“That’ll work,” Logan replied. “I’ll see you in…”
“We’re giving you all an hour,” she cut in. “So you can get yourselves together. I wish we could let you rest, but there’s been no sign of what Elena has in store for us next, and we’re just moving a bit too quickly to put the brakes on.”
“I want to check on Jay,” I said. “Is he okay?”
“He’s… okay. Quinn and Tim have been watching over him, and Dr. Tierney has him stabilized, but…” Ms. Dale paused, her gaze dropping to the floor as sadness seemed to envelop her. “There’s a chance he might not be able to walk again, Violet. The bullet is lodged dangerously close to his spine.”
A hollow formed in the pit of my stomach, and it felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees. Viggo was there, helping to brace me, but it didn’t stop the feeling of the world suddenly becoming too heavy to even try to hold up anymore. Even though she was dead, I suddenly hated Desmond beyond comprehension. She had caused so much pain, and now, after all of the torture and heartache, her last living son might not ever walk again…
“It’s not fair,” I breathed, unable to stop a tear from escaping. “Surely there must be something we can do… Maybe… Maybe…”
A random thought occurred to me, and before anyone could stop me, I reached up and began pulling on the tab of the cast they had given me, yanking the plastic off my arm.
“Violet!” Ms. Dale gasped, her hands moving to stop me, but I sidestepped her and held it up.
“Give this to Dr. Tierney,” I said. “It’s supposed to be used for twenty-four hours, but I’ve had it on for less than half that, and it repairs injured bones – maybe she can use it for his back. He’s got to… I mean… He’s too young. It’s just got to work.”
Ms. Dale sighed, reaching out and taking my hand with her own. “Violet, I have no idea what this flimsy piece of plastic is supposed to do, but I do know that if you remove medical technology designed to help one thing, it might not be the best for another injury.”
“But Jay… His back…”
“We don’t know anything yet, Violet. The bullet is lodged there, but his spine was not broken. He’s young, and also enhanced. Who knows what his body is capable of healing? You can’t fix him. You can only be there for him. Okay?”
I nodded, although a dark part of me hated her for saying it. Jay deserved to walk and run and jump and be able to play—he shouldn’t be in a hospital bed wondering if he’d ever get to do those things again.
“Let’s go check on him right now,” Viggo said softly. “It’ll be good for him to see you. He was really worried about you.”
I let him guide me off the ship, Ms. Dale beside us. The men carrying Solomon had exited at some point when we were talking—I had been so upset by Ms. Dale’s report of Jay that I really hadn’t seen them leave, and now they were carrying him between them as they entered the red brick building in front of us.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“It’s a warden training center,” Viggo replied, surprising me. He looked down at me, a corner of his mouth rising up a little. “It’s where I was trained when I was a cadet.”
“Originally Elena had conscripted it as a place to keep her forces,” Ms. Dale said. “But when she had her people pull back and trap everyone inside the city, a few Patrian wardens came here and locked it down, securing it. I stumbled across it after I got into a shoot-out with some Porteque gang members earlier—I hopped the wall after they cut me off from the rest of our team. The wardens inside took me prisoner, I escaped, Henrik showed up, and we talked it all out. They’re letting us set up shop and basically take control—pretty much all because we had Maxen, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”
I chuckled. I was surprised I could find any humor left after news of Jay, but Ms. Dale talked about securing this place for our group so dismissively, as if it hadn’t been an impressive feat for what seemed like less than twenty-four hours. But there was also a gem in that story too golden to pass up. “So you’re saying that Henrik rescued you?” I teased.
Viggo bit back a smile as Ms. Dale arched an eyebrow. “I escaped first,” she corrected me in a firm voice. “He just happened to show up while I was escaping.”
I smiled, and the smile faltered and then grew when I saw a familiar lanky shape exiting the building and making a beeline right for me. I opened my arms and was almost knocked over from the force of Tim’s arms coming around my waist. He held me tight—I knew it must be hurting him a lot, but he didn’t complain, and I held him too, keeping my touch as light as possible.
He pulled back, and I frowned when I saw the bruises all over him. “Tim, are you okay?”
He ducked his head and nodded, his mop-curls bouncing on the top of his head. “Okay,” he repeated. “You okay?”
“I was only gone for a day!” I protested.
“To Outlands! No one come back!”
“Well, your sister isn’t like anyone else,” Viggo said. “She’s unique.”
I felt my cheeks blush as a burst of love came over me. I needed to marry Viggo, just like Belinda had suggested, but this wasn’t exactly the right time to bring it up. There was so much to do tonight, and… Well, I was going to take the first chance I could get. I’d bring it up after we got through this meeting. First, though, came Jay.
“Show me where Jay is?” I asked, and Tim gave me a grave look, and then nodded, pulling open the door to the building the men carrying Solomon had entered. The door led to a wide atrium where a picture of King Maxen hung from the opposite wall along with several other pictures of men, a plaque underneath each. There was an office to the right. The door was open, and a few men were inside, playing cards and watching the door. Their guns leaned against one of the walls, and their eyes looked up to check who we were. Ms. Dale raised a hand, and one of them raised his in response before going back to their game.
“Guard duty. They walk the perimeter and then sit inside, in case we have a security breach. Left hallway.”
She moved past us, leading the way down a long hallway. “These are the cadet quarters,” Viggo supplied as we passed several doors, heading for the door at the end of the hall. “I used to sleep in that room there when I was in training.”
“I can’t imagine you then… You were a little bit younger than I am now, right?”
“Yup, and probably as much of a handful, much to my instructor’s dismay. I—”
“VIGGO! VIOLET!”
I looked away from the door Viggo had pointed out moments ago in time to see Cad and Margot emerging from a door a little farther down the hall, their children Henry and Sarah between them. Henry’s face lit up when he saw me, and the chubby little boy broke away from his mom to race over to me. I dropped to my knees and hugged my littlest cousin to my chest as he threw himself at me.
“Mommy was crying,” he babbled. “She said you may never come back!”
I looked up at Margot, surprised to see tears in her eyes as she came closer. She didn’t even let me get up, just dropped down next to me and wrapped her arms around me and Henry. Sarah and Cad weren’t far behind, and within seconds I was being crushed by four sets of arms.
It felt… amazing, and I was surprised to find myself tearing up from the amount of love and concern my family was showering on me. Once again, I felt blessed by the small yet wonderful things this entire adventure had given me, and for a moment, I just leaned into them, happy to feel their warmth.
“I’m sorry,” Margot sniffled. “I never should’ve said anything around him—you know how kids are. I knew you’d come back, I was just…”
“I was, too,” I admitted. “But I’m so happy to see you. All of you.”
“What was it like?” asked Cad, pulling back. “What did you see out there?”
I opened my mouth, and then hesitated. “Can I tell you about it later?” I asked. “There’s so much going on, and I want to check on Jay and… and all the others.”
<
br /> “Don’t be silly, of course you can!” exclaimed Margot. “You must be exhausted, and I know they’ve been holding the meeting to wait for you. I’m just so excited to hear what you saw! We’ll talk about it over a hot meal tomorrow.”
“No, I can—”
“Tomorrow,” she repeated sternly. “Because you look dead on your feet, and I’m not going to let you do anything else.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile, and we all carefully untangled ourselves. Henry had to be pried off my neck, but that was okay—I didn’t mind the little scamp holding on. I felt the same way right now. I didn’t want to let go at all.
Viggo held out a hand to me, and I took it, marveling yet again that my arm felt as good as new. Better, even.
“We’ll grab you some chow from the mess,” said Cad, and Margot rolled her eyes.
“Listen to him using words like ‘chow’ and ‘mess’—thinks he’s a real soldier now!”
I chuckled. “Some chow would be great, but you don’t have to put yourself out. We’ll get some later, after we—”
“We’ll bring you something,” said Margot firmly. “You need to eat, especially if you’re running on empty like everyone else around here is.”
She didn’t even wait for me to argue or agree, just held up a hand as I opened my mouth. “Nuh-uh,” she sang, looking down at her children, and they began to sing nuh-uh as she led them down the hall, Cad following with a bemused expression on his face. He gave a little wave and a shrug as they turned the corner, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Our family is weird,” Viggo said. “But a lot of fun.”
Our family. I slid my hand into his and leaned into him. “Let’s go see Jay,” I said, feeling like my run-in with everyone had helped buoy my spirits enough to hopefully pass that love on to him. I knew it wouldn’t help him or change anything, but being there for each other in difficult times was what gave us all the strength to carry on. And after all this, Jay was part of our family too.
OceanofPDF.com
15
OceanofPDF.com
VIGGO
It had been years since I had been in this building, but not much had changed. The same pictures hung on the walls, although there were a few new teachers, some of whom I had served with. Maybe most significantly, unlike other buildings in Patrus, this one was whole and unscathed.
Ms. Dale opened the door at the end of the hall, and I could see that a lot had been accomplished in the last twenty-four hours. Normally there were bunk beds, but they had been pulled apart and then beds rearranged in neat little rows, crammed together as close as possible.
The smell of antiseptic and blood hit my nose as we stepped in, and I could see that most of beds were filled, some with people I recognized, most with people I didn’t. The soft noise of talking and murmurs and groans of pain filled the room, and I could see that among the beds, Dr. Tierney and Dr. Arlan were moving, flowing between them and moving from patient to patient, working in tandem.
Dr. Tierney spotted us and nodded us toward a bed, but Tim was already heading in that direction, Violet on his heels. He came around one of the beds and sat down on an adjacent one, and I paused, noticing the crumpled blankets at the foot of the bed he sat on—Tim had been sleeping in the bed next to Jay, probably the entire time we were gone.
Violet sat down next to Jay. The young man’s eyes were closed, and an IV line ran from a bag into the back of his hand. His skin was pale, and part of his hair was matted to his forehead from sweat.
“Jay,” Violet called softly, putting her hand in his. The young man didn’t move, and the hopeful look on Tim’s face dimmed slightly. “Jay?” She called his name again, a bit more loudly, but there was no sign of him waking.
I looked around for Dr. Tierney, and spotted her with her back to me. She was treating a patient, but I couldn’t tell who and I didn’t want to interrupt her in case it was critical. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t move a bit closer and try to grab her attention once she finished.
So I did. I moved down the row, heading toward her, and two things became clear to me. The first was that the patient she was treating was sitting, not lying down, and the second was that they were being difficult. When I heard the patient’s voice, I felt myself smiling, even as Mags hopped onto her feet, her round face red.
“I’m fine!” she insisted loudly, crumpling a wad of fabric in her hands and tossing it back onto the bed. “There are a lot more critical patients here that you should be concerning yourself with!”
She went to move past Dr. Tierney, but Dr. Tierney’s hand shot out and grabbed the shorter woman’s shoulder. Mags cried out in pain, but Dr. Tierney looked unapologetic about it as she pushed Mags back toward the bed.
“I’ve had quite enough of your and your family’s belligerence today, Magdelena,” she said as she forced Mags into a sitting position. “I swear to the mother there is something in the water that gives you lot thick skulls and a poor disposition, but I’m not tolerating it. You will wear this sling until I say otherwise, and if I catch you trying to use your arm during that time, I can and will tranq you, drag you back here, and tie you to a bed. Do you understand me?”
Mags glared up at her, her mouth a tight grimace. I was close enough to see Dr. Tierney’s eyebrow lift in daring challenge, and after a long tense moment, Mags cursed and leaned back.
“Fine!” she spat, awkwardly holding out her arm. “I’m fine, though.”
“No, you aren’t, and firing your rifle today has only exaggerated the bruising on the tendon. If you keep doing it, it will rip, and then I’ll have to perform surgery. Given how your uncle reacted to that idea, I shudder to think how you would, so you mind me. Understand?”
“I understand,” Mags mumbled, and Dr. Tierney nodded once before helping Mags get back into her sling.
“Smart girl,” croaked Alejandro, and I realized he was lying in the bed just past Mags, propped up by a few thin pillows against the metal frame.
Mags rolled her eyes skyward and sighed in defeat. Dr. Tierney glanced over at Alejandro and frowned. “You’re one to talk,” she said, a mite sarcastically, and Alejandro managed to paint a thin smile on his face before his gaze shifted over her shoulder and met mine.
“Hey-yo, boyo,” he said, catching my eye, and I smiled.
“Hey Alejandro—Mags—Dr. Tierney,” I said in greeting, moving up the last few feet to them.
Dr. Tierney tied off the sling and then turned, giving me a considering look as her hand disappeared into the pocket of the coat she was wearing. Withdrawing a scanner, she pointed at me and clicked it on. “I’m fine,” I insisted as she ran the beam over me. “And I’m sorry to intrude. I just came to find out what’s going on with Jay. Ms. Dale said he might not be able to walk?”
Dr. Tierney’s eyes were on the scanner, reading the results as she moved it up and down. “I can’t retrieve the bullet right now because it’s so close to his spine, but it’s too early to say for certain what the end result will be. It is a possibility, however.”
“Well, Violet has this thing she thinks might help, and—”
Dr. Tierney’s eyes shot up, and she cocked her head at me. “What thing?”
“Well, I’m not even entirely sure,” I admitted honestly. “All I know is that her arm is healed and—wait a second, doc.”
She had started to push past me, but I managed to stop her, and she turned back. “What’s going on with Alejandro?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Alejandro insisted at the same time Dr. Tierney said, “It’s not good, and not likely to get better until your friend lets me operate!”
I turned my gaze from one to the other and then settled on Dr. Tierney. “What’s the problem?”
She sighed and folded her arms over her chest. “Viggo, the metacarpals in some of his fingers are so fractured that I am not going to be able to piece them back together. He’s going to lose a lot of mobility in his hand, and each minute we waste not doing surgery, th
e more likely it’ll be that I’ll have to amputate instead of trying to repair what I can.”
“Why won’t he let you operate?” I asked.
“Because there are people in more dire need,” replied Alejandro. “I’m fine! I can wait until things calm down. Maybe in a day or so we can—”
“You need surgery now!” Dr. Tierney insisted, and I could tell by the frustrated tone in her voice that this argument had been going on for quite some time. “I’d drug you if I could, but you won’t even let me put a damned IV in your arm—”
“Because you’d drug me,” he cut in smoothly.
“And you are risking any and all functionality on your dominant hand for no good reason! Earlier we couldn’t prioritize you, but now—”
“I’m fine!” Alejandro insisted belligerently, sitting forward. “You just… go check on Violet and Solomon.”
Dr. Tierney cast him a glare and then stalked off, clearly unwilling to argue any further. I hesitated, and then hung back, looking into the man’s blue eyes. “You need to get the surgery, Alejandro,” I said gently. “And if you don’t agree to it, I’m going to go hunt Jenny down and bring her here.”
Alejandro shot me a death glare, his face already screwing up to tell me to mind my own business, when Mags leaned back in the bed and crossed her legs, smiling like a cat who had just gotten into the cream.
“I already sent some people to pick her up,” she declared with an impish smile. “As soon as I heard that he was being difficult.”
Alejandro froze, his jaw open, his face going pale. “Oh, nooo…” he groaned, slumping against his pillows. “That woman is impossible when I’m sick, Viggo.”
I snorted, not feeling a moment of pity for him, and gave Mags a high-five before moving back over to Violet. Dr. Tierney was showing Violet some images on her handheld. As I came up behind them I could see that they were x-rays of the bullet and Jay’s spine, the bullet only a few millimeters away.
The Gender End Page 13
