Rob stopped. He didn’t move at all. “Take me away? No, it was just a nightmare. I’ll be good. Dad? Can you help? The drugs are making me sick and I still hurt. Since Galen isn’t here can you heal me a little?”
“Heal you?” His father blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“Dad?” Rob looked at him, Parry was sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Are you hungry?” his father asked.
“No, not really.”
“Maybe some juice or something?”
“No Dad, I don’t want anything.” His father reached over and patted his hand, and it was only that, an affectionate pat, nothing more.
They had been watching the television together in silence. The station had several fairly good shows on in a row and they were quiet together. It actually felt nearly normal. Until Rob realized something was going on in the hall. He could hear people running up and down and he thought he heard an alarm or something going off. He saw his father look towards the door.
“Dad? What is it?”
“I don’t know, Rob. I think I might go check it out.” His father stood.
A nurse burst into the room. “We need you down the hall. Your son…” Rob could hear someone saying “call the code.” The nurse pulled at his father’s arm. “Please, you need to come with me, if we can’t—you have to make the decision.”
His father took one look at him, it was a desperate haunted look. “Rob.”
“I’ll be good, Dad. Help Galen.” He father ran out of the room after the nurse.
Rob pulled against the restraints. He relaxed back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. A nurse came into the room. Rob pulled against the restraints and then looked back up at the ceiling. He lifted his head again when he heard the lock on the door click into place. Before he could react she was over at the bed and had her hand over his mouth. Rob saw movement by the door.
The bearded man was in the room with them. “Your father will be gone long enough for us to finish this first little bit. We only need a minute or two…this time.” He smiled at Rob, the terrible smile, and walked to the bed. He undid the restraint on Rob’s left arm and cut the bandages away with a silver knife. When he took Rob’s arm in his hand the touch was painful, like the thing’s claws. He said something in the strange language and then Rob saw what the nurse had in her hand. He started trembling. It was a golden cup. The bearded man raised the knife and cut deep into Rob’s arm.
“We need to begin. Time is running out.”
The pain radiating from the touch was excruciating. Rob could feel the blood running down his arm. He was getting light headed. The bearded man was mumbling in the language and the nurse was chanting along with him. He was beginning to panic, the memories from the farmhouse, from the rituals, were blending with the present.
He reached out for his brother and sensed him, then suddenly it felt like Galen’s heart stopped. “Galen!” Rob felt himself sliding away.
Chapter Thirteen
The heater crackled to life, startling the four of them. Rob was sitting on the couch beside Galen, his hands were shaking, one hand still toying with the tear in the hospital gown he was holding. Rhiannon was beside him, her arm over his shoulders. Mike was sitting across from the three of them, his face white.
“Never, never in a million years did I picture this,” the doctor said in a rough whisper. “What was wrong with Parry and Bobby? Usually Parry just heals people and zip, out they go. Just like you, Galen.”
“There was something going on, the staff was, well…” Galen broke off. Rob looked at him. “I knew something was going on, Rob. I was trying to get to you.”
“I know,” Rob said with a shaky smile.
“I was too late,” Galen let his head drop into his hands.
“What do you mean?” Mike asked.
“I knew something was wrong with Dad and Bobby, I could sense it the same way Rob could see it. I…I tried, but then, oh, gods, Rob, I was too late. By the time I heard you…”
Rob’s smiled brightened. “You did hear me? I thought you did, I thought you answered, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I heard you, but it was already too late.”
Past
Ten Years Before
Day Five to Day Six-Galen
“Galen?” his brother’s voice drifted through the darkness, “Galen.”
“Rob?” He thought he could hear his brother crying, and tried to answer. “Rob?” The darkness took him again.
“Galen? Can you hear me? There’s something wrong here.” Rob’s voice was suddenly there again, loud, but only in his head, like the soft call in a dream. “I just wanted to come by for a minute, Galen,” he heard his brother say from beside him.
“Rob? Is that you?” He tried to reach out for his brother, something was blocking him
“Whatever is going on, Dad and Uncle Bobby are affected,” Rob’s voice in his head said. “I’m worried about you, you need to get better Galen.” He thought he heard his father’s voice, there in the dark with his brother.
Galen thought he could sense someone standing by him. He could hear a rasping breath. “We’re not quite finished yet,” a voice said. “You and I. Not yet. You stopped the ritual and cost us—but all is not lost. No, not lost at all, Keeper.” The voice laughed, the sound chilled Galen. He thought he felt a hand over his mouth, blocking his nose. He couldn’t breathe. He fought against it.
“No!” Rob’s voice, shrill, afraid.
“This can wait,” the voice said. Galen heard his brother whimper. He tried to fight through the darkness, through the paralysis that held him wherever he was. He fought for a moment longer before he was lost again.
It was there, whatever it had been, beside him again. Galen could feel the cold coming from whatever it was. He could hear the breath rasping in and out. He smelled the death scent of rotting meat. Something touched him, a hand maybe, and pain filled him, reminding him of the touch of the thing in the clearing. He could feel it pulling his life away, feel the pain in his chest as his heart fought to keep going against the touch of the thing’s hand.
“Galen!” A voice whispered to him in that moment, he recognized his brother.
“Rob?” Pain was filling him as the touch ground into his chest.
That touch won, Galen’s heart stopped.
Galen took a deep breath. He was lying on a bed, he was pretty sure of that, and judging by the smell it was a hospital bed. Something was beeping with annoying consistency by his left ear. His chest hurt. Just drawing breath was agony. As he lay there memory started snaking back, curling its way through his consciousness. Rob in the car bugging him about his birthday, stopping for dinner, the fight outside the diner. Then the rest came flooding back, all at once.
“Rob!” He heard his own voice shout in the quiet room.
“Galen? Galen, thank the gods!” his uncle’s voice answered him.
Galen forced his eyes open. “Uncle Bobby?”
“How are you?”
“Where’s Rob?”
His uncle looked away for a split second, then back. It was enough to concern Galen. “Your brother is just down the hall.”
“Is he okay?”
Again his uncle’s eyes slid from him. “Yes.”
“Bobby? What?”
“Your brother is okay, Galen. He’s just down the hall,” his uncle said, looking out the window.
“There’s something wrong. I made it in time, didn’t I?” He reached out for his brother and was answered by a confused jumble of pain and fear.
“He is okay,” his uncle said each word carefully, but there was a deep sadness in his voice.
“Uncle Bobby? What’s wrong? Didn’t the healing work?”
“What?” Bobby sounded confused. Galen frowned.
“Dad’s with him?” Galen asked, Bobby nodded. “When can we go?”
“We have to wait, Galen,” Bobby said a little hazily. “There’s something…” Bobby blinked and shook his head
, his eyes coming to focus on Galen for a moment. “Galen?” And then his eyes slid away again.
Alarm bells started jangling in Galen’s head. “Okay, just down the hall? What room is he in?”
“He’s in room 400, Galen. You’re in 415. It’s just down the hall.”
“If you say just down the hall again, Uncle Bobby, I swear…” Galen tried for a grin, but his uncle ignored him. “Fine, how do I look?”
“What?” Bobby looked over at him.
“How do I look, Uncle Bobby? Am I okay?”
“What do you mean?” His uncle shook his head again, like a dog listening to something in the distance.
“How am I? I can’t remember much of what happened, but I know I got to Rob, I know that thing grabbed me, I healed Rob.” He was starting to feel consciousness drifting away again, it was an odd feeling. “Sedated? I’m fighting sedation. Why, Bobby? Why am I drugged?”
“You’ll be fine Galen. They’ve assured us you’ll be fine.” Galen closed his eyes and he thought he heard his uncle sigh, it had a catch in it. “At least you’ll be fine.”
What does that mean? He couldn’t fight his way back far enough to actually ask the question.
The room was empty when Galen woke up. He felt heavy, the affects of the drug still in his system. He focused inwards, trying to push the drugs as far away as he could. The annoying beeping was subdued. Galen opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. He was still drowsy and drifted along on his thoughts. His chest still hurt, although the pain had backed off a bit. He knew it wasn’t gone, just removed from him a little. I wonder where Uncle Bobby is? With Dad? Maybe he’s with Rob. His heart started beating harder as he thought of his brother. He heard the beep, beep speed up.
He tried to sit up. It wasn’t very comfortable, but he managed on the second try. Galen wondered if he could get all the way to his brother’s room before someone caught him, or the heart monitor betrayed him. He rolled the stop down on the IV tube and disconnected it from his hand, then turned the monitor off.
He stood up on legs that didn’t work quite right and headed for the door. He looked carefully down the corridor. There was no one racing towards his room with a crash cart. He got out the door and discovered he could barely walk. Leaning on the wall, he moved slowly down the hall. He went through a set of double doors and spotted room 400. He slid along the wall and into his brother’s room.
He had half expected to find his father in the room, but he wasn’t. His father and uncle had probably gone for coffee. They rarely lasted more than an hour with out getting a fresh cup. He was smiling as he turned to the bed. The slight good humor didn’t hold.
“Rob,” he said softly. His brother was lying on the bed. A blanket was pulled over him, hiding most of his body from Galen. Rob’s face was tracked with tears. Galen pushed himself off the wall and made it to the bed. He gently brushed the tears away from Rob’s cheeks. He laid his hand on his brother’s forehead to get a feel for what was going on. Pain radiated up from the touch, along with the sluggish feeling of drugs. Rob’s drugged? Why hasn’t Dad…?
Galen took a deep breath and put his other hand over his brother’s heart. He concentrated, working through the drugs in his own body to let the light flow, to let it seep into his brother. Galen felt the drugs shift, the sluggishness flowing into him as it left his brother’s body. “Rob?” he said softly. He didn’t want anyone to overhear him, and he didn’t want to startle his brother. “Hey, Rob. It’s me.” His brother moaned a little. It was a scared, pain-filled sound. “Rob?”
“Galen?” Rob whispered.
“Hey, Rob, yeah,” he said, leaning over the bed more, he could hardly hear his brother’s voice.
“Galen?”
His brother was afraid, Galen could hear it in that one word, he could sense it in his hand where it rested over his brother’s heart. “Yeah. I’m here. What is it?”
“Galen, they…they hurt me.”
“Sometimes doctors hurt you when they’re helping you.”
“No. They hurt me,” his brother said, his eyes hadn’t opened yet. Galen focused, trying to help Rob a little more. He felt himself slipping in response.
“Rob? Tell me, who hurt you?”
“They did, a nurse and…he…hurt me…Galen...said I'm special…the know about us…I can’t…” His brother relaxed suddenly.
“Rob!” Galen desperately tried to push the drugs back, away from his brother, he tried to ease Rob away from the pain. Galen focused on Rob for a minute, letting more of the healing flow into him. Rob sighed, Galen felt the pain diminish, felt more of the drugs move out. He pulled his hands away. Rob needed more, but Galen knew he had to get back to his room before someone caught him. “I’ll be back, Rob,” he said quietly and slipped out of the room. By the time he reached his own bed, he barely had the energy to reconnect the leads to the monitor and the IV tube. He left the drip off, not wanting any more of the drugs in his system. He let himself drift into sleep.
The annoying beeping was back. He hurt. He had the feeling some hours had passed. Galen opened his eyes. His father was sitting in the chair beside the bed. His eyes were red, like he’d been crying.
Parry seemed to sense his look. “Galen.”
“Dad?”
“It’s good to see you awake. You shouldn’t have gone to your brother’s room.”
“How did you know?” Galen sighed. “I had to know, Dad. I had to see him.” He looked at his father, Parry’s eyes slid away.
“You should have waited, Galen. I would have taken you down there,” his father said sternly. The voice sounded nothing like the man Galen knew.
“No.” Galen said. The word was sharp. “I needed to see Rob. I don’t feel any better after going down there. Dad?”
“What is it?”
“What’s going on with Rob?”
“He’s okay, Galen,” his father said, looking at the heart monitor.
“Dad? Why is he sedated?”
“How do you know he’s sedated?” His father turned unfocused eyes on him.
“I touched him, Dad. I tried my best to get rid of it, but I couldn’t. Whatever they’ve given him…Hmm.” Galen stopped, thinking about the “feel” of the drugs. “It feels wrong. Not just…it has something more in it than just drugs? Is that it?”
“He’ll be okay,” his father said, looking at his hands, acting like Galen hadn’t spoken.
“Dad?”
“Galen, your brother…”
“Don’t say he’ll be okay. I saw him Dad, there is something wrong, what is it?”
“Galen, Rob’s…” His father trailed off, and put his head in his hands. “Rob—there’s something wrong, Galen.” He stopped when a nurse ran into the room.
“I know, Dad, that’s what I’m talking about, what’s going on?” Galen demanded.
“It happened again, we need you. Now,” the nurse said. Parry looked at Galen and ran out of the room.
Galen struggled up and pulled the IV out. He didn’t care if the whole hospital thought he flatlined as he tugged the leads off the pads on his chest. He ran as quickly as he could to his brother’s room.
His father and uncle were trying to hold Rob down. His brother was screaming, there was blood everywhere. Galen swallowed. He ran into the room and shoved his father aside.
“Rob! Rob!” He put his hands on Rob’s shoulders, letting his hand curl gently around them, he focused the healing into Rob, desperately trying to reach him at the same time. “Rob, Rob, I’m here.” He could feel people trying to pull him away. He held on. “Rob, I’m here.” His brother stopped struggling, relaxing in his hands. “Rob,” he whispered. Galen saw a nurse head towards the other side of the bed. “No! Stay back, not yet.” She had a needle in her hand, he was pretty sure she planned to sedate his brother.
“Galen?” Rob whispered, terrified.
“I’m here.”
“Galen, they came back,” Rob said.
“Rob!” his father said,
stern, frightened.
“Who did? Tell me,” Galen said gently.
“They came back Galen. They hurt me again. They said ‘Keeper,’ they know, Galen. They know about us. It’s important. They said I'm, we, you and me, spec…” He slowly relaxed in Galen’s hands.
“I told you no!” He turned on the nurse who was standing by his brother. “Gods damn it. I said no!”
“Galen, calm down,” his father said, putting a hand on his arm. Galen stopped dead at the touch. There was nothing there. No warmth, no light, nothing of the “hum” he associated with his father’s touch. He turned shocked eyes on Parry.
“We need to let them get Rob cleaned up.” His father’s voice was flat, nearly without emotion. Galen glanced at his uncle, Bobby’s face was gray, his eyes unfocused.
Galen looked down at Rob, there was blood covering the bandages on his arms and chest. He swayed on his feet. The dash down the hall had cost him. “I’m not leaving him, Dad.”
“You need to go back to your room, Galen. I’ll be there as soon as I speak with the doctor.”
“No,” he said. It was an act of total defiance. “I won’t leave him.”
“Galen,” his father said. “You need to go back to your room. You shouldn’t be up yet, please go back.” His father sounded worried, desperate.
“Dad, I can rest here, in the chair,” Galen was pleaded, begging his father to understand, hoping to break through to Parry or Bobby, hoping the tone in his voice would reach them. He couldn’t risk anything more in the crowded room. He knew something was wrong, and had to stay with his brother.
His father had moved a little, leaning against the bed. “Galen, you’ve hurt yourself. You’re bleeding, you might have torn those stitches out.”
“Dad, I’m okay. Just let me stay with Rob.” He was pushing away the arms that were trying to hold him.
“Galen, I’m sorry.” It was his father begging him to understand, now.
“Dad, no.” He looked at his father. “I need…” He saw Parry nod at someone behind him. Galen felt a sudden pinprick and the world was fading, blurring. He felt himself falling and he knew his father caught him. It felt like betrayal to Galen as he lost consciousness.
The Legacy: A Custodes Noctis Book Page 17
