis. The fear has consumed me, and I had collapsed in a horrified heap.
    But why can’t I control it as I have before? I already know the answer to this as well. The danger is closer, breathing down my back. I can feel it even in this moment alone, unwatched, inside the medical center. I don’t need the stare of an Odon’s Eye or a professor’s warning. Odon is everywhere, and he is watching. No fear could be greater.
     

 CHAPTER FIVE
    I’m sitting up in my bed, unable to sleep. They released me from the medical center, telling me I’m not sick, that I’m fine, but I’m not fine. Lenora is asleep in her bed. She has not asked me how I feel; she will not even speak to me.
    I want to leave this room. I want to go to the garden and think. Not about school or part-bloods or purebloods or Finlets or Winglets. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care; they don’t matter. Not even school or tests. I know what I want. But I can’t even admit it to myself. In the garden, I must go there … he’ll be there. I know it. Only he can answer the questions burning inside me.
    I slowly turn back the covers. My feet touch the cold floor, and I pad silently to where my sandals lie, side by side. One foot slides in with care and then the other.
    My breath is hushed. Lenora remains still in her bed, her breathing consistent and calm. I pray she will stay asleep as I approach the door. I turn the handle like ice in my hand, and it releases the door to glide open without a sound. I only open it enough for my body to slip through, afraid the light from the hallway will cause Lenora to wake. Her personality tells me she is a light sleeper. The door closes behind me with no more than a click.
    Once in the brightness of the hallway, I close my eyes to give them a chance to adjust. Slowly I unclench them as my sight improves.
    My obstacles now become far more risky. If I am to make it to the garden I will need to completely avoid the guards. Yet the idea of that happening seems near impossible. Never have I been out wandering past curfew. I have no idea where the guards patrol or for how long. I’m fighting the impulse to sneak back inside my room and return to bed, but the curiosity I’ve been denying all along is impairing my judgment. I must try to reach the garden; there must be some way.
    I hear footsteps echoing down the hallway to my left. I push myself into the indent of the doorway. My eyes peer around the frame. My face presses against the cool metal and my breathing ceases.
    It is a guard. A tall man, broadly built and clad in a button-down white tunic and stiff matching pants, a small-brimmed hat stately upon his head. Whether he is part- or pureblood I cannot determine; he is still a fair distance away and I don’t try to crane my neck for a better look. In fact my eyes concentrate solely on the long metal rod that he swings deftly in his fist. The rush of air follows in its wake along with the obvious strength in the man’s trunk of an arm. I try not to further imagine the pain inflicted by a blow from such a weapon and arm. I must concentrate on my goal. I can do this; I can figure it out.
    The guard continues down his hallway, never glancing down the aisle of dormitories that I stand in. He is most likely accustomed to empty halls. Who would even try to leave? If someone was caught, no matter how pureblooded, their name would be scarred, their body banished, and their soul forever damned by Odon himself. Push the thoughts away; don’t think about what might happen. I can’t let that happen.
    He passes out of view. All this took only a moment, yet the gleam of the metal object is still blinding. Now