“We can go. We probably should let them know at the nurses’ station. And one of the doctors might need to recheck my condition.” The woman winced and gingerly swung her legs off the bed, sitting at the edge of the mattress.
CHAPTER 46
Human World, November 18, early evening.
Jasmira looked around. He really didn’t remember me. And he was so furious. But why? I’ve never seen him that angry before. What did Crystal do to him? She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Penelope’s number. “Darn, no service.” She looked at the little screen and sighed.
“Jasmira.” Doctor Bigbee walked up to her. She was still sitting on the floor. He peered into her face, placing one hand on her shoulder. “Your grandma will be fine. We are taking her out of the room to get her hip in the cast.”
“She’ll complain throughout the procedure. You’ll see.” She smiled and stood up.
He made a noise between a grunt and a short laugh. The floor under their feet rolled. Screams of surprise and horror echoed around them.
“Aftershock.” The doctor grabbed Jasmira’s arm and pulled her down to the floor. “Stay down.”
A nurse was hurriedly stowing two elderly patients under a sturdy desk. She squeezed herself in too. A few feet away on the floor, a young mother huddled three small children to her chest. An older man, most likely the kids’ grandfather, knelt next to them, wrapping his bony arms around the mother and the children. Sensing the adults’ panic, the kids started to wail.
Some patients stood plastered to the frames of the opened doors, looking around in horror. A frail elderly woman knelt on the floor by the wall. She had a dark-brown rosary woven through her fingers and her skinny, veined hands were clasped together. The woman’s eyes were squeezed shut, her lips feverishly moving.
Jasmira, lying on the floor, watched the old lady in awe. Maybe I should pray to my Goddess too? Yeah, right.
“You may, if you think she can spare some resources to help us,” Doctor Bigbee said with his mind. “Sorry, you were practically shouting that thought.”
“Oh,” Jasmira said. Her eyes didn’t leave the old woman’s wrinkled face.
“Don’t worry, the hospital building is under both Goddesses’ protection. That’s why we didn’t evacuate after the main earthquake,” the doctor murmured.
Jasmira gasped, looking at him. “Crystal’s protection? Am I safe here?”
“Not to worry. This is considered a neutral territory. Anyone can be a patient—any Shifter or human.”
“How come humans don’t question the fact that just in this building alone there is not much evidence of the earthquake? Look outside; it’s a war zone out there.” Her thoughts went back to her broken house, the destruction of the structure, and the worst of it—her grandmother’s injury. Why didn’t Amber protect us? We could have died. Doesn’t she care about me, the Race’s future Queen? And Grannie! She’s still the acting Queen since Dad’s death. The plane crash… Amber did that. And now she didn’t protect us. But why? Doesn’t she need me for her sick, twisted strategy?” This time Jasmira kept a protective wall around her thoughts.
“I don’t know what the humans think. Let’s not worry about that now,” Doctor Bigbee answered.
The shaking stopped as quickly as it started. Everyone, as if on cue, looked at each.
“It’s over,” Jasmira whispered. She heard a few people repeating the same words.
Doctor Bigbee nodded slowly and asked Jasmira if she was okay. He told her to sit by the wall and wait a few moments while he checked on the others. The nurses were helping the patients and the visitors, trying to calm everyone down. Two other doctors in white coats hurried down the hall. They disappeared into rooms opposite one another. Each of them emerged a couple of minutes later after checking on the patients, and went on to the next rooms.
Jasmira scrambled off the floor and pressed her back to the wall. She squealed in horror, when someone grabbed her arm from the side. Her heart leaped up to her throat.
“Are you okay?” Jatred’s sapphire eyes bore into hers. He let go of her arm.
“J,” she whispered. Her stomach did a flip, and she instantly forgot about what had happened between them earlier. “You… you came back?”
He blew a frustrated breath and slowly blinked. “Look, I really don’t know what’s going on with me. It’s true that I can’t remember you, but I don’t want to be a jerk. I feel so angry all the time, like there is something inside me that makes me this way. The earthquake came so suddenly, and I thought that you might be hurt.”
Jasmira didn’t comment on Jatred’s declaration. She was afraid to say or do anything, in case it would upset him again.
Jatred swore quietly and looked to the side. He chewed on his lip, and a deep frown settled between his brows. Jasmira kept watching him in silence, unsure of how to act. He turned his head to peek back at her. He lifted his hand and took a ringlet of her shiny, jet-black hair between his fingers, as if inspecting it. One corner of his mouth slightly lifted, his eyes transfixed on the strand of hair.
She glanced between his hand and his face.
Long curly hair dancing in the wind; soft black coils bouncing, mimicking a rhythm of a running horse. No, not a horse… a running girl. Laughing and running from me; turning to look if I’m chasing her. Where did I see that? Jatred dug the heels of his hands into his eyes and grunted in frustration. Who… but who?
“What it is?” she sounded anxious.
“Damn.” He hissed, exasperated.
“J… Jatred, what did you see? What did you remember?”
He shook his head and gritted his teeth. “Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt in the earthquake, right?”
“No. I’m fine. Doctor Bigbee is taking me back to Grandma. But…” She stopped herself, not wanting to upset him further. Her mind was racing, trying to come up with something to make him stay, to make him remember.
“Good. I need to go and check on my uncle.” Jatred turned and hurried away.
CHAPTER 47
Human World, November 18, early evening.
Penelope’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and looked at the screen. There was a text from Jasmira: “Don’t know when u get this if ever but I’m tryin. Saw J he can’t remember me. Where r u?”
“The cell towers must be working again!” Penelope shouted. She quickly typed a response, which informed Jasmira that she would try to call right away.
“Your phone’s working?” Erik sounded incredulous. He pulled his cell phone out as well and dialed Jatred’s number. “Hey,” he said excitedly, when he heard his friend’s voice. “You okay? Where are you, bro?”
Penelope was already talking with Jasmira, shooting glances at Erik, whose voice drowned out all the other sounds around. She slapped him on the arm, pointing to her phone.
“What?” he mouthed silently.
“I think Erik’s on the phone with Jatred,” she said to the phone, her eyes on her boyfriend. “I don’t know. I will ask him later. Where are you? Quickly, before we lose the connection.”
Speaking frantically, Jasmira told her friend about Jousenne’s hip injury, the damage her house endured in the earthquake, and her encounter with Jatred. At the same time, Erik heard Jatred’s recount of his climbing experience that morning, visiting badly-hurt Estelle at the hospital, and running into Jasmira. Jatred didn’t go into as many details as Jasmira did. He only related the happenings of the day in a bullet point report style.
Penelope waved madly to Erik. She covered the receiver with her hand and said, “Get him in here, before we leave the hospital. Now.” She said a few more words to Jasmira and ended the call.
Erik grimaced but obeyed and asked Jatred to meet them by the front entrance to the hospital.
“Penelope,” Savannah called out. She walked out of the hospital, supporting her mother. Logan held the older woman on the other side.
“You’re leaving. Where are you going? Home?”
Penelope asked.
“We need to check on our house. I hope it’s not too broken,” Savannah said. “I got my mom’s car just around the corner. Do you guys need a ride?”
“I don’t think we all can fit in.” Penelope shook her head. “It’s okay. We’re waiting for someone here anyway.”
“Sure. You guys take care.” Savannah nodded to Penelope and Erik.
“Call me if you need anything,” Logan said to them.
“Sure, man. Same here.” Erik bumped fists with Logan.
Large, fluffy snowflakes were peacefully dancing down from the dark sky. The temperature outside started to drop, and soon even the Winter Shifters noticed how much colder it became. The falling snow became denser, covering the broken city in a thick white blanket. Most of the lights were out due to the earthquake. St. Andrew’s hospital was equipped within several powerful generators, which also fueled some of the street lanterns. The city was fully awake, though; the repair crews, police patrols, emergency vehicles, and large groups of civilians added to the peculiar scenery of destruction.
“So what did Jatred say?” Penelope asked Erik. She zipped up her down jacket and pulled the hood over her head. She wore thick furry mittens and a scarf, tightly coiled around her neck and lower part of her face.
Erik couldn’t help but grin, looking at her. He drew her close and kissed her first on her cheek. Next, he pushed down the scarf with his fingers and kissed her lips. She closed her eyes and circled his neck with her arms.
The door flew opened, and Jatred walked through. “Hey,” he muttered with his mind.
Erik looked up, and Penelope let go of him. She turned around.
“Hey,” both of them said to Jatred in unison.
Erik clapped Jatred on the back and grinned. “You all right?”
“Yeah. You?” He looked from Penelope to Erik, his eyebrows raised.
Erik nodded, his smile crooked.
“Erik said you were rock climbing earlier today with your uncle,” Penelope started a conversation in a neutral tone.
“I did.” Jatred shrugged. “The earthquake started when I was on the rope.”
“Man. What happened then?” Erik couldn’t contain his excitement.
Penelope turned her head away and rolled her eyes.
“Uncle was belaying me. He was okay, though. I got down quickly, and we ran.” Jatred looked down. He kicked the snow with the tip of his Converse shoe, and then lifted his head to glance from Erik to Penelope. “One moment I’m up on the rock, climbing, feeling all free and jazzed up. The next, crap is falling down on my head, and the ground is shaking out of control.” He grimaced. “And trees started to tumble down. I had no idea an earthquake could be so freaking loud. There were even gaps in the ground, just like that, opening right at our feet. That was the worst.” He spat to the side, frowning.
“It was scary here too,” Penelope whispered. She encircled her arm around Erik’s and pressed herself into him. He looked at her and kissed the top of her head.
“I thought we might not make it out alive,” Jatred said. “Where were you two?”
Penelope lifted her head to look at Erik. He turned his face to meet her eyes and said, “We were actually downtown. Pen got hurt a bit, but fortunately nothing serious.”
“Yeah? What happened?” Jatred stuffed his hands in his pockets, his expression anxious.
“We ran by an old building when it started to crumble. Some debris hit me on the head. Bad timing, that’s all.” Penelope tried to grin carelessly, but only managed a wary smile. Her eyes flicked back to Erik for reassurance.
He understood her discomfort and, taking a deep breath, said with his mind to Jatred, “We shifted to run faster. We had to get out of there.”
Jatred narrowed his eyes, turning his head slightly to give them both a side-look. “You mean, in front of humans? Did anyone see you?”
Erik and Penelope exchanged a glance. She pressed her lips into a thin line and opened her eyes wide in a mocking expression.
“I’m afraid so. Well, maybe just a couple,” Erik tried to sound indifferent.
Jatred clucked his tongue and slowly shook his head, almost smiling.
All three of them burst out laughing. Soon they doubled over, laughing uncontrollably and leaning on each other for support.
Penelope sank down to her knees. “I can’t breathe. Stop, both of you.” She held onto her stomach, wheezing.
The boys were wiping their eyes and gasping for air. “That will make for interesting headlines,” Jatred finally managed to say.
“Nah.” Erik flicked his wrist, dismissively. “If someone admits to seeing two gigantic wild animals with human eyes, running through downtown Seattle, they will be either accused of making stuff up or hallucinating.”
“Let’s hope so. Maybe you shouldn’t tell anyone else about this.”
“Definitely not,” Penelope agreed. “It’s freezing.” She pulled her hood tighter around her face and stuck her gloved palm out. Thick snowflakes fell onto her hand, piling on top of each other. The snow was quickly covering everything in sight, wrapping the torn-up city in a white shimmering coat.
“By the way, I got a text from Bogdan. He’s at home with his folks. And Lusia’s okay too,” Jatred announced.
“Is Lusia with him?” Erik asked.
“Yeah. But she was at her house during the earthquake. Did you know about the Goddesses’ protection? Apparently all the Shifters’ places are supposed to be okay. Both Goddesses somehow managed to get a grip on this thing.”
“What do you mean… thing? The earthquake?” Erik rubbed a hand over his blond stubble.
“Uncle says this is the ten-thousand-year mark. All the disasters happening all over the world at once are the best indication. The Goddesses can’t stop it or change it. But they can throw a protective blanket over the Shifters’ homes and businesses,” Jatred explained.
“How do you guys know that?” Penelope looked up from brushing the snow off her jeans.
“From Bogdan’s parents. They are our Race’s Historians and really know this stuff better than anyone else. They are like scientist-celebrities for our Race. Seriously.” Jatred rolled his shoulders and tilted his head from side to side, stretching his neck muscles. “I’m tired. And hungry. I gotta find something to eat.”
Penelope looked at him, startled. “Wait a minute. You said the Shifters’ places are protected? Then how come Jasmira’s house got messed up in the quake? Why wasn’t it protected? They’re the Royals, after all.”
Erik and Jatred looked at her sharply. Penelope related to them what she just heard from her girlfriend.
“I bet it was Amber. She’s teaching Jasmira a lesson,” Penelope stated firmly. She angrily shook the snow off her hood and stomped her feet. “Jasmira failed her with Jatred, and now Amber will press her to get the job done.”
“What?” both boys shouted.
“Wait a minute. Jatred peered into Penelope’s face. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
Penelope exhaled a puff of breath. It steamed in the chilly air, forming white clouds in front of her face before quickly dissolving. She adjusted her hood, bringing it closer to her face and said, “Amber wanted you and Jasmira to stay together, because of the ten-thousand-year mark. If you, the Winter Prince, and her, the Summer Princess, are in love when all hell breaks loose, Amber would gain a lot of power, and the scale of supremacy would tip to the Summer’s side. This can happen only every ten thousand years. So you see why Amber is kinda anxious to have it done right this time. You and Jasmira fit the profile, unlike all the Royal couples in the past.”
“What are you talking about?” Erik squinted at her. “How do you know all this?”
Jatred stared at her, speechless. Finally he shook his head. “You’re out of your mind, Pen. Someone’s making this up.”
“Oh, shut up. You can believe what you want.” Penelope’s fists were on her hips. “Why do you think Crystal erased your memory?”
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Jatred’s eyes grew larger. He glared at her, blinking the snow off his long eye-lashes.
Erik cleared his throat and took a step closer to Penelope. “Pen?” He drew circles with the palm of his hand on the back of her jacket, trying to calm her down.
“What?” she snapped at him, moving away, and giving him a frowning look. She sighed and said, “I’m sorry, guys. I just… this is just too crazy to understand. Jasmira told me all these things last night, when she came back from Santa Barbara. I didn’t even have a chance to digest it all. It’s so scary, just insane. Like a very bad dream.”
“Let’s go somewhere else, where we can talk. This,” Erik gestured widely, “is not the place, even when we pull up the mental shields and talk in our heads. Besides, you’re freezing, girl.”
Jatred chewed on his lip, looking from Erik to Penelope. “Yeah, but where can we go? Look around—every place is either broken or closed.”
“Must be a Shifter’s house. If this is true, you know, the Goddesses’ protection thing, then a Shifter’s home would be our best bet. Let’s go to my place,” Erik offered. “Georgeta should hear this too. We should get Bogdan and Lusia. Or better yet, let’s go to Bogdan’s. I’ll call my parents to meet us there.”
“Why there?” Penelope asked.
“Because the Tornwoods are the best of our Race’s historians. Like I said, they know things we’ve never heard of. You gotta tell them what you’ve found out,” Jatred explained, while Erik talked on the cell phone with his father.
“Wait, I need to tell my parents where I’m going, or they will freak out. They are still at the hospital with Estelle.” Penelope took her phone out. “I see the cell towers are operating.” She pointed to Erik, dialed, and was connected to her mother.
“They will freak out anyway, when she tells them she’s going to one of the wolves’ houses.” Erik grinned.
Jatred chuckled, and then decided to let his uncle know where he was headed. Erik texted Bogdan and waited patiently for his friends to finish their calls. Penelope sent a short text to Jasmira with an update on her discussion with the Winter friends. Jatred ended his quick phone conversation with Tyrrell and chose to text Savannah. A moment later the trio walked away from the hospital building, their shoes leaving tracks on the snow-covered ground.
Forged by Greed Page 27
