Behind her, Mildred was still smiling at all of us. Now she cleared her throat and spoke. “Though I handle most of the diagnostics myself, I have additional staff available if we ever get overloaded. Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet, but with all of you arriving, I’ll probably call in a bit of additional help. My priority is making sure that you’re all tested as completely, safely and comfortably as possible.”
I saw Tess’ mom look around uncertainly. Tess’ dad wasn’t there—apparently he was at work. I didn’t know what kind of work could be more important than making sure his daughter wasn’t being sent to some kind of secret serial killer hospital, but I wasn’t there to judge. I didn’t know much about Tess’ home life, just like I was careful to make sure she didn’t know much about mine.
Mildred went on to explain her whole diagnostic procedure. From the way she went on, it sounded like it spanned the course of a few days. Soon my attention wandered, and I began fingering the buttons on the lifeless machines beside the beds. Mildred no doubt saw me fiddling with them, but she didn’t say anything or tell me to stop. It was a little out of character, but it made sense—she wasn’t really a doctor, and these machines probably didn’t even really work.
Once we were done in that room, Anna ushered us all in to the next one. Like the first, the room was filled with a dozen beds. Most of the fancy machines were gone, however, replaced by simple heart rate monitors and IV stands. A cute but vapid-looking redhead staffed this room, and she stared at us with wide blue eyes as we all stepped in.
“This is what we call the rest room,” said Anna. “This is where we bring patients who have fallen asleep and are temporarily unable to be revived.”
“Oh, good,” said Calvin’s mom. “That happens quite often with them.”
“So I’ve heard,” said Anna. “We’ve been getting quite a few reports of people with symptoms like yours. We’re still trying to isolate the cause.”
“And what about that?” said Miles’ mom. “How long can we expect this whole thing to last? How long before this…condition, or whatever you call it, is cured?”
Anna twisted her mouth in a perfectly uncomfortable attempt at a smile. She was a better actor than any of these yahoos she had running around the office. “Well, honestly, Mrs. Grave, we don’t like to use the word ‘cure.’ The program that your kids are enrolling in is a data gathering trial. Of course, we’re hoping to make a breakthrough that will enable us to fix whatever is wrong. But the honest answer is that in all likelihood, it will be years and years of testing before we even really begin to get a handle on what’s happening within your children’s bodies. What we try to offer in exchange during that time is free care to help alleviate their symptoms—that is, the constant sleeping—and the chance to use their own debilitation to assist in the eventual cure of themselves and others.”
The mood in the room darkened considerably at that. No one spoke, but you could feel it. As soon as Anna said the word “years,” everyone seemed to grow solid as a rock.
Sarah saw a cue and took it. She put a hand on her dad’s arm. “Dad, it’s okay. At least they’re going to keep me safe while we try and figure this out.”
He looked down at her, unconvinced, before returning his gaze to Anna. “What about their lives? You mean to say they’re going to be tethered to this place? These kids are about to go to college.”
I snorted. No one paid me any attention.
“I’m certain that, whatever happens in the future, we’ll be able to make arrangements,” said Anna. “We have facilities all over the world. We’ll be able to make this work around your schedules. That’s what’s most important to us.”
Raven’s dad looked at the cute, redhead actress who was still standing there, same airhead smile plastered on her face. “Well, what do you do here?” he said. “What’s your routine when patients come in?”
The girl was caught off guard. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. Her blue eyes darted around the room. The attention of the other adults quickly swiveled to her, furthering her discomfort. That wasn’t good.
“Probably a first-year, fresh out of residency,” I said, thinking fast. “Aren’t you the one who gives the IV’s and nutritional supplements and stuff?”
The girl gulped, but the prompt helped her collect her thoughts. “That’s right,” she squeaked. “My job is to make sure that, when the kids are asleep, they’re getting lots of fluids and nutrition. A body is always working, even when it’s asleep. Medicorp is set up to deliver what the body needs in those long sleep stretches, something that cannot be done from home. I’m here to watch over their health.” She swept her hand through the air as if reveling a showcase at The Price is Right. She had the looks to be an actor but I had seen more talent in a can of tuna.
There was an awkward pause before Anna jumped in, “Along with another senior staffer in this room, who’s out at the moment,” said Anna. She shot me a look over the crowd, gratitude in her eyes. “Come on, why don’t I show you all the lounge area?”
As we filed through the door, Tess hung back a bit. “How’d you know that?” she asked quietly.
“My grandma used to be a nurse before she passed away,” I said.
“Oh, cool,” she said with a quick smile. Then it disappeared. “I mean, sorry she…”
“It’s cool. It was a long time ago.” That was a lie. It had only been about three years, right after my grandpa. But I didn’t like to talk about that.
Anna showed us through the whole rest of the building. The parents “ooh’ed” and “aah’ed” in all the right places. Before I knew it, we were back in the reception area.
“And that’s the tour,” said Anna. “Any questions?”
“I think I’m satisfied,” said Miles’ mom. As though she was the authority for everyone, I saw heads bob up and down throughout the rest of the group.
“How soon can they start?” said Raven’s mom, an edge in her voice. Raven had been the most vocal in her resistance to Medicorp. Her mom probably wanted to get the kids started before she changed her mind.
“Any time you’re comfortable,” said Anna. “We can get them in for preliminary testing right now, if you want. As you can see, the facility is quite new and still mostly empty.”
“Do you want to start now?” asked Sarah’s mom.
Sarah shrugged. “Sure.”
“Can we come in for the testing?” asked Raven’s mom.
Anna’s eyes widened slightly. She opened her mouth to reply, but Raven spoke first.
“Oh, God, Mom,” she said. “Please don’t. Just…wait out here. I’ll come out when I’m done.”
“It would honestly be best to have less bodies in the room at the same time,” said Anna apologetically.
“Of course,” said Miles’ mom. “We’ll wait here.” Again, eager nods from all the other parents.
The parents found seats in the plush leather chairs that lined the reception walls, and we followed Anna through a door and into an empty room within the facility.
“I think that went really well,” said Anna.
“You ain’t kidding,” said Miles. “If you can sell my mom on this place, you can sell anyone.”
“Well, glad we were up to the task.”
Another door opened, and I whirled toward the sound. From a room that I’d thought was a broom closet, Briggs stepped out. He had to stoop and turn sideways to fit his massive bulk through the door. I prided myself on being a tough guy, but Briggs could probably have beat up a whole football team by himself. I had mad respect for that.
“Everything’s in order?” he asked, his baritone voice slamming off the linoleum and reverberating in the smallish space.
“Went great,” said Anna with a smile. “The kids are in preliminary testing right now.”
“Well we’d better get them over there, then,” said Briggs.
“Wait, how does this work now?” said Sarah. “Where do we go from here?”
“When you spend mor
e time than normal in Midrealm, your parents will notify us,” said Briggs. “I’ll make my rounds and pick you all up, bring you here. You’ll be hooked up to life support and vitals monitoring in the away room.”
“The away room?” said Raven.
Briggs shrugged. “That’s what we’ve always called it. No reason to change it up now.”
“That’s why you weren’t around for the tour,” I said. “You’re the ambulance driver.”
Briggs gave a quick nod. “You got it. Better me than Anna. I doubt she’d enjoy lifting each of you up and carrying you into an ambulance.”
“Ugh,” said Anna. “No thanks.”
“Well, I guess we’re all set, then,” said Sarah. But her face was reserved.
“Something wrong?” said Anna.
“I don’t know. I just hope this works out. I mean, it’s great. It just seems too good to be true.”
Anna gave a small smile. “Well, that’s a good problem to have. Come on. Let’s have Mildred get you started.”
GIANT'S GATE
BLADE
ONCE WE ALL LEFT, WE went straight home. We arrived back in Midrealm just a couple of hours later. We were on the run now. There was no time for messing around. We had to move.
The day before, we’d been seen by Terrence’s forces. One of his chief lieutenants in particular. All we knew about her was she was a lady who wore a hood that kept us from seeing her face. I’d fought her once. It wasn’t something I wanted to do again. She was as merciless as she was deadly.
Now that she’d seen us and escaped, she was no doubt getting word to Terrence as quickly as she could. I’d like to think she’d have to run all the way back to Morrowdust before coming back, but I knew that couldn’t be the case. She had to have some faster method of communication, and once she used it, Terrence would bring everything he had to try and kill us.
Which is why Greystone was so ticked off, of course.
“You what?” he roared.
“We were seen by one of Terrence’s agents,” said Sarah. “She got away during the fight.”
“How could you let her escape?” said Greystone. “Don’t you realize what this means?”
“Of course we do,” said Sarah. “That’s why we’re telling you about it now.”
Greystone paced back and forth, his ghostly figure almost comical as it tramped across the grass. We were talking with him via the telestone Tess had. The rest of us could see him, too, by maintaining a connection to Tess. It made for a very “kumbaya” atmosphere, but no one was feeling peaceful and loving right now.
“How long ago?” asked Greystone.
“Yesterday afternoon,” said Sarah. “We got as far south as we could after that and camped hidden in the mountains.”
“Terrence will be hunting you,” said Greystone. “You will have to beware of every movement. Every shadow.”
“Great,” I said. “We’re back to being terrified again. Can’t we just go two days without that?”
Greystone’s eyes flashed as he rounded on me. “Don’t give me lip, boy. Somehow I’m positive that this is your fault.”
“Me?” I said, shocked. “What did I do wrong? You’re the one who told us to go rescue Meridia. If it was up to me, we would have left her in that tower.”
How dare you? The angry voice flared in my mind, and I winced. We’d had to conceal Meridia in the ring I carried, an heirloom of one of the first six mages who fought against Chaos. Meridia wasn’t with us in body any more, but her mind was still working perfectly. And she could hear everything we said, apparently.
“Quiet, Meridia,” I mumbled. “We’re talking.”
Do you think your conversation concerns me? she spat.
Greystone had turned back to Sarah. “You must keep a watch for crows,” he said.
“The birds?” said Miles.
“Of course not, fool!” Greystone snapped. “The winged creatures of Chaos. They are Terrence’s scouts. They have been roaming Athorn far and wide in search of you. As soon as Terrence finds out what has happened, he will send them all speeding away south.”
“That’s good, at least,” I said. “You’ll be able to warn us. You’ll know as soon as Terrence finds out about us.”
“Oh, pardon me while I jig with joy,” said Greystone. He hitched up the hem of his robe, displaying thin, wasted, hairy shins, and did a few dance steps.
Calvin clapped his hands to his face. “My eyes!”
“We’ll watch for them,” said Sarah. “But Blade is right. At least you’ll be able to warn us when they’re coming.”
“No, I do not think so,” said Greystone flatly.
“What?” said Sarah. “Why not?”
“I am afraid I will be unavailable for some time,” said Greystone. His eyebrows drew together, and the wrinkles in his face seemed to deepen. “There is something I must do. Something I had rather hoped I would not need to do.”
“What, you’re just taking off on some side quest?” said Calvin. “What the heck, man? We need you!”
“Do not second guess me!” said Greystone. “Now that the enemy knows of you, there are other things that need doing. Other plans to put in place.”
“Why don’t you just let us in on them?” I growled. “Remember what happened the last time you didn’t tell us what was going on? We thought you died.”
“Plans are safest when kept to oneself,” Greystone sniffed. “You should have thought of that before you went gallivanting off and telling Terrence’s forces of your location.”
“We didn’t tell anyone squat!” I shouted. “You told us to go to the tower!”
“And did I tell you to shout to Terrence and the world that you were a thousand leagues away from Morrowdust?” he roared back. “Did I?”
I find myself liking this Greystone very much, came Meridia’s thoughtful voice in my head.
“Oh, shut up, Meridia!” I said.
“Tell me at least that you did not lose the runestones,” said Greystone.
That gave me pause. We’d been so busy on this whole journey that at times, I’d almost forgotten about the runestones.
I reached to the pouch at my belt and untied it. My ring clinked against the rock as I pulled it out. It was opaque, carved with a thousand facets, and a deep red. The pouch was double-lashed onto my belt, and another strap wrapped around my leg so it wouldn’t go anywhere. The top was tied tightly with leather straps so that the rock couldn’t move.
“They’re right here,” I said. “Or at least mine is. None of you better have lost yours—I fell into lava, and I’ve still got mine.”
“We’ve all got them,” said Sarah.
“Good,” said Greystone. “You will need them when you reach the mountain.”
“What exactly are we supposed to do with them?” said Raven. “You were never exactly very clear on that.”
“I said you will know,” said Greystone. “I do not say that out of desire to hide the truth from you. In all honesty, I know not what purpose the runestones will serve in rebuilding the alliance. But Aurora was most clear when she spoke to me so long ago. You must have them.”
“Well, at least we’ve got that,” I said. I shoved the stone back into the leather pouch and carefully tied all of the straps again.
“Very well,” said Greystone. “Ride now. Ride as fast and as far as you may. You should ride through the night as well.”
“We can’t,” said Sarah. “We have school tomorrow.”
“Terrence may even now be riding across the lands in search of you!” said Greystone. “What does school matter?”
“He can’t have gotten word this soon,” Sarah argued.
“Sarah, we don’t know that,” said Miles in a quiet voice. “Maybe that woman just sent word to him and now she’s following us herself. Maybe she has more of those undead…whatevers.”
“Ninjas,” Calvin added helpfully.
“Besides,” Miles continued. “Now we’ve got Anna and Briggs on the other s
ide.”
Sarah was silent a long moment, glaring at him.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got anything useful to add?” I whispered to my ring. “Aren’t you a prophet?”
I am a prophet, yes. I am not some soothsayer to pronounce doom at your whim.
“Of course,” I said. “Whatever a soothsayer is.”
“Sarah, they’ll just take us to the facility,” said Raven. “This will be a good test run. And we need to move as quick as we can—Greystone’s right about that.”
Calvin raised his hand. “Am I the only one who’s shocked that she just uttered those words?”
Sarah tossed her hair back over her shoulder, her nostrils flaring slightly. “All right. Fine. We’ll ride through the night. Tonight. After that, we’ll see.”
“That is wise, my Lady,” said Greystone. Though the words were polite, he was an expert at sliding condescension into his tone.
“How much longer will it be before we reach Wyrmspire?” said Calvin. “We just hooked around the Black Sea.”
“We cannot know for certain, for we do not know precisely where the mountain lies,” said Greystone. “But the legends seem to tell us that it is in the mountain range south of you. The distance is yet far. I had thought you would reach it in two weeks by the paths you were to take. But now you must travel another way.”
“Another way?” I said. “Other than south?”
“A shortcut,” said Greystone. “A path that will cut the trip down to a week’s time, if you ride hard.”
“Why weren’t we going to just take the shortcut in the first place?” said Miles angrily. “Kind of seems like the sort of thing we’d do if we wanted to reach Wyrmspire quickly.”
Greystone hesitated for a moment.
“Let me guess,” I said. “It’s dangerous.”
“It is,” Greystone admitted. “Especially so since at first, you were to restrain all use of your magic for fear of discovery. But now that is no longer a concern. With your gifts, I have no doubt you will pass through safely.”
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 43
