by SA Magnusson
The bracelet. Kate had given me the means to better understand whether magic was used around me. I doubted she would have expected I would eventually develop the ability to use magic itself, but even without knowing that, the bracelet could be useful.
I shifted the focus of the power, sending it through the bracelet, and letting it surge outward, rolling through Scott.
A reverberation came from within the mixture. It was a strange sensation, not just coming from the bracelet as it did when I detected power being used, but also coming from me and from Scott. All of it mingled, a combination of powers, and though I wasn’t able to determine what had hit Scott, it was clear there was a spell responsible for what had taken place.
It left me feeling angry, helpless… and essentially at fault. What had happened to him was because of me. The attack on the emergency room was because of me.
“Stone?”
I took a deep breath, stepping away from the cot. “I just want to know what happened to him.”
“I think we all do, but we can’t do anything about it right now.”
How many others were attacked in the same way? With the nature of what the operative had done, it left me wondering if others would have suffered likewise. If they had, then would James and Benjamin be likely to fall to the same fate?
There was one way to find out. I could go to Matt, find out what the operative knew, and from there… Then we could figure out what type of spell he had used—and how to reverse it.
I had to hope there was still enough time.
8
It was late and I was exhausted. Not only was I tired, but I felt as if I stank. The power still hadn’t come back on in the emergency room, and we had been working throughout the day, dealing with reserve power. Everything took longer than it should. By mid-afternoon, administration required we reopen the emergency room. Even Dr. Locks was annoyed that we did, but people returned in a slow trickle, not a flood, so it made it somewhat more tolerable.
We still had all of our injured. In addition to Scott’s death, along with James and Benjamin, several other nurses had been injured. Unsurprisingly, all had suffered a similar fate as James and Benjamin, and they lay in the back hallway, unconscious. Labs and all the imaging we’d done had not revealed anything about them. Not that I was surprised. Whatever had been done to them was a magical attack.
All had IV poles with fluids running. They were hooked up to battery-powered heart monitors, but none had abnormal rhythms, which I didn’t expect to see. So far, they all appeared stable, and though they were, I kept expecting to find they would begin to deteriorate.
No one said anything about it, but there was a general sense of unease working through the emergency room at the fact we had people of our own lying there unmoving. It was more than just the fact they were unmoving, it was the fact we didn’t know what had happened.
While I was sitting at the nurses’ desk, trying to write a note, I overheard conversation behind me. It was whispered, and I could tell the two nurses—Dylan and Kim—were trying to keep to themselves, but their words carried.
“You know if it was a doctor, they would do everything in their power to figure out what happened.”
I debated saying nothing. There really wasn’t anything I could say to make it better, and I had a sense they didn’t want for it to be better.
“We’re doing everything we can for them,” I said, looking over to both Dylan and Kim. “I care about them, too.”
Kim nodded quickly, but Dylan just stared at me. “You don’t think it’s strange all of them are lying back there like that?” she asked.
I held her gaze. “I do think it’s strange. I don’t know what the attacker used on them. I don’t know how long it will take for them to snap out of it. So far, all of the imaging, blood work, and monitoring hasn’t revealed anything. The moment we uncover something, we will do what we can to fix them.”
“You haven’t called neuro down,” Dylan said.
Was that what they were worried about? “Neuro is just as busy as we are. With power out, everyone has been struggling.” Then again, we hadn’t seen too many of the specialists in the emergency room. There hadn’t been a reason, but maybe calling neurology to consult on our injured wouldn’t be a terrible idea. At least it would show the others we were trying to do something. And we were trying, regardless of what it looked like to them. The problem was that regardless of how much we might try, I was convinced the only way to help them would be through magical means. Barden hadn’t responded to my messages, though part of that was likely due to the fact he knew I was safe. I kept waiting for Matt to call, but he hadn’t, either. The people I counted on for help had basically left me stranded.
“We’re doing everything we can,” I said again. “If a neurology consult will help, we certainly can try it, and to be honest, I’m glad we’re able to keep them here rather than having to admit them to the hospital.” Under other circumstances, we would have put them into one of the hospital beds, but with the power outage, we had been asked to hold onto them, housing them in the emergency room. I preferred that, partly because it meant we had an opportunity to continue to observe them, but mostly because if they were to go up to the hospital, there wouldn’t be anything I could do to help them.
I turned my attention back to the computer and rubbed my eyes. It was nearly eight o’clock, and I had been here so long, I was struggling to stay awake.
Supposedly, there would be others coming on soon to replace us, but I kept waiting for that. The evening docs had come in as scheduled, but we didn’t have enough attendings to power through this without additional help. I had a feeling we were going to have to call in the residents, though some of the attendings seemed to think that wasn’t necessary. Even if we called in the higher-level residents rather than interns, they would be helpful. Most were fairly independent anyway, especially at this point in their training.
I laughed at the thought. Here I was, thinking more like an attending than I ever had. I wanted residents to work so I could see fewer patients.
But then, I had been here for most of the day, and long enough that I wanted to have the break.
“Stone. You can go home.”
I looked up. Dr. Allen held his stethoscope in one hand, and he nodded at me. “Are you sure?”
“We have the night crew on, and I’m going to stay here a little bit longer. Why don’t you go get some sleep? If you don’t mind, we would love it if you’d be willing to come back in the morning.”
I was supposed to have Sunday off, too, so coming back tomorrow meant another day of working on my day off. For a moment, I contemplated telling him I had plans. Maybe I should tell him I was going to go to church, and almost smiled at the idea before deciding better of it.
“If you need me.”
“Hopefully, we’ll have the power back and won’t need you the full day, but I think it would be helpful for you to come.”
I already knew what I was going to do. I was going to be the good attending, do what was asked of me by Dr. Allen, and come in on a Sunday I was supposed to have off.
As I got to my feet, I looked around. “Do they have any idea why the power is still out?”
“Apparently, the power company is working on it. It has something to do with a transformer or…” Dr. Allen shrugged. “To be honest, I have no idea. I’m not with the energy company, but I suspect the power is out in this whole area.”
“I don’t live too far from here, and I have power.”
“Maybe it’s on another part of the system.”
I shrugged. Maybe that was it. And if it was the case, then it would explain why the condo still had power but the hospital didn’t.
At this point, I wanted nothing more than to head home, take a shower, and unwind. If I was going to have to come back in the morning, I would need to relax and get some sleep, rather than staying up too late. Another day in the heat and humidity of the ER didn’t sound appealing, but I was a team play
er, dammit.
I barely paused in the locker room before heading out and making my way home. Even though it was after eight o’clock, the sky was still light enough for me to see clearly. It was still hot, though not nearly as unpleasant as it had been earlier in the day. And unfortunately, there was no breeze. Even a little bit of one would have been better than nothing. It left a stillness to the air and a horrible weight from the humidity.
Even as tired as I was, I found my way home quickly. By the time I got into the room, I breathed out a sigh of relief, welcoming the cool of the air conditioning. Lucy found her way out to me, and wound herself around my ankles, rubbing up against me. I scooped her off the floor, scratching at her chin and then her ears, before setting her back down.
After taking a shower, spending as long as I could in the cool water, I was drying off when I heard a knock at my door.
I didn’t like the idea someone would come and interrupt my day, especially not after what I’d gone through so far. Who would come at this time of night?
Hurriedly getting dressed, throwing on jeans and a T-shirt, I squeezed water out of my hair as I headed toward the door. Lucy sat perched on the couch, almost as if she was watching. “What is it?” I asked.
She meowed, and I smiled, unable to shake the sense she was trying to say something to me.
Not for the first time, I wished there was a peephole on the door. I understood the reasoning why there was not but having one would have made times like this a whole lot easier, and I wouldn’t have to fear getting surprised by someone on the other side.
Leaning toward the door. “Who is it?”
“Stone?”
It was Brad. Pulling open the door, I leaned forward. “What are you doing?”
“You didn’t answer my calls, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“After what happened today…”
I smiled. “I was fine.”
“I don’t like not being able to help.” He touched his chest lightly, and I wondered what pain he was in. I hadn’t paid any attention to it throughout the day, though I should have. As hard as we’d been working, and with as many patients as we had seen, I should have thought to ensure he was okay. It would be a long stretch for him without any pain medication, and the weariness was evident around the corners of his eyes, at least now I paid attention to look for it.
“Allen told me I could go, and I figured I’d been there long enough.”
“When you didn’t answer the call, I…”
“You want to come in?”
“I don’t know. I know how you like to get your rest before you work again.” He cocked his head to the side. “I’m guessing you’re planning on working again tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Allen asked, and I figure they’ll make it up to me eventually.”
Brad grunted. “Probably not, but it’s nice of you to do it anyway. Besides, I have to work, so you’ll be there with me again.”
“I’m hoping by morning they’ll get the power back on.”
I stepped back, opening the door a little bit wider, and Brad stepped inside. When he did, Lucy jumped off the couch, making her way over to him, and curled around his ankles. He picked her up and stroked her chin, then put her back down.
“I haven’t had anything to eat yet, and was going to throw a pizza in the oven.”
“A pizza?”
“I could order something.”
“That would be better than a frozen pizza.” Brad settled down onto the couch, and he winced as he did. He shifted for a moment as if he was uncomfortable, and I couldn’t help but watch him.
“How are you doing?”
Brad shrugged. “About as well as I can expect. The pain got pretty unpleasant today, so I was taking fistfuls of Tylenol and ibuprofen.”
“Do you want to take something stronger now?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I don’t like the way it makes me feel. A little bit nauseated. A little lightheaded. I’d rather just deal with the pain and take the edge off of it. Besides, I was a farm boy once. We can tolerate pain.”
I smiled at him. “I have a hard time imagining you were ever a farm boy.”
“You’d be surprised. Sometimes, I still have to go back and help my dad during harvest. I can do it more now I’m an attending than when I was in school. I think he likes that.”
“What’s it like?”
“The harvest?”
I nodded. “I don’t know anything about farming.”
“Aren’t you from Minnesota?”
“Yeah, but some of us don’t grow up around tractors and animals and all of the same things you did.”
“That really is too bad. You get to learn how to work hard. Though, if I’m honest with you, I played sports when I was in high school partly to get out of the work.”
“What? You would try to get out of working?”
“I know it probably shocks you.”
“Completely. I cannot believe you would do something like that.” I laughed.
Brad leaned back, wincing again. “My dad never wanted me to stay on the farm. He wanted me to work hard, do something different from him. And my parents never resented the fact I got involved in sports. They encouraged it, though they weren’t always able to be there at all of my games.”
“I think I’d like to meet them.”
Brad cocked one eye open. “My parents?”
“I’m curious what they’re like.”
“You know farmers. Real salt of the earth, people.”
“I’m sure they are. And yet, look at you. Where did they go wrong?”
Brad started laughing but cut it off with a cough. “Thanks, Stone.”
I went to get up, when another knock came at the door.
“Were you expecting someone else?” Brad asked.
I shook my head. “Not that I know of.” I should have kept my phone with me. If Brad had tried to call, it was possible someone else I had reached out to—Barden or Matt—had done the same. If they had shown up, then I would have liked more of a warning. Maybe I would have sent Brad away, though I doubted I would’ve done that.
The knock came again, and I paused at the door, drawing power up through me. I held onto it and waited for a moment. I checked to see if there was any sense of power flowing through the bracelet, anything that would suggest someone on the other side of the door might be trying to break in but came up with nothing. It didn’t mean I was completely safe, but it was more likely I was.
“Who is it?”
“Dr. Stone?”
It was Gillespie, and I glanced back to see Brad sitting on the couch, his eyes closed. Cracking the door open, I poked my head outside. “Now is not a good time,” I whispered.
“I need you to come with me.”
I frowned. “We’ve done this already.”
“I understand we did, but with what happened today, you need to come with me.”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to continue to deal with the events of the day. If it were up to me, I would just sit down and relax, and maybe fall asleep early, and hope everything was back to normal in the emergency room by morning so I didn’t have to go in.
“Why do I need to go with you?”
“Because of what your friend told me.”
“And you couldn’t just share with me what that was?”
“Not in this case. Not with how it involves you.”
“I know it involves me. That was why they came here.”
“You need to hear what John Adams plans for you.”
“I don’t particularly care. Not after my day.” I glanced back to where Brad now slept. It was evident Matt had put another Sleeper on him. He was flat out again.
“Tell me you only did that because you wanted to be able to speak freely.”
“Would I have any other reason for doing so?”
“Oh, I don’t know maybe because you didn’t want to see me with Brad,” I said
.
“I don’t want to see you with Brad.”
“And you think I should be with you?” I asked.
“You should be with someone who knows who you really are,” he answered.
“And that would be you?”
“More so than Roberts. Does he even know about your ties to the magical world?”
I frowned. “I don’t even know about my ties to the magical world, at least not really.”
I hated Matt seeming to think I needed him to continue to protect me. He might mean well, but that didn’t change the fact he viewed his role with me in a way that irritated me.
“How long will he be out this time?”
“I didn’t hit him with as powerful a Sleeper as the last time.”
“Why do I not believe you?”
“You can believe me or not, I’m telling you the truth.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. Let’s assume you didn’t. How long will it be effective against him?”
“No more than two hours. I told you. It’s different from the last one.”
I glared at him for a long moment. “It had better be.”
“What is it with you, Stone? Why are you so protective of him?”
“Because you seem to care little about what happens to him. And it’s because of you—and people like you—that he ended up nearly dying.” I glanced back to where Brad rested. “And though he might not know it, he needs someone to watch over him.”
Matt said nothing at first, watching me. Finally, he tapped his foot. “If your plan is to get back here tonight, then we need to get going.”
I followed Matt out of the door, closing it and sealing it with the bracelet. As I did, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was walking into the same sort of danger I had the last time I’d left my condo with Matt, when Brad was lying on the sofa.
