In some ways, El isn’t as bad off as she looks. She clearly has a foundation of good health, an early childhood where she was adored and cared for. But the teen years are a rough time to suffer malnutrition — and Chapel will find signs of long term sleep deprivation and an exhausted immune system, from being in close quarters with hundreds of students and no way to isolate or rest when sick.

Worse still is the wound in her gut, made by something shiv-like. It’s been almost a year since she was stabbed, so it’s mostly healed, but it will be clear to Chapel that the injury never received proper medical care.

El would hate to know just how much of her story her body tells. The idea of being pitied repulses her, particularly by those who cannot possibly understand how the Scholomance was as much salvation as it was hell.

She stirs slightly, almost on the brink of consciousness, but her exhausted body is loathe to stop resting.