Broommates: Two Witches are Better Than One! (Kentucky Witches Book 2)

by Rebecca Patrick-Howard

  Before Liza could respond, the room turned fuzzy black. She thought she might be falling, but all she could hear and see were the crashing waves inside her head.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The crushing pain in Liza’s head had somewhat subsided, and the vomiting was currently being controlled by the massive amounts of anti-nausea medication they were feeding her, but her body was achy and sore. The hospital bed was also equipped with a device that made it move every few seconds. It was meant to help people from developing bed sores but it was just pissing her off. Every time she’d get in a comfortable position it would move again and she’d have to start all over.

  “Hey, you’re awake,” Colt said.

  He walked over from where he’d been camped out in a plastic, uncomfortable chair for the past few hours. His clothes were disheveled and his hair was wild. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in days.

  “Where’s Bryar,” Liza mumbled. She tried to turn her head and look around, but it hurt her neck to move.

  “I sent her home to get some rest,” he said. “She was pretty worn out. She stayed here all night. Do you need anything?”

  “Juice maybe? Or a Sprite?”

  He nodded and brought one to her. She gave a few sips and then he took it away.

  “I must look awful,” she groaned. She hadn’t taken a hairbrush to her head in days. Bridle had thoughtfully braided it for her so it wouldn’t tangle. It was just starting to grow long again, after she’d cut most of it off the previous winter.

  “Nah,” Colt said, leaning in for a kiss. “You just look sick. I think you look pretty.”

  “They saying anything new?” Liza asked.

  “Pneumonia maybe,” he shrugged. “They’re still waiting for the rest of the labs.”

  “How did I have pneumonia and not know it?” she asked.

  “You probably thought you were just tired,” he explained. “Or that you were coming down with a cold.”

  “I have felt a lot of fatigue lately. And been having trouble nausea and bathroom stuff. I just thought I was getting old. I have seasonal allergies. I never would’ve dreamed it was something serious.”

  “The others here have also been diagnosed with that general ‘infection’, they’re calling it. They’re getting antibiotics,” Colt said. “Gwen is showing some improvement. She’s asking to be let out for awhile to attend May’s funeral.”

  “Oh,” Liza groaned. “I wanted to go to that. I thought I’d be home by now.”

  To her shame, she started to cry. The tears just wouldn’t stop once they started.

  Colt hung his head, awkward and embarrassed. “Well, hey now,” he said. He perched down on the side of her bed and reached for her hand, the one that didn’t have an IV. “It will be alright. You’ll be out of here soon. The girls have been at your house, cleaning and cooking to get it ready for you.”

  “Thanks,” Liza sniffed.

  “And your sister’s been worried to death about it. Had me running up to Lexington for some kind of patchouli oil or, hell, I don’t know what it was,” he said, clearly bewildered at Bryar’s request.

  “Patchouli oil?” Liza smiled a little. “She’s trying to make me feel better sooner.”

  “Yeah, well, everyone’s worried.”

  “Have you heard from my mom?”

  Colt ducked his head down and scratched at his ear. Liza took that as a “no.”

  “It’s okay,” she assured him. “I’m used to it.”

  “Yeah, well, my mom’s been in here every day. Offered to stay with you tonight but I told her no, that I would.”

  “You can’t stay here, Colt. Think of the trees. The trees need you,” Liza tried joking. When she laughed, however, she was sent into a coughing fit that knocked the breath out of her. When the coughing turned to vomiting, he brought her a bucket and she emptied out the contents of her stomach, contents that only consisted of the liquids she’d been trying to keep down.

  “I think that’s enough for now,” Colt said.

  With a few clicks of a button he had her head lowered down, so that she was horizontal again. “Here you go. Just rest for a little bit.”

  “Will you sit here with me?” she asked, only a little embarrassed at sounding so weak and needy.

  “Couldn’t run me off with a hot iron,” he assured her.

  She was asleep before he’d even finished his sentence.

  * * *

  “WHAT’S WRONG, BRYAR?”

  Liza sat straight up in bed then instantly regretted it. She still didn’t have the dizziness under control and the morphine they were plastering her with wasn’t exactly helping.

  She might have been the sick one, but her sister looked white as a ghost. Bryar was almost always put together. Even in Kudzu Valley, where she had no reason to dud herself up, she looked out of place with her designer shoes, Kat von D makeup, diamond earrings (real diamonds, not just zirconia), and Chloe purses. Some daring, brave soul had innocently asked her if her purse came from Target. Bryar looked as though she’d been asked if she dumpster dived, even though almost everything they’d owned growing up had been from a combination of Target, Wal-Mart, and K-Mart.

  Now, however, she didn’t just look unrested from traveling back and forth between the house and hospital–she looked haggard.

  Her blond hair was up in a messy, tangled ponytail. It looked like it hadn’t been washed in days. Her face, devoid of makeup, was pale with splotchy pink spots, as though she’d been crying. The jeans she wore were baggy and stained and the old T-shirt had a hole over the stomach. She looked as though she’d grabbed the first things she saw. Saw in the garbage, that is.

  “Are you sick, too?” Liza asked in panic. She liked having someone to commiserate with, but she certainly didn’t want Bryar to come down with pneumonia or “infection”. She was sick as a dog. She’d been on antibiotics for three days and didn’t feel any better than she did when they’d brought her to the hospital.

  “I’m not sick,” Bryar whispered as she sank into the chair. “Someone tried to run me off the damn road coming here.”

  “Oh my God,” Liza said. “Are you serious? Are you sure it wasn’t an accident?”

  She could see it, though, as she spoke: Bryar chugging along in her little car, music blaring and her head bobbing as she sang along. And then the blue pickup barreling behind her, growing closer and closer as she took the turns at top speed. The truck hitting her bumper, catching her off-guard. Bryar speeding up and yelling an obscenity at the driver behind her. Then it speeding up as well and battering her again, just as she took the “S-turn” (for shit!) that took her into town. Bryar screaming and overcorrecting herself. The truck hammering her again. Bryar spinning into a donut, using all her power to straighten the car before it dove off the side of the steep hill. The truck finally speeding away, leaving Bryar terrified on the shoulder.

  “Did you see who it was?” Liza asked, shaking on her sister’s behalf.

  “I didn’t get a good luck,” Bryar said. “I had a coffee, too, and spilled it all over my lap. I didn’t want to look like I’d pooped myself so I stopped at the flea market and bought these.” She gestured down to her clothes in disgust.

  “It just looks like you’re making a statement,” Liza said with a smile.

  “Yeah, they’re saying, ‘Hi, I’m a bum!’” But she gave a wan smile, then, and looked a little bit like herself. Her face was no longer white.

  “I’ll look tonight, see if I can see his face. Not that it will matter. I barely know anyone here.”

  “I am so sorry,” Liza said. Inside, she was trembling even harder. If something happened to her sister…well, it was too much to even entertain that thought. “I really think you should leave. I mean, I like having you here but if your life is in danger…”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Bryar said. “I got a call today. They want me to come this weekend. Out to L.A., I mean. I told them I couldn’t, because of the talent sh
ow, so they gave me until Monday.”

  Liza sighed, feeling totally selfish and unhappy at the thought of her sister leaving her. She considered taking her words back, telling her that she wanted her there, with her. But common sense won out. Bryar had to do what was best for Bryar.

  “That’s great, Bryar,” Liza said, forcing a smile. “I’ll miss you, of course, but it’s good for you. Good for your career. Heck, at this point it’s good for your life.”

  “Don’t forget who you’re talking to,” Bryar said. “I don’t have to be psychic to read your mind this time. And I appreciate the sentiment, I do.”

  “I’ll just miss you, that’s all.”

  “I wish I could drum up excitement for it,” Bryar said gloomily.

  “Are you not excited by the idea?”

  “I don’t know,” Bryar shrugged. “I guess the time off has made me think about a lot of things, about the music especially. I haven’t had the passion for it in a long time. I don’t know how to get that back. Just listening to Colt sing on the front porch that night made me more excited than the last three albums I produced.”

  “He has a great voice,” Liza agreed.

  “Oh, it’s more than that. Lots of people can sing. Throw a rock and you’ll hit one, especially around here. You know that Kentucky produces more artists than any other state? But anyway, I digress. He has that something else, that piece that sets him apart. It’s kind of magical.” Bryar’s eyes glowed just talking about him.

  “Well, I like to think so,” Liza said, preening a little. Colt was a catch.

  “Anyway, I’m still thinking about it.”

  When the door opened and the doctor walked in, they fell quiet. He looked confused, just a little concerned, which made Liza worry even more. She searched his thoughts, trying to find the reason for the gloomy look on his face, before he had the chance to say anything. Before she could formulate an idea, however, Bryar spoke up.

  “Well how the heck did that happen?” she demanded. “Where on earth did she get it?”

  The doctor, a small Indian man with warm, brown eyes, looked up from his chart, surprised. Then he smiled. “I’ve heard about you two,” he said softly. His voice was butter, warm and melodious. It had a calming, soothing sound to it. Liza supposed it took a sting out of many of the things he had to tell patients.

  “Well?” Bryar commanded again, agitated.

  “Shh, Bryar, be nice,” Liza warned her.

  “We got your lab work back.” The doctor actually pulled up a chair then, and seated himself next to Liza. As he began listening to her heart and lungs, his frown intensified. “You do have pneumonia, but it’s not of the average variety. You have a very serious infection, probably from a parasite. Have you had anything like that before?”

  “Not that I know of,” Liza answered. “When you say ‘parasite’, do you mean like a bug?”

  “Sort of,” the doctor said with a smile. “But this is not anything I’ve ever seen around here.”

  “So how did I get this?” Something with the word “parasite” couldn’t be good.

  “We don’t know yet, that’s the problem. We ran tests of the other patients, and while we haven’t had the results back for everyone just yet, many of them also have it. Some do not, of course, but the majority is ruling here. Some have a milder form. That doesn’t make them less sick, of course. We’re still waiting for the rest of the labs.”

  “Well, can we treat it?” Liza asked, expectantly. “I mean, if there something we can do about it? A pill or shot or something? Hook me up, doc!”

  “There are better antibiotics,” he replied. “They should help. Until we get to the root of the problem, Ground Zero, we’re certain to see much more of this.”

  “So what is this thing? What does it do? Other than make me feel like crap?”

  “It’s a parasite,” he began. “The parasite causes an infection and, as you know, a host of other symptoms. It can cause complications that can be fatal, which is why we’ve already lost fifteen people here in the county.”

  “Wow,” Bryar said. “I didn’t know that many people in Kudzu Valley have already died.”

  The doctor nodded. “It’s usually worse in older people, or those with compromised immune systems. But it can affect anyone. The symptoms, as you’ve already experienced, can be headache, body aches, high fever, chills, diarrhea, and vomiting.”

  “Check, check, and check,” Liza said with a cough.

  “The health department is now involved and they’ve issued a warning, asked people to take sudden illnesses seriously.”

  “I bet,” Bryar said.

  “And the water is currently being tested as well.”

  Liza said up at that. “They think the water is tainted?”

  Bryar beamed, smug. “I told you there was something wrong with the water.”

  “Yeah, and you also thought the government was poisoning us.”

  Bryar smirked. “That is still a possibility.”

  “The water is a possibility. Do you have a well?”

  Liza shook her head no. She was hooked up to the city water.

  “Well, it will take about a week to get that water sample back. Then, perhaps, we will know more. Things move slowly around here, as you know.” The doctor stood and looked down at Liza. She felt very small with him towering over her, even though he couldn’t have been more 5’4”.

  “We’ll give you some steroids for the inflammation in your lungs. And increase the antibiotics and anti-parasitic medication. With luck and hope, you’ll start feeling better very soon.”

  “When can I go home?” Liza asked. Just imagining her nice, warm bed and sleeping without the constant temperature taking, blood drawing, and blood pressure cuff strangling her arm every few hours was enough to make her swoon.

  “We can’t let you go until you’ve had considerable progress. You need to be able to keep down food, walk without assistance, and control the vomiting without the assistance of medication,” the doctor smiled.

  “I’ll work on it,” she promised.

  When he left the room, Liza turned to Bryar. “A parasite?” she asked incredulously. “Tainted water? What the heck’s going on here?”

  “I don’t know,” Bryar answered. “But I am going to figure it out.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Hey pretty girl. You up and about?” Colt leaned down and kissed Liza.

  “Your sister’s taking me for a spin,” Liza said, gesturing to her wheelchair. “We’re also cruising for hot doctors.”

  “Had any luck?” Colt grinned.

  “Not yet,” Filly sighed. “But we’re hopeful. The shift is about to change.”

  Colt began walking along with them as they turned the corner and headed back to Liza’s room. The hospital only had one floor and it made a big circle. Still, it was better than sitting in her room. Liza was starting to go stir crazy.

  “Your sister’s really been on the move,” Colt told her, once they were back in Liza’s room. Like she didn’t weigh anything at all, he lifted her and placed her gently back in her bed while Filly hooked her back up to her blood pressure cuff.

  “Yeah? What’s she been doing?” Liza asked sleepily. She still lacked energy and wasn’t feeling 100%. She didn’t want to complain too much, though, because she was itching to go home to her own bed. She thought if she had to stare at the same three walls any longer she might scream.

  “Well,” Colt began as he settled down in the chair next to her. “She’s really going at it with this talent show. Roped me into helping, too. I made two-hundred flyers and we’ve hung them up all over town.”

  “I created a FB event page for it,” Filly supplied. “And Mare’s been calling people about a sound system.”

  “Bryar’s good at those things,” Liza yawned. “Anything to do with music.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s trying to get this one to participate,” Filly said, pointing at Colt.

  “Me? No, I don’t think so
. I told her that,” Colt said, a little bashful. “I don’t like singing in front of people I don’t know.”

  Filly shrugged. “I’d do it but I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.”

  “I’m glad she’s found something to keep her occupied.”

  “So how you holding up in here?” Colt asked. He reached over and took her hand. With gentle fingers he traced around the bruises she had on her wrist. They’d had to remove the IV and place it on her other arm; the potassium had burned through that vein and rendered it useless. She was still insanely dehydrated though, and that was just from the bouts of vomiting she’d had at the hospital. They had her on a constant saline drip.

  “Hospital days are so long,” Liza complained. “They wake you up at 6:00 am and then you just lay here all day. You can’t sleep because they’re constantly coming in to check on your, not to mention all the noise out in the hallway.”

  “You’ll get to go home soon,” Colt promised her. “My family is chomping at the bit to take care of you.”

  “Bridle changed your sheets and swept your bedroom floor,” Filly said. “And Mama’s been cooking and freezing so much soup that you’ll be set for at least six months.”

  “That’s nice,” Liza laughed weakly. “I look forward to it. Has Bryar had any luck with figuring out what’s going on?”

  Colt shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. She started talking about scrying and mirrors and crystal balls. I don’t get all of that stuff, you know that, but if it helps then I’m all for it.”

  “I hope she figures it out soon,” Liza said, her eye lids growing heavier with each breath. “My morning nurse told me that they admitted three more people this morning. They’ve started shipping people out to other hospitals because they don’t have enough room here.”

  “I know,” Filly said seriously. “I’m worried about something happening to Bridle. Her immune system still isn’t strong.”

  “That’s what they’re saying about those who died,” Colt added. “That they had weakened immune systems. Turns out May’s liver was attacked and inflamed. And Gwen has an autoimmune disorder.”