Illusion

by C. L. Roman

  A nurse rushed forward, asking questions and checking vitals. The woman looked familiar and Gwyneth glanced at her name tag. Hadely.

  The head EMT gave a terse accounting of Cole's injuries. "Four deep lacerations to the face running diagonally left to right, deep abrasions to the left hip and knee, large contusion of the back of his head. He's been unconscious since before our arrival on the scene according to the witness." He glanced at Gwyneth, but she didn't look up from Cole's face. "BP is ninety over forty, heart beat is weak and thready. Respiration steady at 60 bpm."

  Nurse Hadely moved in, politely but firmly edging Gwyneth aside. "Take him to four and page Dr. Martin, STAT," she said, to no one in particular, but the EMTs moved the gurney and a moment later, the hollow voice of the PA system announced that Dr. Martin was needed in exam room four. She turned kind eyes on Gwyneth. "Are you hurt?"

  Gwyneth shook her head and but the nurse gave her a measuring glance. "You'll need to wait in chairs then. It's just over there. We'll let you know how he is doing as soon as we can."

  "I need to be with him."

  Hadely's eyes cooled. "You will be in the way," she said. "I know you want to help him, but the best way for you to do that now is to contact his next of kin. Do they know what's happened?"

  "No, there hasn't been time to call anyone. We were attacked and then..." her voice wobbled into silence and a tear traced a path down her cheek.

  She patted Gwyneth's arm. "I understand. Are you sure you don't want a doctor to check you out? You look awfully pale."

  "I'm fine, I just need you to take care of Cole."

  "We will do our best for him. Try to get in contact with his family, would you?"

  Gwyneth nodded and Nurse Hadely strode off. Pulling out her cell phone, Gwyneth tapped in a number.

  "Xavier? There's been an accident. Cole is..." Her voice trailed off as she stared at the man who had just entered the ER.

  "Gwyneth? Gwyneth!" Xavier's voice rose in pitch with each syllable, calling her back to the task at hand.

  "We are at Blane-Cossering. You need to get down here right away. And you'll want to call your parents as well."

  "What has happened?"

  "I'll tell you when you get here Xavier. Cole needs you. Please hurry."

  A small silence greeted her words and she heard him take a deep breath. "All right. I'm on my way." The connection clicked off and she pocketed her phone.

  She turned a frost-edged gaze on the newcomer. "What are you doing here Loki?"

  "As it happens, trying to help. I heard about tonight's little fracas and thought I'd offer my assistance."

  "And what assistance might that be? Do you know something about the monster that attacked us tonight? I swear to you on my life, if you sent that — that thing — after us, I will cut your throat myself."

  "My word but you've gotten bloodthirsty since we last spoke." She didn't respond and he rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Oh please, what have I got to gain by attacking you, or Cole for that matter?"

  "Nothing, so far as I know. But then, I don't know a lot of things about this place, or you."

  "I am here to help, that's all."

  Gwyneth's jaw tightened. After a moment's silence, she said, "And how will you help Loki? Can you heal him?"

  "Not exactly, no." Loki spun the gold link on his shirt cuff. "I simply heard what happened an came to offer whatever support I can."

  "You heard what happened?" She stared at him a moment and then crossed to the nearest empty seat in the waiting room and sat down. "I wonder how you "heard" Loki. It can’t have been on the news, because I haven't seen a single reporter. Did a mutual friend tell you?" She widened her eyes and shook her head. "But no, we have no mutual friends. So tell me, Loki. I am very interested to know. How did you know Cole had been hurt?"

  "You have a nasty turn of mind for someone so lovely. As you are obviously upset about your friend, I'll forgive you." He sat down next to her. "I swear to you, it was on the news, but all they said was that there had been some kind of brawl in the garment district and that the" — he mimed air quotes — "'up and coming new fashion designer, Cole Delaney,'" had been injured and was being treated at Blane-Cossering."

  She shook her head. "You are lying. And even if you aren't, you have your own agenda for being here. Go away, Loki. I have more important things to attend to —"

  "Miss Nephel?" Nurse Hadely was standing in the entrance to the waiting room and Gwyneth stood and joined her. "We have him stabilized, but his injuries are more severe than we first thought. Have you been able to contact his family?"

  "His brother is on his way and I'm sure he's contacted their parents. I asked him to." She bit her lip. "How is Cole? He's is going to be well, isn't he?"

  Hadely's eyes were kind, but her tone was firm. "I'll answer your questions as soon as I can. First, can you tell me what happened? How was he injured?"

  "We were attacked by a demon. He struck Cole and when Cole fell, I think he hit his head on the floor."

  Scratching her forehead, the nurse frowned. "His assailant only landed one blow?"

  "I think so. The demon moved so fast. I —"

  "The injuries to his face — what weapon did the attacker use?"

  "Weapon?"

  "Well, you don't expect me to believe this thug did this much damage with his bare hands, do you?" She gripped Gwyneth's arm and steered her into a seat. "I knew you should have seen a doctor. You are obviously suffering from shock and have some gaps in your memory."

  Gently, but firmly, Gwyneth shook off Hadely's grip. "I am fine, really. Please tell me. Is he going to be healed?"

  "We can't give out information on his condition without his or his family's permission."

  "He is a brother to me."

  The nurse blinked. "He's your brother?"

  "He has taken care of me since I arrived in the city. He gave me a job, he protected me from the — monster — that sent him here."

  "That makes him a really nice guy, but not a relative. I'm sorry I can't tell you more without his or his family's permission." She patted Gwyneth's arm and looked up. Seeing a passing orderly, she said, “Patricia, take Ms. Nephel into exam two." Gwyneth would have protested, but Hadely just shook her head. "It can't hurt to check your vitals." She shot a look over her shoulder and leaned closer, whispering, "Besides, your conversation with Slick over there didn't look like it was going too well. This will put an end to that. Who is he? Press?"

  "Worse. A salesman." Gwyneth stood as the orderly approached and allowed herself to be led toward the exam room.

  "Gwyneth!" Xavier burst through the doors and plowed through the room on high alert. His shock of platinum hair was still wet and he wore a pair of baggy, lime green sweats with none of his usual aplomb. "I'm sorry I took so long. I was in the shower when you called. Where is Cole?"

  "Xavier! Nurse, this is Cole's brother, Xavier." She turned back to him. "They won't tell me anything."

  "I told you we can't." Hadely turned to Xavier. "You are his brother?"

  "Yes, how is he?" Worry etched deep lines around Xavier's mouth.

  "I'll tell the doctor you're here. He'll want to explain things to you himself." She shot a look at the hovering orderly and nodded toward the empty exam room. "Patricia?"

  "Sure, Hadely. Come on now Miss. Let's get you checked out."

  "I told you, I'm fine," Gwyneth said. "I want to hear about Cole."

  Xavier frowned at her. "You don't look fine. Gwyneth, please let them check you over. I can't have two family members sick." He took in her tight jaw and darkened eyes. "All right," he relented. "I'll bring the doctor to the exam room if you'll agree to go there and let them look at you."

  "Follow me please," Hadely said, and walked down the corridor. Xavier gave Gwyneth a helpless shrug and hurried after her.

  The orderly took a firm hold on Gwyneth's arm. "This way Miss." Gwyneth took a deep breath but didn't move when Patricia tugged on her.

  "You will re
lease my arm, please."

  "Now listen —"

  "No, you will listen." She stepped closer to the woman, deliberately towering over her more diminutive height. "There is nothing wrong with me, but, since Xavier will bring the doctor to the room where you are taking me, I will go there and wait as he asked. I will follow you, but I will not be hauled about like a child. Is this clear to you?"

  Patricia swallowed and took a step back, dropping Gwyneth's arm as she moved. "It is clear. This way please."

  "Gwyneth —" Loki started toward her but Gwyneth was already moving down the hall.

  She didn't look back. "Good-bye Loki. I will not see you later." She pretended not to hear his parting comment, but it echoed down the hall after her.

  "Oh yes, you surely will."

  Entering the exam room, she sat down on the bed as Patricia indicated and held up her arm for the blood pressure cuff.

  "So, have you been in the city long?"

  Gwyneth fixed her gaze on the door. "A few months."

  The orderly wrapped the BP cuff around Gwyneth's arm and slid the round disk of the stethoscope under its edge. "Really? Do you like it?"

  "It is as good a place as any."

  "You don't sound too enthusiastic. I love it here," Patricia chattered away for several minutes about the theatre, the park, and the art museums.

  Gwyneth rubbed her forehead, suddenly, achingly aware of how tired she was. A sudden thought flashed through her mind. "How is Lenny?"

  "Lenny?" A frown chased across Patricia's brow and then disappeared. "Oh, you mean the security guy — Lenny Mason? I'm not supposed to..." she trailed off under Gwyneth's glare. "Yeah, he's gonna be ok. He's got a nasty wound on his neck, but he's awake and talkin'."

  "Well, that is some good news at least."

  The door swung open and Xavier hurried in, the ER doctor in tow. "I told you, she is like family. She needs to hear this too, and besides, I promised." He spun around and planted his fists on his hips. "Now spill. How is Cole? How soon can we take him home?"

  Gwyneth felt a spark of recognition fire across her brain. "You were the doctor who examined Jotun the night we came through — the night we arrived."

  Dr. Martin's brows lifted. "I am indeed and I remember that I didn't get a chance to examine you before that idiot drug rep whisked you out the door." He studied her for a moment. "You don't seem to do very well at staying out of trouble, do you?"

  "It is difficult to do when trouble makes such a determined effort to find me. How is Cole?"

  Martin's face settled into grim lines. "He isn't well. The facial lacerations, though the most visible, are the least of his problems. He has a severe concussion. We won't know the extent of the damage until the swelling goes down, if it does."

  Xavier's hands fluttered up to clutch at an imaginary collar. "What do you mean, 'if?'"

  "We conducted a GCS test and he scored an eight."

  "Out of what?" Xavier asked.

  "Out of a possible fifteen. An eight isn't the worst he could have gotten, but he is still unconscious. He is responding to painful stimuli, but we haven't been able to bring him around."

  "What is this 'bring him around'?" Gwyneth stood next to Xavier and slipped her hand into his.

  He patted her arm. "It means get him to wake up. Doctor, I'm going to need you to lay this pattern out straight for me. How bad is it? He's going to be all right, isn't he?"

  "We are doing everything we can. As I said, the swelling has to be brought down before we can correctly assess the damage. Aside from the TBI, he also has three broken ribs and the cuts on his face are bone deep. He'll need plastic surgery and even then, he may lose the right eye."

  The blood drained from Xavier's face and Gwyneth put an arm around his waist. "TBI?" he whispered. "That's a traumatic brain injury, right? People die from that, or they are paralyzed for life."

  "That is a possibility, yes, but we can't be sure of anything yet."

  Xavier leaned into Gwyneth and she glared at Martin. "And what will you do to help him?"

  "We've inserted an ICP and a Licox to monitor his intracranial pressure and oxygen levels."

  Gwyneth and Xavier looked at each other and back at the doctor.

  "Intra-what?" Xavier said.

  "What do you mean, 'oxygen levels'?" Gwyneth asked at the same time, and the doctor shook his head.

  "Look," he said. "Cole took a blow to the head that has caused a bruise on his brain. Just like if you fall or take a punch in the arm, it bruises. Blood pools under the skin, discoloring it, causing swelling. Well, skin stretches, but the brain is pretty much a closed unit. There's no place for the blood to go. So pressure builds up and it can cause damage to the brain if it gets too severe and/or doesn't go down in time."

  "Oh god." Xavier whispered. Gwyneth eased him down next to her on the hospital bed and eyed the doctor coldly.

  "I know it sounds bad," Martin said. "But, so far his respiration is normal, and that's a good sign. The neurointensivist is with him now and I'll have her come down and talk with you when she finishes."

  Xavier made an effort to stiffen his posture and stand on his own. "Ok," he said. "So what's next?"

  Martin sighed. "Next, we wait."

  "And how long will this waiting be?" Gwyneth asked.

  "That's a good question," he said. "The first twenty four hours are critical. The swelling should stabilize by then and, within the next couple of days, start to go down."

  "And you will monitor him yourself?" she asked.

  Martin shook his head. "No, we'll be moving him to the NSICU. There, the neurointensivist and her team will monitor the cranial pressure and his general condition. So long as it doesn't get too high and there's no infection, the best thing to do is give Cole's body the rest and the time it needs to heal itself."

  "Can we see him?" Xavier pushed to his feet and Gwyneth stood with him.

  "For a moment only. And I have to warn you. His appearance may be unsettling to you."

  The pair was already moving toward the door and Dr. Martin turned to open it. "Follow me," he said.

  The walk down the hall was short and quiet. Martin pushed the door to exam four open and stepped inside.

  Xavier gasped and Gwyneth clutched his hand tight enough to stop the circulation. Cole lay on the gurney, an IV tube in his arm and several white cables sprouting from small cuts in his scalp. His face was a mask of blood soaked bandages and the little bit of skin they could see was paper white. Gwyneth moved to his side, simply lifting and repositioning a nurse who tried to stop her. The nurse looked at Dr. Martin, who shook his head.

  Gwyneth took Cole's hand, tears falling unchecked and unheeded down her cheeks. "Sweet Ahba, have mercy," she whispered, her voice a broken thread of sound.

  Xavier leaned against the door frame for a moment and then turned to the doctor. "You will do whatever it takes to get him through this."

  Dr. Martin held Xavier's gaze with calm compassion. "We will. You can count on it."

  Xavier stepped back, into the hallway and Gwyneth looked up. "Where are you going?" she asked.

  "To the chapel. It’s the only place I can think of where I might do him some good."

  "You what!" Jotun's shouted question bounced off the hotel room walls, rattling the pictures and ruffling the curtains. The cup in his hand imploded under the sudden pressure of his fingers, spraying glass and juice across the floor.

  "I did what you should have done. I killed him." Surt eased himself onto the couch, repositioning himself three times before he settled.

  "For what? Getting me away from that pack of human hyenas?"

  "For getting in my way," Surt shouted. "It would have been better if he had never come between Freya and me."

  Jotun felt something cold and sick slide through his belly. "If you have harmed her, I will..." He stopped, his dread choking him.

  "You will what? Why should you care if Freya has come to harm?"

  An itch started in Jotun's palms
and he clenched his fists.

  "Don't worry, Freya was not my target. I never touched her," Surt said.

  Some of the tension eased out of Jotun's shoulders, but his eyes remained sharp as knives. "Then what did you do?"

  "Something you should have done yourself, without allowing him to set a hook under your jaw."

  "If I am a fish, I am a leviathan, and certainly not afraid of such a puny fisherman."

  Surt cast him a cold, heavy lidded stare. "And yet you have hidden here, whining about your uncertainty and your regrets. You are pathetic."

  "And you are reckless and bloodthirsty. Have you seen the news? Freya had already announced my presence to the entire Earth, but it was limited to fan magazines and gossip columns. Now you've added bloody assault to the mix and it's national news."

  "It will die down." He pulled a knife from his boot and began cleaning the blood from under his nails. "Tomorrow, maybe the next day, another story will take over the headlines. We will be old news."

  Jotun paced the floor, ignoring the glass crunching underfoot. "And in the meantime, our tie to Conroy gets weaker and weaker while we are forced to hide here, waiting for things to 'die down' as you say."

  "Why should we? As far as he knows, this is nothing to do with him."

  "You didn't see his wife and Freya. I am certain Conroy and Caroline are under her protection. You cannot think she will keep quiet about this?"

  "What can she tell them? As far as she knows it was a random attack. A vagrant, looking for a handout, angry when he didn't get what he wanted."

  "Freya knows the stench of demon as well as I do. She likely already knows about the summit — why else would she be here?"

  "I am a fire giant," Surt snarled. "Not a demon. And if she does tell him what has happened, so what?" He rocked his head left, then right, and the cords in his neck stood out in stark relief.

  "She saw me at the showing. She knows I was sitting next to Caroline. How long before she starts putting things together?" He dropped into a chair and leaned his elbows on his knees. "I won't be able to go anywhere without a disguise and you?" His lips curled with grim satisfaction. "You won't be able to go out at all unless you are willing to expend the energy to transform."