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“Mrs. Gold?” Dr. Eastcott emerged quietly from the door to the operating wing, closing it carefully behind him so as not to rouse the other families in the waiting room. Although, like ours, very few of them were actually asleep.
I stood up, wiping away lingering tears as he approached. “How is he?”
“He was very, very lucky; with burning that extensive…” He shook his head, ending his thought early. “He’s going to live. But there will be permanent damage.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered, closing my eyes as I absorbed the news. I felt strong arms embrace me from behind, and I reached up to grasp my brother’s hand as fresh sobs began to wrack my frame.
“Can we see him?” My brother asked from behind me, his deep, rich voice etched with worry. “In case he…”
“I doubt he’s going to wake up tonight. Probably not for a couple of days, at least,” Eastcott said. “But yes, you can see him. We’re preparing his room, and we have a couple of post-op things we need to do first before we can allow visitors, but it shouldn’t be too long. We’ll come get you when it’s time. I’m so very sorry.”
“Thank you,” I sniffed. “For everything you’ve done.”
About half an hour later, we were led to a private room. The placard read “B-467,” and a hastily-typed tag gave the name of the patient as William Gold. My breath caught in my throat as a nurse escorted us in. Dim lighting greeted us; a battery of machines, monitors, and what seemed like miles of tubing clustered around the bed in the center of the room, on which lay my husband. Heavy gauze bandages covered nearly every inch of him, space only allowed for his nose, eyes, and mouth. An IV stand with three separate drips stood near his right side, while a tube slid into his mouth to allow for oxygen. He was like a dead man.
It was devastating. My brother spoke with the doctors and nurses as they explained the situation and treatments while I perched on the chair that had been set near the bedside, staring and choking back sobs.
After a few minutes, the staff repeated their condolences, alerted us that the night shift nurse would be in soon, and closed the door behind them. As soon as they did, I stopped crying, my guise growing hard. A flash of golden light illuminated the room as my eyes blazed momentarily. “God **** it,” I growled. “We have to find these guys, Brax.” I resisted the urge to put my fist through a wall.
“We will, Lady Vi, I am certain,” he said calmly. He stood in front of the window, his hands clasped behind his back. “They have made a mistake, and now we have a chance.”
“Some mistake,” I simmered. “I’m not sure I can get this guy to a place where he’ll be able to talk again.” Glancing around to make sure there wasn’t any hospital staff nearby to see, I reached out and placed my hands on the man in the bed, right hand on his forehead, left hand on his heart. I closed my eyes, feeling the pathways of life energy as they flowed through him. He was in bad shape—I had healed him as much as I could before we’d brought him to the hospital, but I was still learning how to apply the techniques to others. Cuts and bruises, sickness and mild toxins I could handle, but burns were something else entirely, especially burns this bad.
“Just try your best, Lady Vi,” Brax encouraged. “Could the Lady Kyrala help?”
“Not any more than she has,” I replied. “She said that the biggest problem is energy flow—my pathways just aren’t open enough yet to be able to actually do stuff like this. I can ask her if there’s any other little tricks…” I inspected the work the doctors had done, trying to see how I might improve on it. It would have been convenient to have my whiskers so I could get a physical reading instead of just a metaphysical one, but there wasn’t enough space for my true form in the little room. All the electricity churning through the medical equipment would have made it too hard to get a good feel, anyway.
I found a couple of places I could help the healing process along, and with the machines taking over part of the work of keeping him alive, I diverted some of his body’s processes towards repairing his lungs and esophagus. It wasn’t much, but to the doctors it would seem miraculous. Which, in a way, it was.
I signed and stood up to join Brax at the window. I stood next to him, gazing out at the myriad lights of Chicago’s nighttime skyline. “That was some quick thinking back there,” I said after a moment. “Taking him to a hospital. You’ve done it before.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “As I say, we are very powerful, but sometimes—”
“Sometimes, there’s nothing better than a little artifice,” I finished for him, smiling briefly.
“Yes,” he agreed, nodding.
“What’s the connection, Brax?” I asked, quiet intensity in my voice. “Why these people? What’s Jor up to?” I ran through everything we knew for the hundredth time, tapping into the shimmering energy of my Spark to super-charge my thought processes, trying to find the one link, the one clue I’d missed. My mind blazed, running at incredible speeds, clear and focused, but still the reason eluded me.
“I do not know, Lady Vi,” he admitted.
“A New York cabby, a florist in Versailles, that beat cop in Macau, a nun from Barcelona, and now back to America for this…playboy. It makes no sense.” I shook my head. “If Jor was just looking to inflict a little random destruction, why fly all over the world? Why these specific people? He’s never been this surgical before.”
“Perhaps his new allies are the key,” Brax mused.
“I’ve thought about that,” I asserted. “I can’t find any link between them and these people, either. They’re just regular old mortals. No power, no influence, not any money to speak of. Except this guy, of course.” I turned to look at our ward, so vulnerable lying on his bed. He was so incredibly lucky to be alive. I sighed. “I guess for now, we stick to Elleman here. Heal him up, see if we can get him talking. Make sure Jor doesn’t come back to finish the job.”
Brax said nothing. He didn’t need to; we were in sync, our minds able to feel each other’s general mood without effort. He agreed with my assessment. I stared out the window, watching the world drift by, the people of the Windy City going about their nightly routines.
A quiet rap came from the door behind us before it opened. “The night nurse,” Brax reminded me. “I will speak with her.” He turned about, intercepting the nurse and leaving me to think. I flipped the clues about one way and another. The problem ran deeper than my teacher knew—Jor and his…gang were a rogue element, something that couldn’t be predicted. He had already come dangerously close to disrupting Kyrala’s plan, her final gambit to save the world. I had not yet decided if I was going to go through with it; the thought still seemed too monstrous. But I needed to make sure that I kept the option open as long as possible. I didn’t know if Jor had done it on purpose or not, if the Sickness was driving him to interrupt what the great beast felt was coming, but I couldn’t risk it either way.
“Mrs. Gold? Victoria, right?” The nurse was behind me. I turned to look at her; I was so deep in reflection that I didn’t realize I recognized her voice until I was already facing her. Dark, expressive eyes set in a face with lovely mocha skin.
I recovered almost instantly, my Balance and poise compensating for my surprise. “Tam, it’s nice to see you again,” I remarked, a small smile pulling at my lips.
Her eyes flew wide with shock and fear. “Chrissy! Oh, God!” She stumbled backwards, tripping over herself to put distance between the two of us. Brax smoothly placed himself between her and the patient’s bed, preventing her from crashing into it and injuring the man further. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with wild panic. She spun away and bolted for the door.
I gave Brax an exasperated look, and then started after her. Though she had cleared more than three-quarters of the distance before I’d even started moving, I easily beat her to the door and placed my palm against the wood, holding it firmly shut.
“Holy s—t!” Tam exclaimed, jumping back and away from me. She was shaking, her eyes darting, looking for a way out, like a trapped animal.
“Tam,” I said gently, letting go of the door and holding out my hands in a placating gesture. “Tam, Tam, it’s me. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“No!” She shouted, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You’re not human! People don’t move like that! People don’t stand like that,” she said, sparing a glance at Brax. “All perfect and creepy!”
“I know,” I admitted, “You already knew that. It doesn’t mean I’m going to hurt you. I’m not going to hurt anyone.” I paused, picking up on pieces of the spinning thoughts in her head. “This probably doesn’t look too good,” I admitted, pointing to the man in the bed.
“Oh, no,” Tam mocked, still trying to press herself as far into the corner as she could. “A guy comes into my hospital burnt to hell and back, and this girl I used to know who turned out to be a fire-breathing monster just happens to be the one who brought him in? Why would that look bad?”
“We didn’t do this to him,” I told her, trying to softly project calmness on her. “We saved him from the thing that did. I couldn’t help him by myself, so we brought him here for treatment.”
“Lady Vi…”
“Not right now, Brax,” I said, not taking my eyes off of Tam. I flicked my eyes around, judging distances. My friend (or former friend, I guess) had backer herself into the corner by the bed. She wouldn’t be able to get to the door before me, I could afford to give her some space. Raising my hands to show I meant to harm, I took three slow steps backwards, putting myself in the other corner. “There, see? Let’s talk this out.”
“No,” Tam shook her head. “Chrissy, you’re a monster! You need to leave, now. Both of you. Never come back here again!”
I grimaced. “I’m sorry, we can’t. He’s still in danger, I’m still responsible for keep…”
“RESPONSIBLE?!” Tam shouted. “You disappeared! Your family thinks you’re dead! Everyone thinks you’re dead!” Tears had begun to well in her eyes. I could feel her fear of being faced with the unknown, of being helpless, but though her mind was racing, there was something more buried in there, driving to get out.
“You want responsible? I’m here every day, keeping people alive, bringing them back to their families! Sometimes it’s like I don’t even have my own life, the world outside this hospital doesn’t exist, and all I get to do is watch other people be happy! But I do it anyway because that’s my job! And here you are, wandering off doing whatever the hell it is you do, not a care in the world and then you come in here and tell me you’re being responsible? F—K YOU!”
After she finished, tense silence hung in the air.
“Lady Vi,” Brax pressed. “We cannot…”
“No, Brax,” I said firmly, still not looking at him. “Not. Her.”
“What? He gonna kill me, too?” She asked, casting me a sideways glance.
“No, of course not,” I said. I considered her words, and a small breath of laughter escaped.
“Something funny?” She asked archly, crossing her arms in front of her.
“No, no, it’s just…” I paused, reflecting. “I know someone who was in a similar position as you. Demanding job, felt like she had no life. She’s an amazing person, I wish you could talk to her. Might help you both get some perspective.” I sighed. “Look, Tam, I so sorry about the way things ended between us. Really, I am. And I get it, you don’t like me. Heck, you want to hate me? Go right ahead, I'm sure I deserve it.” I glanced between her and Brax. “And we’re scary, I know. Believe me, if I’d known that you worked at this hospital, I would have taken our guy to any other one in this city just to give you your space. And as soon as this is over, you’ll never see me again.
“But…” I looked over at the burn victim, watching the steady drip from the IVs for a few moments. “This right here? You and me? This isn’t important right now. What important is this man.” I turned to look at him fully. “Right now, keeping him safe is my responsibility.” I glanced at her. “And, unless I’m mistaken, as your patient, he’s yours, too.”
I paused for a moment, letting my words sink in. “Look, Tamara,” I continued, using her full name for the first time in ages. “Please, don’t rock this boat. We had enough trouble getting him in here without leaving a trail for his attackers to follow.” I turned back to her, taking a cautious step nearer. “And I’m not asking that as a friend. I’m not even asking as that girl you used to know. I’m asking, one person with responsibilities to another: let’s set aside our differences and make sure the patient is safe.”
She was quiet for a time. Brax really wanted to say something, but I mentally encouraged him to keep his mouth shut. Finally, despite the anger she clear on her face, she nodded. She turned slowly, walking over to the bank of machines. With one last glance at the both of us, she turned and began recording stats and making the necessary adjustments.
“Well, I know this guy’s not your husband,” she accused as she worked, not sparing us a look. “So who is he?”
I considered whether to tell her the truth or not. “His name is George Elleman,” I admitted.
“Oh, great!” She said with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “So out intake paperwork is all fraudulent?” She turned to look at me, her arms dropping to her side. “So, what? I’m supposed to cover up that I know that now, too?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “We had no choice. One of the…people…who did this to him is very good with computers. Right now we’re pretty sure they think he’s dead, but if you were to put his real info into your system, they’d know right where he was and come for him.”
“Of course they would,” she muttered, removing an empty IV bag and replacing it with a full one. “How the hell did you even get him admitted under a false name?”
I moved away from the door, sitting down in a chair at the foot of the bed. “Jedi Mind Trick,” I said, giving a vague, mystical gesture with my hand. “Literal mind control is impossible, but with the right push at the right time, people will skip obvious things that they would have otherwise caught.” I shrugged. “It’s not a perfect solution, and there’s no way it lasts long term, but we should be able to keep it up for a little while. Long enough to hopefully get him talking again and find out why they’re after him, at least.”
“Mind control. That’s just perfect…” she checked her line, ensuring that there were no bubbles and that it was dripping properly before setting the bag on the rack. “Whatever you did, it better last a long time. He’s not getting out of this bed for at least two months.”
“I’m hoping I can get it down to a week.”
Tam stopped, turning to stare at me. I smiled. “I’m a healer.”
“Then what the hell—”
I held up a hand to interrupt her. “It’s not easy, okay, just like medicine is not easy. And working from the metaphysical side has restrictions, just like what you do has restrictions.” I spread my arms. “I couldn’t save him by myself. All I could have done was give him a couple hours more, and that wasn’t good enough. So I did everything I could from my end, then brought him here so you guys could work from your end.”
“I am sick of this s—t,” she fumed, stomping over to the cabinet behind me and taking out supplies. “Mind control and magic healing and fire-breathing dragons…” She stopped, leaning over the counter, her head bowed. “Four years, Christine,” she said, her voice beginning to tremble. “Four. Years. And I had almost convinced myself that it wasn’t real…” She sighed. “Or are you ‘Victoria’ now?”
“Virial, actually,” I said, giving a slight bow of my head.
“Virial?”
“Yes, emphasis on the ‘A.’” I smiled, watching her face. “Go ahead, you can say it,” I prodded.
“That’s a stupid name,” she said sharply, crossing her arms again. She was quiet a moment, bobbing her head slightly as she processed everything. She looked over at Brax, who had stepped back to the window, his mind calm and contemplative. “What’s up with tall, dark, and handsome over there?” She asked, indicating him with her chin.
“That’s Brax,” I offered. “Abraxas. He’s my teacher. Partner.”
“Partner?” She asked quickly, an eyebrow arching. “So you are going for guys now?”
“Not that kind of partner, Tam,” I corrected gently. “We work together. I haven’t had time for that kind of partner. Wouldn’t even know where to start looking, frankly.”
“And he’s…like you?” She asked. I nodded. “And earlier, when he was wanting you to do something to me? He was gonna mess with my head, too, right? Make me forget about all this.” I nodded again, still saying nothing.
She sighed, rubbing her face. “I can’t deal with this s—t right now. I have other patients I need to see.” She finished up her work in silence, not looking at either of us, and then stormed out of the room.
For a time, I remained where I was, sitting quietly. Finally, I stood up and walked over to stand beside Brax. “Nothing to say?” I asked him.
“I trust your judgement, Lady Vi,” he replied.
“Even though I lack Awareness?”
“Awareness. And maybe some Serenity, too.” He smiled. “But you are a good judge of character. If you do not believe she will be a problem for us, I will trust you.”
I smiled too. More moments of peaceful silence passed between us.
He smirked suddenly. “Chrissy?”
“Shut up, Brax.”
A couple hours passed, with little conversation between us. I returned to the bed every now and then to check on the patient, adjust his energy pathways, trying to minimize his recovery time. It was going better than I expected, but not by much. Eventually Brax pulled a chair over to the window and settled into it, closing his eyes and dozing off.
I sat at the foot of the bed, retreading the same logic, reaching the same dead ends. I needed more information to get to the bottom of what was going on, and I didn’t have it. I considered talking to Kyrala, asking for more tips on healing, just to have something useful to do with my time, but even though we were getting along quite well these days, I still could only take so much of her at once. Instead I stood up, pacing the small room.
A flash of movement caught my eye, and I stopped. It was my own reflection in the bathroom mirror. I crossed the room and flicked on the light, studying my appearance. The eyes were the first thing most people noticed, and I was no different. You can always tell a Mauna by their eyes, even if they’re trying to hide their nature, if you know what to look for. Mine were a faintly shimmering yellow-gold. I made them flash quickly a couple of times, and when the inner light shone through they seemed momentarily to be made of gleaming molten gold. My sandy brown hair was cut short, coming only halfway down my neck. My second skin had always had a long, pointed face, but it balanced softness and strength perfectly, the skin flawless and tinted with a glint of something indescribably exotic. I could even see a hint of the unnatural elegance that made Kyrala so incredibly beautiful beginning to peek through.
No wonder Tam had been so shocked. I didn’t spend much time around humans in a social capacity, and typically the only human forms I would see for days or weeks at a time were the second skins of my brothers and sisters. I hadn’t noticed how incredibly alien my appearance had slowly become as I’d grown older, stronger. I was still recognizable as the person I’d been before, but I was clearly very different.
Reaching for my Spark’s energy, I called up a trick I had very recently learned, sending a trickle of power through my skin. I felt a shivering sensation as my skin changed and my muscles lost their visible tone; a faint wisp of yellow-tinged smoke rose from my head as my hair lengthened to fall down to my back; a series of uncomfortable popping sensations rippled through me as my bones and cartilage subtly reshaped itself and I grew nearly half an inch shorter. The final thing to change was the eyes. Spreading from the pupils, the soft golden color darkened to hazel green.
I studied myself again; the long hair covered my ears, and the shape of the face was different: the chin slightly longer, the jaw a bit more pinched. The ghost of a second chin flitted into sight depending on how I moved, and light freckles and a couple small moles marred the skin. This was the person Tam had known; the person who had walked into this hospital room had barely been the same, even discounting the fact that it was my second skin and not my true self.
There was a faint knock and the door to the room opened again. I stepped out of the bathroom, feeling with my mind, sensing to determine if our enemy had tracked us down. But it was only Tam, coming in on her rounds to tend to Mr. Elleman. She entered backwards, wheeling a small cart with her laden down with supplies for the various patients under her care. She selected a few choice items and turned to the machinery to perform her scheduled review and maintenance.
She glanced up at me as emerged, and then did a double-take, jumping as she saw me. “What the hell…?” she gasped, her mouth hanging open in utter disbelief. It was like she was seeing a ghost.
Which, I realized, she was—I had not yet released the changes I had made, so she was seeing the person who disappeared four years ago, not the creature who had replaced her.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, looking at my hand. “I was…remembering.” I stepped back into the bathroom. “I’ll change back.”
“No, wait!” she said, stepping briskly around the bed and moving to stand in front of me, staring her eyes wide. I could tell she wanted to say something, anything, but her mind was racing too quickly for a single question to crystalize.
“Memories are a very big deal for us,” I told her, holding out my hand for her to look at, too. “We have so many of them, more than you can imagine, and some day each of us becomes a memory to guide those of us that follow. At least, we’re supposed to.” I raised my hand to my own face again, flipping it over slowly. “But those memories…we really only focus on the parts after our Hatching. The couple decades we spend thinking we’re human just seem to get…swept under the rug.”
I laughed, without humor. “But for me in particular…It’s like, listening to a record when someone bumps the table and the record skips for a split second. Christine Wallard happened in that skip, and then the song plays on, hardly noticing the interruption.”
At my words, Tam’s mind finally settled on a question. “So we were…what? A distraction? We meant nothing? You were Chrissy for twenty-two years before you became…Virial. Why does that not matter?”
I sighed, gazing at the ceiling and I searched for an explanation. “Yes, you’re absolutely right, I was Chrissy for much longer than I’ve been Vi. But before that…we remember our past lives, Tam. I know it sounds crazy, and I can’t really explain how it works without you having experienced it yourself. But my predecessor? Kyrala? She lived for seventy-two centuries. She was born during the agricultural revolution, for Christ’s sake!” I leaned against the wall, sliding down slowly to sit on the floor. “I didn’t mean to abandon you. But against oceans of time like that—amounts of time that I still can’t even really fathom—I got swept up in the current. I had no one to keep me grounded, no one to help me remember the little things…”
I looked up at her from the ground, and she sighed and turned, sitting down to join me. “You know I’m…sorry. I’m sorry for storming out on the day that you…you know.” I nodded. About a month after my Hatching, I had confided in her about my new life. It had not gone the way I had hoped. “I was scared, you know?” She admitted. “You had that breakdown on my birthday, then I didn’t see you for weeks. Then you became that…thing…and told me that you felt like that was more who you were than the person I’d known for years. I was scared, and angry.”
“I was scared, too,” I reminded her. “You think it was scary watching your friend go through it? Try doing it yourself. When I first shifted in front of you, do you know what I was thinking?” She looked up at me, giving a small shake of her head. “I was thinking, ‘Please God, please let her see it too.’ I had no idea what was happening to me, and I was just as freaked out about not feeling human any more as you were about hearing me say it.
“Even after I left and my people found me, and they told me who I was, and started teaching me, you know what I really wanted? I wanted my Tam.” I locked my eyes with hers, finally able to say things that I had buried years ago. “I wanted to be able to complain about how crazy it all was, to ***** about how hard it was to learn everything they wanted me to learn. I wanted to hear you laugh at my bad sarcasm, to try to get me to look at hot guys and then make fake gagging sounds when I pointed out hot girls.” I took a deep breath, tears beginning to stain my cheeks. “I wanted to argue about whether medicine or engineering was a harder major, and be made fun of for dressing like a guy sometimes—“
“You still dress like a guy,” she said, leaning over to bump my shoulder with hers. “Does Dark Chocolate do your shopping for you?” I laughed, shaking my head. “So, you’re absolutely sure you don’t want to date a guy? Because that man there…God d—n.” She smirked. “That voice! Mmm-hmm!”
“You should hear his real voice,” I confided, matching her conspiratorial smile. “It’s almost enough to get me to take the plunge.”
We shared a giggle for a moment, and then I sighed, releasing the changes I’d made to my appearance, letting them slowly evaporate away. To her credit, though Tam gasped quietly as she watched, she didn’t flinch or move away. “It hurt me. Losing you,” I admitted.
“It hurt me, too,” she conceded.
“You know,” I said. “Someone very wise once told me, when it hurts to say goodbye, that’s when you know it was worth it to say hello.” I looked at her again, holding her eyes with mine. “I know we’ve both changed—some of us more than others!—and I know that it’s never going to be easy. But I think, if we were willing to try, we just might be able to squeeze a bit more hurt out of this thing.”
She looked down at the floor, letting out a long breath. “I…” she started, her voice unsure. “I…don’t know if I want that anymore, Chri—uh, Virial.” She shook her head. “But…I won’t say no to trying. I just can’t make any promises. I’m still not entirely sure you won’t try to eat me.”
“I understand,” I said, nodding. I stood up, offering her my hand. “And I don’t blame you.”
She took my hand and I pulled her up. As she reached her feet she leaned in, wrapping me in a quick hug. “But no matter what happens, thank you for telling me all that stuff. It…helped me understand a bit better, at least.”
After several long moments, we finally pulled apart, and she went back to her tasks, departing after a few minutes.
“Someone very wise, Lady Vi?” Brax remarked as soon as the door had shut. “I will take the compliment!”
I had known he was able to hear us the entire time; Brax had long ago mastered the art of the cat nap. “Don’t think that this means I going to start listening to you more. Most of the things you say still make no d--n sense to me.” I turned to look at him, and his coppery eyes opened, gleaming in the dim light. “Do you think I’m making a mistake?”
He considered before responding. “It is always very hard for us to have a real connection to mortals,” he admitted. “We are so very different, and even the shortest-lived of our people will inevitably watch them die before us.” He smiled that warm smile of his. “But we must never forget why we do what we do. And if this is what you need to remain connected to the world you serve, Lady Vi, then it is never a mistake.”
I nodded, mulling over his words. “Thanks, Brax. What was it I called you?”
“Wise?”
“Yeah. I think I was right about that.”
Once again we settled in, watching and waiting. Brax dozed for most of the time, while I retrieved the tablet from my bag and brushed up on another new skill I had developed recently. Around 3:30 in the morning, I called down an order to the kitchen. They were very confused, and when the orderly with the cart showed up nearly an hour later, she checked her clipboard three times before she was satisfied all of it was going to the same room.
I had just unwrapped the fourth cheeseburger and was hungrily wolfing it down when Tam entered again. “Geez, hungry much?” She mocked, looking at the laden tray. There were three more burgers, two omelets, and a giant stack of sausages left. “Are you going to share any of that with you friend, or are you hoarding it all? Hate to tell you, honey, but winter’s already here.”
Brax, back at his place by the window, waved off her concern. “I am fine; it will be several days before I grow hungry.”
She stopped to look at him, and then turned to stare at me, an amused look on her face.
“What?” I asked, pausing in my meal.
“I guess that’s not a trait you inherited?” She chided.
“Hey,” I said, pointing my burger at Brax accusingly. “That trick is a lot harder to learn than he makes it sound. Besides, I’m bigger than him, I need a lot more calories. And I’m still growing. So there.” I finished the burger in two quick bites then turned to the first of the omelets.
Tam snorted, an incredibly indelicate sound. “You people are really weird. I’m here to tell you that I’m heading out. The next shift is starting so you’ll have a new nurse stopping in, and the doctor assigned to ‘Mr. Gold’ should be around to check up on some things.”
I nodded along with her words, stopping my feast to listen to her. When she finished, I dabbed my face with a napkin and smiled at her. “Thank you. For all your help.”
“Don’t mention it. I might have second thoughts,” she said. “So…I guess you’ll still be here when I get back tonight?”
I felt a subtle urging; Brax was giving me an opening to go with her. I sent him a silent thanks and stood up. “Actually, Brax can hold down the fort for a bit. If it’s okay, I thought maybe I’d walk you out?”
“Sure,” she nodded. “Give me ten minutes to finish up and we’ll head?”
“Sounds good,” I smiled, standing up and stretching. “I’ll be here.”
When the prescribed amount of time had passed, Tam stuck her head in. The doctor had arrived in the meantime, so I amped up my despondent wife routine and made an exit, leaving Brax alone with him. Tam and I walked in silence through the twisting hallways, until we reached the elevator bank and had stepped in.
“They heard me yelling at you earlier,” she told me. “Got me written up; apparently shouting ‘f—k you,’ at a patient’s wife is considered to be in poor taste.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I could have…”
“No, no mind control on my co-workers, please,” she asserted. “At least not more than you have to. You scared me, showing up back from the dead with your weird eyes and your super-speed, but I should at least have been professional enough to tell you to f—k off quietly.” She tilted her head, looking at me. “What is up with your eyes, anyway? When you first…you know…they were black. Then when I went over to your place that day, they had started to turn red. Now they’re…what? Almost gold…”
I smiled. “We change color as we get older. We start off black, then go through the spectrum. Our eyes are usually the same color as our scales.”
She shook her head in wonder. “Every single time you tell me something about your…people? Kind? …Species?”
“Whatever works,” I assured her.
“People. I think that there’s no possible way you could get any weirder. But I’m always wrong.”
“Heh,” I laughed. “Trust me, you don’t even know the half of it. I’m still learning new things about us to this day. Some of it I kinda wish I didn’t know.”
The elevator slowed on the second floor, the door opening to admit an elderly couple, both using walkers. Turning the conversation to a more mundane track, I continued. “So, RN, huh? You finally did it, all that hard work paid off!”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “It’s not quite what I expected, but I still love my job. But I’m still new, it’s only been two years since I graduated, so they’ve got me doing a lot of scud work to learn the ropes.” We stopped on the ground floor, and Tam and I held the doors for the couple so they could get off, then continued out through the main entryway into the dark early morning. “I take the bus to get home,” she said, pointing to the south. “How soon do you need to get back?”
“I’ve got time; Brax is focused, and he’s got really sharp senses, even in his second skin, I…” I stopped. “Sorry, even in his human form. I can make sure you get home, or if I’m starting to get on your nerves I’ll probably just fly around, see if I can find the guys we’re after.”
“Keep saying weird s—t like that and you will definitely start to get on my nerves, but you’re not quite there yet,” she threatened, although with levity in her tone. She looked at me askance as we walked. “I do like the short hair on you, though,” she complimented. “And d—n, girl, you got ripped!”
I raised an arm, flexing in an exaggerated fashion. “Ah yeah, baby!” I bragged, injecting my voice with fake machismo. “Like coiled steel!”
That elicited a genuine laugh from her. “Oh my God, that was great!” She sniffed, wiping a tear from her eye. “But never say that again, that was just…cheesy!”
“But a good cheesy, right? A gruyere, maybe an emmental. A gouda, at the very least, I mean come on!”
We walked, debating the merits of various fine cheeses in comparison to my joke. Tam needed three buses to get home, and our playful banter continued for the first two rides. We discussed very little of substance—I could feel that she still hadn’t really had time to fully process all that had happened last night and this morning, so I contented myself with keeping things light. And besides, I really enjoyed being able to joke with my best friend once again.
The second bus pulled away, leaving us at the stop for Tam’s final connection. A highway overpass whispered with traffic above us. I laughed at her recounting of a time at her internship where she’d accidentally walked in on two patients “playing doctor” in a room when my instincts suddenly screamed at me.
Without hesitation I pushed Tam away from the street and interposed myself just as an enormous, blistering stream of fire blasted in from above. I whipped my hand in front of me and calmed my thoughts, creating a disk of Serenity in front of me. As the fire reached me, the disk whisked it away, forcing the beam of flames to spread out harmlessly around us. A dark shape, the source of the fire, dropped gracefully from the underside of the bridge, landing in the middle of the street off to my right side.
“Ah, Virial,” the shape hissed as it slunk forward, and sinister sizzle echoes in its words. “Out for a walk with your little human? Where might Abraxas be?”
The creature moved down the street circling us slowly, rippling waves of heat rising from its mouth with each breath. It was long and sinuous, covered in black scales with short horns that bent forward with vicious points. The whip-like tail flicked as it walked, moving with a panther’s casual power. The eyes glinted red like two dying embers, and a scar of cracked scales and ruined flesh traced itself through the left eye. To anyone else, he would have looked like a Mauna, one of my brothers, but he was no such thing.
Re: I Did Some Writing! It Has Dragons! Wanna See?
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