Open Fracture

by S A Magnusson

  “That’s not exactly what I told you.”

  “But it is. You said they could trace mine, so…”

  I reached the lobby of the emergency room hand headed toward the desk. Cora Zarn sat there, her chin resting on her hand, staring at her computer screen. The lobby wasn’t nearly as busy as it was on some nights, which was probably a good thing. When I reached the desk, I leaned over, smiling at Cora. “Hey.”

  “What are you here… Oh. Dr. Stone. What’s going on?”

  “I need to borrow your phone.”

  “Mine?”

  “Do you mind?”

  She shrugged, taking the phone and handing it across the counter before turning her attention back to her screen. I smiled to myself when I glanced at what she was looking at. It was some sports news. I didn’t take her for the sporty kind.

  Holding my phone down at my waist, I glanced at the number for Barden, concealing it from Matt. I didn’t want him to get Barden’s number, though I suspected if he were to need it, he would have no trouble finding it on his own. Punching in the number, I waited for it to ring. When Barden answered, I let out a relieved sigh. “Hey there, Barden.”

  “Dr. Stone?”

  “Yeah. What happened to you?”

  “I was deterred.”

  “How?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “How did you get away?”

  “I had help from your friend.”

  I almost asked him about Jean-Pierre, but considering that Jean-Pierre had been a patient here, I hesitated. I didn’t need to draw any more attention to the fact I had interacted with him outside of the emergency room. “He helped?”

  “Fortunately for me, he did.”

  That surprised me. “Where are you now?”

  There was a pause before Barden answered. “The better question is where are you? I can send someone to come get you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I am a little surprised you didn’t come back for me.”

  “Yeah, well, I was also a little surprised to find Matt Gillespie in the back seat.”

  I could practically feel Barden’s attention coming through the phone. “He was in the car?”

  “After you got out, he came in. Apparently, he had…” I realized Cora was tilting her head slightly to the side. Listening. “Anyway. He was there.”

  “I don’t recognize the number you called from.”

  “Hennepin General.”

  There was another pause. “Good. Stay there. I will come for you. And don’t let your friend leave your sight.”

  I was tempted to argue with Barden, to share with him that I wasn’t convinced there was anything to worry about with Matt, and glanced toward him to flash a reassuring smile, when I realized he was gone.

  Shit.

  “Dr. Stone?”

  “It’s fine, Barden.”

  I hung up the phone and handed it back to Cora. “Hey. I thought Dr. Gillespie had gone somewhere else to continue his training.”

  I looked around the waiting room. Where had he gone? “He did.”

  “Do you know where? Most of us liked him.”

  “Thanks for letting me borrow your phone.”

  I started away when Cora called after me. “Good for you, Dr. Stone.”

  I reached the end of the lobby. There were several rows of chairs, and from here, a narrow hallway led to the main part of the hospital. Matt couldn’t have gone too far without being seen. Trying to think the way Matt would think was pointless. I had no idea what sort of things he would do. Although he’d tried to tell me he could be trusted, everything pointed to the fact that he couldn’t, not necessarily. Why would he suddenly disappear like this?

  It had been my idea to come here, not his, unless he had known I would choose the hospital. No. That didn’t strike me as likely. Matt had suggested an alternative, someplace where we wouldn’t be likely to encounter anyone else, and certainly not likely to put others in danger. Leaving him loose in the hospital was potentially dangerous. The only thing I could think of him doing would be going to Roberts. Why, though?

  I headed back down the hallway, and once I was there, I stopped at the elevator. Punching the button, I tapped my foot while waiting. A few people walked through the lobby, and there was even a security presence here, one of the guards patrolling. Most of the time, I was thankful for their presence, but I wasn’t sure he could do a lot to keep us safe.

  When the elevator came, I stepped inside. And as the door closed, I heard my name shouted.

  “Matt?” I tried to stop the doors, but couldn’t. I punched in the second floor, not wanting to go too far before I had a chance to get off. Matt hadn’t been alone. There had been three others with him, and all of them had the same look I attributed to Matt.

  Was he in danger? I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter, that it wasn’t my fight, but even as I did, I couldn’t help but think I needed to do whatever I could to assist him. Even if I couldn’t trust him.

  I knew better. He was using me in some way. Whether it was to get to Jean-Pierre or to Barden or even to Brad, I was getting used. What I didn’t know was why. Pulling out my phone, I tapped a quick message to Barden. If Matt’s people were already tracking me, it didn’t matter anyway. Not if I didn’t make it out of here.

  When the doors opened, I rushed out, feeling a little foolish. There was a staircase directly across from the elevator, and I plunged into it. Racing down the stairs, I reached the main level and paused. If there was anything dangerous on the other side of the door, I wanted to be prepared. Hesitating only a moment, I listened. While I did, I tried to reach for a connection to power, searching for my magic, but it didn’t come to me.

  I needed more practice for these circumstances. Breathing slowly, I focused on memories, letting myself drift back toward the painful ones, searching for that connection to power. Although I hated delving into those distant memories, they had been useful to me. One of these days, I would have to try to figure out why that was. Why did helplessness empower me?

  It wasn’t the line of questioning I needed to deal with right now. Instead, right now I needed to focus on what I had just seen. Matt was here—at least, he had been here. Now there was no sign of him. I tried to think which way he had been going, but I had only seen a fleeting glance from him. It wasn’t enough for me to know which way they were heading.

  Except… There might be a way. I headed toward the front lobby. The main lobby of the hospital was different from the emergency room one, and often times the security guards would patrol through here, keeping an eye on the front entrance to the hospital.

  I waited, lingering there for a moment, and found the same security guard I had seen patrolling through the hallway. Hurrying up to him, I tapped him on the arm.

  “Can I help you?”

  I flashed my brightest smile, knowing I couldn’t be too flirtatious, but at the same time, thinking I could figure out a way to disarm him—if only a little. “I’m Dr. Stone. I’m one of the emergency room physicians.”

  He looked me up and down, clearly questioning whether that was true or not. It was easy enough to forget how I was dressed. I was in jeans and a T-shirt, nothing professional in appearance, though when I was here working I typically wore scrubs, so it wasn’t as if I was that far removed from my normal attire. ER docs weren’t typically the most formally dressed.

  “I came in to do some charting,” I quickly explained.

  His gaze drifted to the ER. This wasn’t a security guard I knew, which didn’t help matters. I could bring him back there, and there were plenty of people who would vouch for me, but at the same time, I didn’t have any interest in delaying any more than was necessary. It felt as if I had taken far too long way it was.

  “I’m just looking for someone who might’ve come through here. He used to work here,” I added, not sure if that would make a difference. “Younger guy. Short brown hair. Muscular. Ex-military type.” I glanced beyond him, lookin
g briefly around the hospital entrance. “There would’ve been three others similarly dressed with him.”

  His eyes widened slightly.

  “You saw them?”

  “They headed out the front.”

  I tapped the guy on the shoulder. “Thanks.”

  Hurrying past him, I made my way out to the front of the hospital. The entrance here was a large roundabout, a wide driveway for patients and their families to pull up, with a large canopy overhanging it. A hint of the bright street lights glowing against the night caught my attention, but I ignored that. Would there be anything out here that I could see?

  Assuming Matt hadn’t gone with them willingly, he didn’t have any power of his own since I had triggered all of his spells. If anything happened to him, it would be my fault. Taillights shone in the distance, but there was nothing else—certainly no sign of anyone making their way along the street.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out and glanced down. Barden.

  When I answered, he sounded agitated. “Be ready.”

  “For what?”

  A car came squealing around the corner. Not just any car. My car.

  When Barden pulled up, I glanced behind me, noticing the security guard was looking out. I had little doubt he would go and check into the ER to see if there was a Dr. Stone, and more likely, he’d probably report the strangeness he had just seen. That wasn’t what I needed.

  “You need to get in, Dr. Stone.”

  I glanced into the car and realized Barden wasn’t alone. Jean-Pierre sat in the backseat.

  17

  As Barden rocketed forward, I twisted in my seat to look at him. “What’s going on?” I glanced from Barden to Jean-Pierre, but Barden didn’t take his eyes off the road, and he gripped the steering wheel about as tightly as he had when we had left the vampire house.

  “You look well, Dr. Stone,” Jean-Pierre said. At least he sounded comfortable, although maybe it was too comfortable.

  “What happened to you back at the Vangalor house?”

  “I was a little bit delayed, unfortunately. When I came after you, I encountered difficulty.”

  “The kind of difficulty that attacked you the last time?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  I held his gaze for a moment, before leaning back and staring out the windshield. Barden was driving us along the river, with streetlights gleaming off of it. I wondered if Barden had a way of accessing the power in the river. I certainly did not. It could be that he wanted to stay near it, though I wondered whether that was for protection or to more easily navigate around here.

  “Someone grabbed Matt,” I said.

  “Are you certain?” Barden asked.

  I thought about what I’d seen, before shaking my head. “No. As far as I know, he could have gone with them.” And in the time that I had been at the hospital, I still didn’t have the opportunity to check in on Brad. I didn’t think anything more had happened to him, but I didn’t know. When I last saw him, he’d been intubated, and with the level of injury he had sustained, it would take a considerable amount of time for him to recover. It was possible it was still too early for me to know if Brad was going to come around.

  Not if. When.

  “What’s this all about?” I asked Barden. I felt as if I were asking that often these days, my confusion getting to the point where I was getting frustrated by it.

  “You will have answers, such as they are, soon,” Barden said.

  We took a turn, heading over a bridge guiding us across the Mississippi River. On the far side, Barden turned left, leading us along a road facing the river. On one side of the river were enormous houses. They reminded me somewhat of the vampire houses, though I couldn’t imagine that was where Barden was bringing me. I sat in silence, my mind racing, and since Barden had promised I would have my answers, I decided to take this moment to see if I could practice reaching for magic. With my heart racing as it was, the level of anxiety I felt, it would be a good challenge. I certainly didn’t know if I would be capable of doing so right now.

  Steadying my breathing, I held my focus. When I had worked with Barden and the other dark mages, he had told me that was a crucial part of it. If I could maintain my focus, regardless of the circumstances, I could take the next step. In this case, the next step involved focusing on memories meant to help me tap into something deeper. They came to me, falling into place all too easily. It was a torrent of memories, and as they did, I added to them the helpless sensation I had felt when Brad had ended up in the hospital, the sense of loss, and the fact that I felt as if I had been a part of it.

  Slowly, I became aware of that distant part of me tied into magic. As it came forward, I was able to draw upon it, letting it surge forth, and I breathed out as I connected to it. Once I had it, it was easier to hold on to it, but the hard part was always making that first step, reaching for that connection.

  We turned off the road, heading toward a distant house. It was completely darkened, though now I had a grasp of power. With it, I might not be able to perform impressive spells, but at least I didn’t feel as helpless as I would otherwise. It didn’t take a lot of energy for me to hold on to my connection to power. There was a need for focus, but that was something I could easily do.

  Barden brought the car—my car—to a stop near the front door. I glanced over at him. “Why here?”

  “This is a place of the Mage Council.”

  “You decided to get the Mage Council involved?”

  “Not at this point,” Barden said.

  He got out of the car, closing the door behind him, and I glanced back at Jean-Pierre. The elder vampire looked out of the window. In the faint light visible from outside, his face looked pale, every bit the vampire that he was. In daylight—something vampires supposedly couldn’t tolerate—he never had that same appearance. He’d always struck me as far more tanned than I would have expected.

  “Where are your two helpers?”

  “They remained behind,” Jean-Pierre said.

  “Why?”

  “The same reason I am here, Dr. Stone.”

  “You’re here because I made a mistake in trying to summon you.”

  “Was it a mistake?”

  “I don’t know. Not anymore.”

  Jean-Pierre smiled. “As far as I can tell, you did what was necessary.”

  “Why do I feel like I stirred up a hornet’s nest?”

  Jean-Pierre only smiled at me. I pushed open the door and stepped outside. The night air was cool, and there was a hum of insects in the distance, and the half-moon overhead provided a silvery light that allowed me to see well enough. Without that, I wondered what exactly I might be able to make out. I’d be tempted to pull my phone out and turned the flashlight function on. I had a sense Barden would be annoyed if I did that.

  Rather than taking the front door, Barden guided us around the back. The house was enormous, and it was set onto a sloped yard. Steps led to the lower level, where the wide stone patio with a grill and furniture looked a little bit too festive for Barden. The stones were set into terraces, and it broke up the slope, which Barden hurried down. When he had gone down three terraces, he paused, waiting for us.

  “Do you intend to take us down to the river?” I asked. The Mississippi flowed behind us, and in a few more terraces, we would be down at the shoreline.

  “Not exactly.”

  Barden rested his hand on one of the stones set into the terrace, and power flowed from him. It was enough that I could detect the way it worked, feeling the surge of magic as it washed away from him, and I frowned. What exactly was he doing?

  His hand rested on one of the stones, and it glowed with a faint light. The longer he held it, the brighter it glowed. Barden stepped forward, putting himself in front of the stone, as if he intended to prevent that light from escaping. With another surge of power, the spell exploded outward. As it did, the light faded. The brightness of it had disrupted my night vision, making it difficul
t for me to see anything.

  A hand grabbed for my elbow, guiding me forward. “Come on, Dr. Stone.”

  I let Barden lead me, though where was he taking me? If he intended to go back up the terrace, then why would he have brought us down here in the first place? Instead, the smell of damp earth and moisture surrounded me. My eyes began to adjust to the diminished light, and I could see walls on either side of me, with a low ceiling pressing down. Barden tapped me on the arm, and I paused, waiting, and power built briefly before we were plunged into complete darkness.

  A moment passed. Then another. My heart was racing, but I had already reached for my connection to power, and I hadn’t released it. Maintaining that connection meant I wasn’t separated from power, and it meant I didn’t have to fear anything happening to me that I wouldn’t be completely prepared for.

  Barden let out a heavy sigh. “Now that we have taken care of that…” Light glowed, coming from his hand, before surging outward. As it built, I could see a tunnel running straight in front of us. Barden started forward, glancing back and motioning for us to follow.

  “Uh, Barden?”

  He paused, looking back at me, arching a brow.

  “Would you care to tell me where you’re leading us?”

  “I am leading us along here so we might be able to speak more freely.”

  “I thought you said this was a Mage Council house.”

  “The house is. I intend to use another aspect to it, which offers a little bit more protection. And privacy.”

  “Why go this way rather than just transporting us?”

  “The protections placed around it make transporting here difficult.” He turned around. “Come on, Dr. Stone. It’s not much farther.”

  I followed him along the hallway, and we reached a door. Not just any door, but an enormous wooden door, with symbols carved all along the surface. Many of them were somewhat familiar to me, reminding me of the symbols used on the wand or even on my bracelet. I suspected it was similar to the symbols used by Matt and his people to create his spells.

  Once again, the sense of power built, but it happened quickly. There was no glowing light along the door, and nothing seemed to change. When the power retreated, Barden pushed the door open. He stood, his hand resting on it, looking over at me and waiting.