Page 93 of The Infirmary for Dragon Burns and Midair Mishaps

32

EDEN

Eight Months Later

“And what do we call this?” I asked the group of eager-looking students as I gestured to the fake wound that had been laid on the worktable in the brand-new exam room.

One of the students’ hands shot up so quickly that she almost took an eye out.

“Yes?” I said.

“A first-degree burn,” she said, lowering her hand and looking pleased with herself. “Because it’s a superficial injury that only affects the outer layer of skin.”

“Excellent. And what⁠—”

“That one is a third-degree burn!” the girl said, practically bursting. “It’s injured the epidermis and the dermis and even eaten into the fat and muscle.”

I gave an approving nod, eyeing Talani. She made a note on her clipboard.

It had taken months for Ember Ridge to finally rebuild the infirmary. While we’d waited for construction to be completed, we operated a temporary infirmary out of the Wiggly Dragon Tooth which had miraculously survived the Wretch.

Now the infirmary was bigger and better than ever, which meant we were in need of some new employees. The first order of business was replacing Reo, who’d gone off to try his luck at the rider academy one more time.

After surviving the run-in with the Wretch, he was eager to give dragon riding another shot. We’d all wished him the best when he got called up by the academy. And besides being exhausted by the training, his last letter had been largely positive.

In his absence, we’d been sent a small group of burntenders soon to graduate from a nearby school, hoping to find a couple who suited roles at the infirmary.

“She’s a little eager, isn’t she?” Matty murmured, converging as we assessed the students.

“The way she’s swinging her arm around, I’m worried she’s going to end up punching someone in the nose,” Talani whispered. “But she does know her stuff.”

Matty drummed his fingers against his lips. “How well do you think she can keep a secret?”

“And this one,” the girl said suddenly, holding up another fake wound, “is a fourth degree! Look at this piece of bone here, barely hanging on.” She flicked it, and one of the students behind her doubled over, hand clamped to his mouth.

“Bucket!” Seraphine crowed, pointing from behind her desk.

The boy stumbled forward, making a horrible retching sound, and we all winced.

Matty grimaced as he lowered his hand from his eyes. “Did he miss the bucket?”

“Definitely missed the bucket,” I said, frowning at the sight.

“Well, at least that takes one of them out of the running,” Talani said, crossing a name off the list on her clipboard.

The over-eager burntender leaned over, patting the boy on the back while inspecting his mess. “Oh!” she said brightly. “Did you have the chowder for lunch? I think I can see some chunks of potato in there. What did you think? I’ve been meaning to try it.”

The boy turned a concerning shade of green.

“Out of the way! Go on. Mind your feet,” Seraphine called, parting the students with a wave of her mop. “Clean up crew, coming through.”

There was a knock, and a young woman pushed the front door open, tangles of dark curls piled in a loose bun on the top of her head. She blinked around at the chaos, nose twitching at the smell. “Is this a bad time?”

“Don’t mind the mess,” Seraphine called, waving her in. “How can we help you today? Dragon burn? Midair mishap? There’s a form on my desk where you can jot down the details of the event.”

The woman wriggled her fingers. “I was just hoping you might have a bandage. I’ve been singed a little. I ran into one of those tiny dragons.”

“A wyrm?” Seraphine said. “Ugh, the pesky little things are always flinging sparks.”