One look at the screen above them and Kevin's medical training went into effect, calling out into the hallway, “NURSE! We need a crash cart here!”
Two nurses and an intern came flooding in from the hallway, pushing a silver cart full of medical equipment and a defibrillator. Elyse was right behind them, looking just as panicked as we were.
“What happened?” she asked us frantically.
Kevin put his arm around her and pulled her aside to talk, “Your mothers in A-fib,” he told her simply. “If the nurses aren't able to stabilize her…” He trailed off sadly, not willing to say the actual words.
The doctor came and shooed us from the room while the others flitted around the bed and pulled out the defibrillator, putting leads on her chest. My eyes grew wide as her now black aura came surging towards me like an extra arm and the entire room filled with smoke. No one else could see it, but I did — I saw everything.
A few seconds later her heart stopped. Cardiac arrest.
Elyse was crying into Kevin’s shirt while Dad and Nate watched through the glass, her body seizing up the doctors shocked her again and again.
Above it all was the sound of Aidan laughing….
~ * ~
The sound of Nathan’s DS startled me awake.
My hair spilled across the pages of my history book I’d been studying. The page was plastered against my cheek from where drool had pooled. I wiped it off with the edge of my sleeve and sat up blearily in my seat. “Ugh, gross,” I complained to myself, smacking my mouth to relive the dryness and taking a look around.
Everyone was sitting quietly in their seats, as if nothing had even happened. Mom’s aura was still red and I glanced over at the heart monitor to make sure that everything was normal. It blinked in the same methodic rhythm it always had, so I breathed a sigh of relief and shook out part of my hair.
“Welcome back, kiddo,” Dad told me, looking up from his tablet. “You conked out right after we got here.”
“Sorry, I must have been really tired,” I offered apologetically. I found myself scratching the skin on my wrist again where Aidan had grabbed me that first night. It had been bothering me for days and sometimes I would find myself scratching it in class without even realizing I was doing it. The skin was perpetually irritated and was beginning to fester and bleed, so I had taken to wearing wrist bands in an attempt to hide it.
A nurse entered quietly, bringing a new IV bag to hang, but when she caught sight of me in the corner she did a double-take and bent down to look at my face. “You feeling okay, hon? You're looking a little pale.”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” I lied, offering her a smile. “I just fell asleep.”
But I wasn’t fine, something was very wrong. The dream felt like a warning, meant to foreshadow what might happen if I didn't cooperate with Aidan. More than ever, I needed Mom to wake up, if only for a few minutes so I could talk to her. There were so many questions I wanted to ask — why she did this to me in the first place, how she expected me to cope, and what she would do if our situations were reversed.
A sick feeling made me think I already knew the answer to the last one.
The nurse nodded reluctantly and went back to taking Mom's vitals — blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels — all the fragile statistics that were able to quantify her health in numbers. It was almost comical to me how the situation could be simplified into a set of collected data when her life was messier and more complicated than any of those numbers would suggest.
As the nurse went to flush some saline through her PICC line, she twisted Mom’s arm in a way that exposed something else she'd managed to keep secret all these years — a tattoo?
I swallowed the lump in my throat and gave the nurse another smile as she finished and exited the room. As the door fell shut, I jumped out of my chair and walked over to Mom’s bedside to examine it more closely. A sideways glance to my father let me know that he wasn't paying attention, so I took a risk.
Carefully, so as not to draw attention to myself, I twisted her arm back the way it had been to see it properly. It was the same circular pattern from the necklace she had given me, etched into her skin. Seven runic markings traced along the circles edge with a glowing triangle in its center. Now that I looked at it, the symbol looked less like a tattoo and more like a brand, a scar radiating the same red color as the rest of her — a burn from her own aura.
It was not the first time it had occurred to me the necklace was more than just a pretty token of her affection, but now the very thought of it made me feel ill. Aidan had given it to her, and she'd given it to me knowingly, which meant she was planning this all along.
Suddenly my chest felt tight.
“Wynn, is everything okay?” Dad asked.
I gritted my teeth and tucked her arm back the way it was, smoothing out the blanket as I went like nothing ever happened. I folded the blanket around her chest and turned to him with the most saccharine smile that I could manage. “I just wanted to make her comfortable.”
“How thoughtful,” he acknowledged.
Clearing my throat, I added, “Actually, do you mind if I step out to get some water?”
“Of course.”
I grabbed my coat and headed for the door, I couldn’t even be in the same room as her anymore. I was fuming, would her treachery ever end? Grinding my teeth in anger, my eyes caught sight of a familiar blue glimmer down the hall, so I went to go vent to my frustrations.
The comforting, blue aura came wafting out from another patient’s room. Compared to the regular hues of orange, yellow, or green, the rare blue aura stuck out like a sore thumb. It could only belong to him.
We hadn’t spoken since the fight with Mammon, so I called to him nervously, “Caleb?”
The hooded figure that turned at the sound of my voice wasn't who I expected at all. It was a gorgeous woman who was every bit as cold as the last time we had met.
“Oh, excuse me … Maya?” I asked in disbelief. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
She smiled cruelly as I corrected my mistake. “Your assumption was only natural — I’m well aware of your familiarity with my companion. Caleb mentioned the two of you have become … close.”
My disobedient heart fluttered within my chest. “We were just visiting my mom and I was going to ask him about—”
“Her aura?” Maya goaded haughtily. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to realize. There’s a reason you don’t see red auras every day, now maybe you can understand why.”
“No,” I argued gently. “It doesn’t make sense.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed, crossing her arms condescendingly. “Doesn’t make sense? And here I thought you actually had a brain in that pretty head of yours. Witches have no power of their own, none. They have to tap into the magic of the demon who holds their contract. That takes wear and tear on a mortal’s soul, no matter how strong they think they are. Over time, their aura becomes tainted from association with their Master’s, turning it red.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of it like that, but I guess it makes sense. What about the mark on her arm? It was the same as the necklace she gave me.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of branding cattle?” Maya asked me with a smirk. “Lucifer has a sigil that he uses for the members of his household, a witch’s mark is more or less the same thing. She belongs to him, like livestock.”
Household?
“Ew! Talk about something else, please. You said Caleb talks about me?”
Maya nodded.
“What does he say?”
“That you're about as stubborn as a mule and it’s nearly impossible to keep you from doing what you want,” she stated, completely deadpan. “I think he likes you.”
I snorted in amusement. “Because he likes to insult me? I could think of better ways to get a girl’s attention.”
Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally — cold and unyielding as she attempted to stare me down. “You think you're charming, d
on’t you? Well, I hate to break it to you princess, but not all of us are easily swayed by feminine wiles. I, personally, would not have spared your life, as you well know. Fortunately for you, Caleb was there to intervene.”
“Excuse me?”
“Not all of us are as… forgiving as my Intended.”
I stiffened slightly at her hostility and felt the emotional armor I'd been hiding come rising to the surface. Her bristly disposition felt more territorial than anything and I didn’t understand the reason for her hostility, unless there was something else she wasn’t telling me. “I wasn’t aware the two of you were so close.”
“That is none of your concern,” Maya responded harshly. “I won’t give you more ammunition to poison and confuse him. Stay away from him, or I will make your darkest nightmares seem like a happy place. He is not yours to take, do you understand? He’s already spoken for.”
I stared at her in shock, “I’m not interested in your boyfriend,” I insisted coolly. “I just wanted answers and am trying to make the best out of an awkward situation.”
“For your sake, I hope that is the truth,” she spat out acidly. “You’d be the death of him.”
“Is that why you're here, to make sure that I stay away from Caleb?”
“I'm here on assignment, the warning was just a bonus,” she told me icily, gesturing to the room behind us. Through the glass I could see an old man hooked up to a machine with his family gathered around him. A woman, I assumed to be his daughter, sat in the chair beside him with tears running down her cheek. The puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks was a look I was all too familiar with. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch and the angel beside me seemed to approve of my dumbstruck silence. When she spoke, it was in a tone of extreme condescension, “Didn't Caleb ever tell you what it is we do?”
I shook my head, never taking my eyes off the man and his family.
“Then watch and learn,” she told me sharply. Without another word, Maya shimmered from the hallway into the room that I was watching. Her celestial robes were gone and in their place a set of scrubs to blend in with the rest of the hospital staff. Posted on the doorframe where she’d been standing was a DNR request: Do Not Resuscitate. I watched them through the glass as Maya spoke a few words to the man in bed and offered him her hand.
The exchange too soft for me to hear, but a smile appeared on his lips as he reached out to place his hand in hers. His heart monitor flat lined instantly and an iridescent wisp of air left the old man’s body and shimmered out of sight. The woman sitting next to his now lifeless body buried her face in her hands, bawling uncontrollably. In the midst of all the chaos, Maya looked at me through the window and disappeared from the room in a flash of light.
The doctor standing next to them had a somber expression on his face as he checked the time on his watch and scribbled something down on a sheet of paper. I recognized the body language doctors always use when they’re delivering bad news and my eyes misted with unshed tears. He exchanged a couple words with the woman's husband and offered his condolences before stepping outside to leave them with their grief. When he caught me watching them, Doctor Lucas addressed me in surprise, “Wynn! What are you doing here?”
“I was just getting some air,” I told him automatically.
He followed my gaze back inside the room and sighed, shutting the door behind him. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he told me honestly. “This part of the job is never easy.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump that was rising in my throat. “Had he been suffering long?” My voice cracked on the final word and he eyed me with concern, steering me away from the grieving family.
“I'm afraid doctor-patient confidentiality won’t allow me discuss other patients with you. But I can promise that your mother is doing fine, you've got nothing like that to worry about. Why don’t you and I give them some privacy,” he offered gently. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to your room.”
I nodded slightly and turned to head off back the way I came. My heart was heavy as I walked down the hall with him, contemplating the scene that I had witnessed. I had mixed feelings about Maya’s involvement, but had also never thought to consider the role of divinity in assisting with the process of death. If I had to die at some point, it was comforting to imagine a companion helping me through the process of crossing over to the other side.
Death comes for all of us eventually, and when it came for me I didn’t want to be afraid.
The association brought my thoughts to the car accident that had almost claimed my life. It was completely inexplicable that I had walked away from it without serious bodily harm, and yet for whatever reason, I had made it out alive. Someone or something had guided me to safety from that fire, but I could have just as easily been killed. That voice had led me out of danger — then again, maybe it wasn’t my time yet.
“Goodnight, Doctor Lucas,” I told him, when we approached my mother’s room.
He smiled slightly and said, “Good evening, Miss Hendricks. Let me know if there is anything else I can do.”
I took a deep breath to ground myself and opened the door. Dad and Elyse were talking quietly and the others were all preoccupied exactly the same way I left them. Elyse glanced up at my return and gently elbowed Kevin’s arm to let him know he needed to move.
“Oh, sorry Wynn,” he apologized, pulling his legs out of the way so I could return to my previous seat. He was freakishly tall to be sitting in such a little room and his legs kept jutting out into the walkway.
“No worries,” I sighed, brushing past him to my usual corner.
I used to hate the monotony of it all, but now I wished I had never been so foolish as to want anything else. Monotony was good. Monotony was safe. Monotony was now, in my case, completely unachievable.
Mom looked so serene and lovely, lying there on the bed, I almost forgot she had been brought here the same week I’d had that brush with death. Why did everything turn out okay for me and not for her? I wondered.
A thought pricked in the back of my mind. Perhaps demons came for both of us that week. I got away … but she didn’t.
~ * ~
On the drive home I couldn’t help thinking about what Maya said, You’d be the death of him. It gave me chills to think that I would hurt him, especially after how close we’d become. I didn’t want that. Still, why would she threaten me? I didn’t understand what she was concerned about, romance was the last thing on my mind. Something about her was … not quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she gave me the creeps.
The necklace around my throat felt like a proverbial millstone, especially after seeing the mark on our mother’s arm. It wasn’t even the same necklace anymore, but it still brought back the bitter memory of the fateful day I decided to try it on. According to Maya, it was Aidan’s signature, which made sense now that I knew it was the symbol of their contract together. How many other things would start falling into place now that I was finally on a roll?
The mild anxiety I always felt from riding in the car was creeping up on me again. Closing my eyes, I started breathing in slowly through my mouth to keep the irrational fear at bay. Memories of the accident came back to me in pieces: the smell of gasoline as I remained twisted and suspended in the air, pain shooting through my arm… and fire creeping slowly towards me.
I sighed against the glass of the car window and felt my phone buzz from somewhere in my backpack. Nate looked over at me curiously while I was fishing it out, but didn’t say anything. It was a missed call from Lacey and a couple texts:
Wanna get pizza after the show on Friday? I’m payin;)- L
The other one came from earlier this evening:
Ugh, my parents are driving me crazy! I know you’re at the hospital, but gimme a call me later, K? - L
I smiled at the friendly note and typed a response:
Sorry, I was preoccupied. Pizza sounds great! I’ll call you when we get home. — W
The gentle hum of the en
gine was slowly lulling me to sleep as I returned my head to the window. For the rest of the drive I just listened to the radio and cleared my mind of everything. A few minutes later we pulled into the driveway and I drowsily rubbed my face before grabbing the handle on the door, happy to leave the doldrums of the hospital behind us. I pulled out my phone again and found Lacey’s number among my contacts. “Do you mind if I head upstairs? I promised a friend I’d call.”
“Sure thing. ’Night, hon.”
“Goodnight, Dad.”
I scampered up the stairs to my room and quickly changed into my nightclothes before dialing her number. She picked up the phone after a couple rings and I heard her voice on the other end, “Hi, Wynn.”
“Hey! I’m just returning your call, it sounded like you wanted to talk.”
She laughed dryly. “Yeah, I just wanted to unwind and complain about my stupid mom.”
You and me both. “Hit me.”
“I can never do anything right with her, ya know? I have so much to do at school already with honors classes and the play, then when I get home, she gives me mountains of chores but even if I do manage to do them, she complains how it’s been done or goes and does it over herself! If you want it a certain way that nobody else can comprehend, despite your repeated incomplete instructions, just do it yourself or leave me alone, right?”
She continued rambling on while I just murmured assent here and there. Her plight voice was comforting in a way, hearing someone complain about their mom felt peacefully familiar to me. So when Lacey finally stopped to ask my opinion, I was able to wholeheartedly agree, “Yeah, Moms can definitely screw with you, that’s for sure.”
Chapter Nine
Realm of Abaddon
Around two in the morning I was sitting on the roof with Cleo purring on my knee as I looked up at the stars. I’d long since removed the screen from my bedroom window so I could climb onto the rooftop, and it came in useful whenever I needed to work through a problem. The cool night air raised goosebumps on my arms as it wrapped around me, blowing my hair in the breeze. I rubbed my hands together and pulled up the oversized flannel shirt that had fallen off my shoulder, trying to keep warm.
Dealing with the Devil (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 1) Page 13
