Into the Fire

by Patrick Hester

  “Hospital,” he said. “Gave us quite a scare, actually. Mom is freaking out.”

  Hospital?

  “Your boss brought you in,” he continued. “Weird guy. Angry guy. They couldn’t wake you up, diagnosed it as exhaustion complicated by extreme dehydration. Also, several cracked ribs and, though I didn’t see it for myself, I’m told your chest is a lovely shade of black and blue from neck to navel. You need to learn when to stop, little sister.”

  Exhaustion. Great. The dehydration I could see, but exhaustion? I remembered fighting a Golem of all things, which could be where the cracked ribs came from. Maybe the magic had hit me harder than I thought it would?

  And then it hit me: for the first time ever, I’d consciously tried to use magic—and it worked! I’d have to ask Mayfair about it. Come to think of it, were Ronan and Father Rosario okay? Mikey wouldn’t know, but Mayfair would. How’d he find out? Must’ve been Ronan.

  “How long do I have to stay here?” I asked. Already feeling confined, I pushed the covers back and tried to sit up, instantly regretting the movement. My chest hurt. A lot. I doubted the hospital had installed 3-D projectors to make those little stars swim around the room that way. Took a minute for me to swing my legs over the side of the bed. Bare legs. Sticking out of a hospital gown. “Dude. Seriously? Where are my clothes?”

  Mikey walked around the bed and stood in front of me, preventing me from standing up. “Stop,” he ordered.

  The damned oxygen tubes were all tangled around me. Took another minute to extricate myself and toss them on the bed behind me.

  “You were seriously over the line, Sam,” he said. “They had to admit you.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, trying to stand.

  My brother pushed me back onto the bed with ridiculous ease.

  “Will you let me get up?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “In what universe are you the boss of me, little sister?”

  I giggled, figuring there had to be at least one universe out there where I was, in fact, in charge of him. Unfortunately, giggling didn’t help my case. I tried to stand up, but he just pushed me back down.

  “Listen—” I said, but he talked right over me.

  “No, you listen. You scared the shit out of us, Sam. Pop’s in the ICU, and then Mom has to get a call that her daughter’s been admitted too? How do you think that hit her?”

  I turned to study the room. A single, thankfully, but small, with a window granting me a glorious view of a brick wall I assumed to be another section of the hospital across the way. A television was mounted to the wall in front of me, and the wall behind Mikey held a sink, cabinets, and a couple rows of drawers. Somewhere in all of that, probably, were my clothes.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. Meant it, too. Seemed to be apologizing a lot lately. The last thing I’d wanted was to make things worse for the family right now. Nor was I interested in talking about it. “How’s Pop?” I asked.

  Mikey grunted as if kicked.

  I knew the feeling.

  “Not good,” he said. “Hasn’t woken up yet. They don’t think he will. Sean made it in this morning. We’ve all been splitting our time between his room and yours. Convenient, your boss bringing you here. Did I mention he’s weird?”

  “Oh? How so?” I asked, mind reeling. Pop hadn’t woken up. This was it, the moment I’d been dreading. Another good man dead because of me. Would my family still watch over me if they knew I’d done it? How I’d caused this by upsetting him with talk of Mayfair?

  “As soon as he was sure you were okay, he took off like a bat out of hell. I wouldn’t want to be the person on the other end of his anger, that’s for sure.”

  “Sorry about that,” I said.

  “Not your fault. Still, as concerned as he was for you, I thought we’d see him again. Two days later, neither hide nor—”

  I clutched Mikey’s shirt, using it and him to pull myself up.

  His eyes went wide with surprise. I smelled the pipe tobacco on him, the stuff he smokes when he is beyond stressed. The scent mixed with Old Spice in an approximation of dad-smell. The men in our family are so predictable.

  “What day is it?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “The day! What day is it?”

  “Halloween,” he replied.

  Oh, shit.

  * * *

  It’s the end of the world, and I can’t find my goddamned pants.

  Digging through the closet, I found my coat, hat, and a plastic bag with my wallet, cell phone (dead, of course), and badge in it, but no shirt and no pants. I refuse to attend my first apocalypse in a hospital gown!

  “Tell me they didn’t cut my clothes off of me,” I muttered. One hand held onto the little rolling IV thingy while the other pulled drawers open one by one. Taking the needle out would be easy enough, but to be honest, I needed the extra support right now. Wasn’t sure my legs would hold me without it. So, might as well leave the needle in, too.

  Logic. See?

  “Would you please calm down and tell me what the hell is going on?” Mikey asked.

  Ignoring my older brother was like trying to ignore a bee sitting on your eyeball. Not that something like that has ever happened to me, but you get the picture. I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth. That would go over so well.

  Sorry Mikey, have to run off and save the world before evil Wizards and Vampires rip open a hole to a hell dimension and let in an invading army. Ta-ta.

  He’d have the doctors in here so fast I would never be able to get out, and I didn’t fancy spending the apocalypse in a padded cell. Mayfair would need my help. Not sure exactly how, but he would. I’d figure it out.

  “Can’t. Big stuff, hugely classified, have to go,” I said. Standing up straight hurt like the devil. My chest burned and ached, and every breath only made it worse. No pants, no shirt and … “Where’s my gun?”

  “Wasn’t on you when you came in. I checked,” he replied. “Since when do you work on anything classified?”

  “Since a couple days ago. New task force, all very hush-hush. Yay me. Go team.” I fist-bumped the air. Maybe Mayfair had my gun? I prayed Mayfair had my gun. The alternative … I didn’t want to think about the alternative. A cop’s gun left lying around where anyone could pick it up? Granted, Rosario lived dead center of Bumfuck and Nowhere, but still. “Where are my pants?” I screeched.

  Mikey chuckled behind me.

  I took several deep, burning breaths before turning.

  He looked entirely too smug, arms crossed, leaning back against the hospital bed with his feet crossed. Something was up.

  “I’m under strict orders not to tell you,” he said. He started laughing—laughing!

  The whole world on the line, and my brother is playing games with my clothes!

  “I need my clothes,” I said. When he didn’t stop laughing, I put on my resolve face. “You are obstructing an officer of the law from performing her duty. I could arrest you!”

  Smiling, he put his hands together, holding them out towards me. “I’ll be out in an hour. You’ll still be pantsless.”

  “God dammit—”

  “You scared us,” he said softly.

  My turn to feel like I’d been kicked in the gut.

  “Do you get that, Sam?” he asked. “Ma was hysterical. Simon hasn’t said a word to anyone since he found out you were in the hospital. I think he’s having a nervous breakdown, by the way. The hair? And don’t get me started on the goddamned black fingernails. Pam and I dropped everything, flew to Denver on the next available flight, dropped our boy off with Pam’s parents, and rushed to the hospital. This hospital. Because my father is dying, and my sister pushed herself so hard she ended up in a bed one floor down. What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I—I don’t have time to discuss this.”

  “You don’t have the time? Bullshit. You don’t want to talk about it. Well, guess what, little sister? That ain’t gonna fly. You owe me an explanation.
Hell, you owe all of us one.”

  He wasn’t wrong, not really. How to explain it and not end up in the loony bin, though? Mikey wasn’t Jenni. Jenni had an open mind and probably believed so quickly because secretly she’s always thought there had to be more going on than we ever knew. Elves, Vampires, and Wizards? Right up her alley.

  Mikey is a different sort of animal. For one, he’s military through and through. They didn’t exactly mess around with fantasy. Maybe a little sci-fi now and then, given he was Air Force and they dealt with advanced stuff, but never fantasy. He wouldn’t believe a word I said.

  Worse, I was afraid to tell him. I’d always told Jenni things my family never knew and never would know. We were closer than family, Jenni and I. Talking to her had never been anything other than easy. Taking to Mikey? Impossible. Captain Judgmental, that’s his bent. Don’t misunderstand—I confided a lot to my older brother, respected him, though in a different way from our father, but in the end, he’s still my older brother. He’d delivered, in equal parts throughout my life, hugs and noogies. The words just wouldn’t form in my mouth.

  Instead, I deflected. “I’m sorry you had to change your plans.”

  He snorted. “That’s your answer? I want to know what the hell is going on with you, Sam. I want to know now.”

  “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry; I can’t. You just have to trust me and let me go.”

  “Not until you tell me what’s going on. What’s so goddamned important you nearly kill yourself?”

  “I can’t,” I said.

  “You are not leaving this room until I get some answers.”

  “Then,” said Jack Mayfair, walking into the room, “allow me to explain.”

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “Michael Kane Junior, meet Jack Mayfair. My new boss.”

  “We’ve met,” my brother said. Folding his arms, he gave Jack a good stare.

  Mayfair didn’t seem frazzled by this. Shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat, he smiled as bright as I’d ever seen him manage. The lines in his face had grown deeper, the area under his eyes a little darker, like he hadn’t slept in a while. His cheeks were hollow, face gaunt. I wondered how long it would be before we were sharing a room.

  Blushing, I turned away. I hadn’t meant it that way. Stupid brain.

  “Mister Kane, may I call you Michael?” Mayfair asked.

  “You may call me Captain,” Mikey replied.

  I rolled my eyes. Oh, boy. So that’s how it’s going to be?

  “I can step into the bathroom if you boys want to measure,” I commented.

  Two sets of blank eyes stared at me.

  “Captain, then,” Mayfair said, turning back to my brother. “I’m a lieutenant, not that it matters. I have a new researcher working with me, really knows her stuff.” He gave me a smile.

  Had to be talking about Jenni.

  “She took the liberty of providing me with a profile on Sam here,” Mayfair said. “Felt I hadn’t been dealing with her in the right way.”

  I frowned. What did he mean by dealing with me?

  “Apparently,” he continued, “family means a great deal to Sam.”

  Well, sure. I mean, he didn’t get that already?

  “Unfortunately,” he said, “I’ve had no family for some time now, so I’d forgotten what it’s like.”

  How sad. Remembering all those gravestones in the backyard at Banba, I wondered how many Mayfairs were still running around besides Jack. Suddenly, I had to resist the urge to walk over and hug the man.

  He said, “I may have put undue pressure upon Sam, given the confidential nature of our work.”

  “Okay,” Mikey said. His body language relaxed a hair.

  I knew he’d done some intelligence work in his early career, but he never talked about it. Probably couldn’t. That had to get old real fast.

  Mayfair nodded to him. “In the interest of Sam’s continued mental health, and the fact I need her to come with me soon, I’d like to share with you what we do.”

  “No!” I said, just as Mikey nodded his agreement.

  Both men gave me another look. I wanted to slap them.

  “Sam knows the dangers inherent in sharing the details of our work,” Mayfair said. He turned back to my brother, who stood a little straighter, gaze passing from me to Mayfair and back again, gears turning in his head.

  “I don’t want you to tell him,” I said. Not Mikey. I’d already put Jenni into danger; I was sure of it. Now my brother too?

  “There’s only two ways you get out of this hospital today, Sam,” Mayfair said. “One, we tell your brother everything. He can then cover for you with the rest of your family, make excuses. Two, we simply leave. In the second, your family will not be happy with you, nor with me. If you see a third alternative, I’m listening.”

  “I don’t,” I admitted. Difficult, admitting it. Nothing came to mind, nothing at all. Nodding to Mayfair, I went over to the bed and sat down next to my brother. I took his hand in mine, leaned against his shoulder. It was a good shoulder to lean on. “Be open-minded.”

  “Well, the two of you know how to foreshadow,” Mikey said with no real humor in his voice.

  I closed my eyes. How would Mayfair handle telling him? Honestly, I didn’t care as long as I didn’t have to do it.

  “As I said, I have a top-notch researcher currently consulting. She put together a file on you, Mic—Captain,” Mayfair said. “You can keep a secret. More than one, actually.”

  The muscles in Mikey’s arm went a little rigid. “I can,” Mikey answered, even though it wasn’t a question.

  “Then I need your word, sir,” Mayfair said. “Your oath—nothing we are about to tell you will ever pass your lips.”

  Again, Mikey’s arm went hard. He didn’t like what was being asked of him, didn’t like it at all. “What the hell have you gotten into?” he asked me.

  I didn’t answer. Mayfair could handle this. I was busy leaning on my brother.

  “Captain,” Mayfair said, “Sam knows each person she tells, each person who becomes aware of what we do, is put into danger. Worse, their knowing puts Sam in more personal danger because these people can be used against her. I know it’s difficult to grasp without knowing all the facts, but I can’t give you all the facts until I have your promise. Not a word to anyone. Ever.”

  Mikey squeezed my hand. I squeezed back.

  “Well, I don’t really see any alternative. You have my word,” he said. He pulled his hand away.

  I stayed snugged against his shoulder, though, so it was fine. Opening my eyes, I watched his hand raise to clasp Mayfair’s, saw the sadness on the other man’s face.

  “Oh, sh—”

  I never got the full word out.

  As Mayfair’s hand closed around my brother’s, the colors swirled, and we were falling.

  * * *

  Mikey knelt nearby, puking his guts out.

  I leaned hard on my IV thingy, legs a bit more wobbly than I wanted to admit.

  The roof of the hospital provided a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains. A short jump, Mayfair had said.

  He stood near the edge, facing the mountains, cigarette three-quarters done. The sunset peeked out over the mountains, casting the roof in long shadows and the sky in shifting colors of orange and purple.

  “I thought a demonstration, not easily explained away, was the best approach with your brother,” he’d said as soon as we arrived.

  “Ronan? Rosario?” I’d asked.

  “Both fine, more or less. Ronan is convinced you are going to lead him on some grand adventure.” He snorted. “As if he needed another one.”

  “So I don’t have to actually be touching you to teleport? I can be touching someone you’re touching?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Mayfair replied. “You can grab everyone who is connected.”

  “Your father started this,” I said. “He’s the one who put this thing in my head.”

  Mayfair went quiet for a long tim
e. “What makes you think it was him?” he asked eventually. No surprise, no freak-out. Had he always known?

  “Rosario told me,” I answered. “I was three years old. My father brought me to your father when the magic started.”

  “Rosario doesn’t know for sure,” Mayfair said. “Anything could have happened in the chapel.”

  “He told you?”

  “I asked. He spilled. The point is, anything could’ve happened once the door closed. Someone else could’ve teleported in.”

  “You can’t know that,” I said.

  “No,” he replied, “but you can’t deny it’s a possibility, either.” He sighed. “Sam, I’m sorry. I should have trusted you sooner. You’re a good cop, and your instincts have been spot-on over and over. If I hadn’t let you in, let Jenni in, well, we probably wouldn’t know everything we do right now, wouldn’t have a chance to stop it before any more people get hurt. Thank you.”

  Jack Mayfair held his hand out, and I took it, shaking it firmly. “You’re welcome.”

  Behind us, Mikey wheezed.

  I turned.

  Pushing himself to his feet, Mikey took on the stance of someone ready to either fight or run. His legs were spread apart, hands at the sides, body turned just slightly so as not to present a full target. Had to be his military training kicking in. No way in hell was he going to be caught off guard, not a second time. The only thing that spoiled it? The slight green tint of his skin.

  He looked equal parts ready to kick some ass or puke.

  “What the hell is going on?” he asked.

  “Magic,” Mayfair said. Finishing his cigarette, he shredded the filter with his fingers, then tossed the remnants to the wind.

  I guess our chat was over. For now.

  Mikey watched him with renewed interest.

  “That’s what this is all about, why your sister stayed silent,” Mayfair said. “Had she started telling you about magic, Wizards, and Vampires, would you have believed her? Or would you have dismissed it as the ravings of a woman on the edge? This was the only way you would believe.”