Her memories were stripped from her, the flesh melted off her bones. Soon there would be nothing left of her. This was the way it had to be. At least she wasn’t suffering. Nobody would miss her, not even Honi. Honi.
“Adi, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I tried.” She heard him. He was speaking to her. His voice cut through the stickiness that the creature’s caresses had enveloped her in. “I love you. I’ll always love you, and maybe we’ll meet again in another life.”
Adi focused on his voice and pulled her lips away from the queen’s. Their eyes met and Adi fought for breath, pushing against the creature’s hold.
“Please forgive me.” Yeah, this wasn’t happening. She had to get back, Honi needed her. Adi pushed harder, and with every panting intake of air, she felt her resolve return and her mind sharpen. She had hurt the queen before—she could do it again.
Adi stopped moving and dug deep. Another deep breath and she found the source of anger, all the memories of what she’d been put through by the faerie woman. The nightmares, the terror, the pain. To top it off, threatening Honi and forcing him to sacrifice himself to save Adi.
With a scream wrenched from deep within her, Adi grasped her fury, bundled it and shot it at the faerie queen. The effect was instantaneous. The creature let go and stumbled to her knees. Then she began to shrink back to normal size. Before she could recover, Adi kicked her as hard as she could. Her foot connected painfully with the queen’s head and flung her back. Adi swore in German and English. That woman’s head was hard as stone. While the dazed queen was still lying on the ground, Adi looked around. Where before, everything had been covered in show, now there were rocks the size of footballs littering the ground.
Adi picked up the nearest one and lifted it over her head. Her arms ached, and she nearly overbalanced. She hesitated. Could she really do this? Take someone’s life? Then she thought again of Honi and how empty her life would be if he were gone from it. Her whole body tensed like a spring, and grunting loudly, she launched the stone at the queen’s head. It connected with a sickening crunch, and the creature’s skull collapsed under the weight of the missile.
For a moment, nothing happened. Adi dry-heaved a few times, staring at the motionless body. She had killed somebody. Just like that. She doubled over, and her stomach contents rose in her throat. But she didn’t get time to throw up. For a moment, she thought the nausea had caused her to feel shaky on her feet. She straightened up to steady herself and quickly realized that it wasn’t her shaking. It was the ground. And the queen’s body was gone.
A shadow fell over the area, and as Adi lifted her head, thousands of black birds descended, blocking out the sun. Like a living, squawking blanket, the swarm covered Adi. The weight of the many feathered bodies bore her to the ground. Her screams were inaudible amongst the ear-shattering cawing. Before she lost consciousness, she prayed that Honi had made it.
15
Her eyelids were heavy. No matter how hard Adi tried to open them, they didn’t respond. After a while, she gave up and just lay there. Where was she? She ran a quick checklist—fingers, arms, back. The surface soft but scratchy. Her fingers wiggled slightly, but her arms hurt. Then she tried her legs, and ouch, that really hurt, particularly her calf.
She stopped twitching and listened. There were steps, lots of them. Some heavy, some lighter, some rushing, some hesitant. People speaking in hushed voices. A biting, familiar smell in the air. Disinfectant? She tried her eyes again, blinking owlishly against the bright light. She wasn’t ready to move her head yet, but she knew now where she was. Hospital. She tried to swallow, but her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. It wasn’t the worst experience she’d had lately. At least she was alive. She closed her eyes again and drifted back to sleep.
The second time she woke up, a nurse stood by the end of her bed and read something off a tablet. The moment she saw Adi’s eyes open, she smiled brightly. “Hey, welcome back! My name is Holly. How’re you feeling?”
Adi stared at her, then blinked rapidly. Her eyes were even more grittier this time. She tried to say a few words, and after stopping and starting twice, she managed to croak, “Could I have a glass of water? Please?”
“Sure, honey!” The girl’s manner grated on Adi. Didn’t she know that her head hurt? She closed her eyes and tried to blank her out. No such luck.
“None of that now. Here’s your water. Let me help you drink a little. I’ll get the doctor in the meantime to talk to you.” Adi’s bed was raised, humming and creaking. It was electric, but only just. Occasionally it shuddered and stopped, but eventually her upper body was at a high enough angle for Adi not to slop water all over her top. Nurse Holly held the cup to her lips and made cooing noises as Adi drank. The water tasted so good that she forgave the nurse for babying her.
Soon she felt well enough to look around. The nurse had rushed off and left her alone. Adi was in a single room, small, but then she didn’t expect any visitors. A needle connected her to a drip, which accounted for the itchiness of her forearm. She gingerly lifted the cover and looked at her leg. Her calf was tightly wrapped, and further up her body, a large dressing seemed to hold her body together. She had no intention of touching any of it. Not being in excruciating pain was enough of a bonus for now.
Steps in the hallway alerted her to the arrival of the doctor. His oversized white coat and shrubs made him look like a flustered pigeon. He quickly introduced himself and smiled at her while he delivered the verdict. Apparently she’d been lucky. Her injuries weren’t life-threatening, and even though the bites were deep, no important organs or blood vessels were injured. She’d be left with scarring, but wasn’t it great that she hadn’t die? He beamed at her when he said that, and yeah, she had to agree. She’d been asleep for two days, and depending on his follow-up exam, she should be released the day after.
“You need to get up as soon as possible and get moving.” Those were his parting words, and Adi frowned at his back as he rushed off to his next patient.
“Get up? Seriously? Did I not just wake from a coma?”
Holly patted her hand, then got up and fetched a bathrobe for Adi. “We’ll get you a bite to eat, and then we’ll try getting you on your feet. I’ll be with you in case you feel faint.” Adi was too busy squinting at the ugly gray garment.
“Yeah, I know it’s not the nicest, but you arrived as an emergency admission, and we haven’t been able to reach anybody to bring you clothes. We have an emergency stash for this, and hey, at least you won’t show your butt in our fashionable paper gowns.” The nurse grinned to take the sting out of her words.
Adi grimaced back and got going. It was cruel to ask her to get up, but she did feel better after using the toilet and splashing some cold water in her face. She felt faint at first, but within ten minutes, she walked slowly and carefully down the hallway, her fingertips brushing along the painted wall for balance. Nurse Holly hovered to her left, ready to grab her arm in case she decided to fall over and pass out. A young man pushed a wheelchair behind them, just in case.
She managed to wobble past two rooms, then turned around, ready to make the trek back to her bed. Her head swam and her leg ached, but she wasn’t about to let Holly know. Irritating woman. She crossed the corridor, not willing to give up the wall’s support, when her eyes widened.
There was a single bed in the room she was about to pass, and in that bed, pale as a ghost, lay Honi. He was hooked up to so many tubes and machines, Adi didn’t recognize him at first. Next to his bed sat two stony-faced men and a woman with red, swollen eyes. When the older of the two men noticed her staring at them, he got up and closed the door. She caught the glare in his cherry-colored eyes, so similar to Honi’s that he could only be a relative.
Adi’s legs buckled and Holly caught her by the elbow. “What wrong, Adi? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Adi swallowed. “That’s my boyfriend in there,” she finally whispered.
“Oh no! He was admit
ted the same day you were. He…” Holly cut herself off.
“He what?” Adi had to know.
“I’m sorry, we can’t talk about a patient’s condition to anybody outside his family.”
Adi protested, “But he’s my boyfriend!”
Holly shook her head regretfully. “I’m sorry, Adi. I can talk to the family and ask them if they would allow you to visit. That’s the best I can do.”
“Thanks, Holly.” Adi felt like crying. What the hell had happened? Then she remembered. Just as well Holly still had her elbow, because Adi was about to faint. Her breathing sped up, and her head swam. She faintly heard Holly speak to her.
“Adi. Come on, you don’t want to pass out here. The wheelchair please!” Gentle hands helped her sit, and within seconds, she was back in her bed. “You need to rest. It’s okay to feel tired after being out of it for so long. Have a nap, and you’ll feel better.”
Her bed was lowered and Adi closed her eyes, wishing Holly would go away and let her think. Eventually the nurse’s steps receded, and Adi was alone. She remembered everything. Her fear, the attacks in the spirit world, her conversations with Honi. She remembered that he had done something stupid to be able to be with her. Without him she would be dead. Several times over. Tears pooled in her eyes. She owed him so much. He had to make it. He just had to. Her eyes drifted closed again, and within seconds, she was asleep.
The door opening with a loud bang woke her up. It was darker outside, and Adi realized that she had slept for hours. A young policeman stood just inside her room, his round freckled face distorted into an embarrassed grin. “I’m sorry, the nurse said it was okay to talk to you? The door slipped out of my hand and banged? I hope I didn’t wake you?”
Even in her groggy state, she felt like rolling her eyes. The dude spoke in questions and loved stating the obvious. Then she felt cold. Why would a cop want to speak to her? Shit, they must have done a drug test on her. She closed her eyes and groaned quietly.
“Are you okay? Are you in pain? Should I call the nurse?”
He seemed awfully nice for somebody who wanted to interrogate her about a crime she’d committed.
“No, I’m fine. What’s this about?” Never admit to anything until you knew what the cop wanted to talk about. She’d learned that from TV.
“It’s not super urgent. If you’re not feeling up to answering a few questions, I can always come back.”
Hmmm. That didn’t sound like he was about to arrest her. Better just get it over with. “I’m fine. Could you help me raise the bed a bit?”
He rushed over and fumbled with the buttons on the remote control until he figured out how to raise the top part. Before she could ask, he had refilled her cup with cold, fresh water and held it out to her. She smiled gratefully and took a sip to moisten her still-dry throat.
“What can I help you with, Officer?” she finally asked when he just stood and stared around the room.
“Right. Again, sorry for bothering you in hospital, but we’re trying to tie up a case involving a faculty member of your university, and I just need to ask you a quick question?”
Adi frowned. Faculty? So this had nothing to do with drugs? He took her questioning look as an invitation to continue, “One of your instructors, a Mr. Diepger, has been accused of accepting bribes to alter students’ grades?”
When Adi didn’t say anything, he raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem surprised?”
Adi shook her head slowly. “Has he admitted it?”
“Not yet, but we have several witness statements to that fact? Also, today the investigation has been upgraded from a simple fraud to an extortion case? It seems that Mr. Diepger also tried to blackmail wealthier students based on information he learned from their confidential student files?”
Was he asking her or telling her? Her irritation at his speech pattern slowly gave way to elation as his words sank in.
“That is awesome!” The policeman raised his other eyebrow. Adi quickly corrected herself, “Not for Diepger, of course. This guy had it out for me since the beginning. And yes, he did use information from my student file to try intimidate me. He never blackmailed me, but I know he fed the info to a family member who is trying to wrestle my inheritance from me.”
“Really,” the cop said slowly. He took notes as Adi spoke, and she could see a core of steel in his eyes. He didn’t look quite so naive anymore. Adi was glad he wasn’t here about the drugs, because she had a feeling that if he got serious, he’d be quite intimidating.
“Obviously we can’t interfere in what is a civil matter between you and your family member. But bribing a faculty member to spy on a student and in effect selling the information to a third party would implicate that third party in a conspiracy with intent to defraud.”
Adi’s face broke into a grin. Maybe Mrs. Adele Worthington had finally overplayed her hand. Even if nothing came of it in court, the fact alone that she was the subject of a criminal investigation alone would put a huge dent in her public reputation.
The young man smiled back at her. “Right, I’ll let you rest now? Once you’re released, would you mind coming down to the station and asking for Officer McKay? That’s me,” he added, falling back into his “I’m such a country bumpkin, don’t take me seriously until it’s too late” act. Adi grinned harder. This dude was cool. She didn’t envy the perps he had on his radar. Boy, was she glad she wasn’t one of them.
Waking up the next morning was a lot easier. There was still a moment of disorientation when Adi opened her eyes and looked up at a white ceiling, paint peeling off the surface. Staff clanked in the hallway, and very soon a lady carrying a breakfast tray opened the door with her elbow and entered the room backwards. She straightened up and beamed at Adi.
“Buenos días!” Ugh, too much cheer in the morning. Adi flinched as she fumbled for her remote control to raise the bed. The woman pulled a table on wheels closer to Adi’s bed, placing the tray on it. She lifted the lid off the plate with flourish and looked at Adi with joyful expectation.
Adi didn’t know how to respond. The prepackaged squishy croissant, square of margarine and tiny plastic pot of jam could hardly be called food. Nothing but wheat, sugar, and artificial crap. No wonder people didn’t recover well in hospitals, she thought sourly. Not wanting to disappoint the nice lady, she smiled brightly and gave her two thumbs up.
“Gracias. Thank you,” she said loudly. The lady beamed again and left with a resounding, “Hasta luego!” Adi exhaled with relief when she was on her own again. Pushing the sorry excuse for breakfast aside, she swung her legs out of bed. She felt a lot more stable today and managed to use the bathroom and clean herself up with no problem. The drip had been removed, so now seemed a good time to find out how Honi was.
She grabbed the gray monstrosity and wrapped it tightly around her slender body. Slowly she tested her leg, and when it barely twinged, she began the track to Honi’s room a few doors down. A few nurses chatted near their station, and a harried-looking doctor walked swiftly towards the elevators. Adi didn’t think there would be a problem visiting a friend, but she didn’t want to risk being turned away.
Honi’s door was closed. She lifted her hand to knock, then thought better of it. The door opened, and Adi slipped in as quietly as she could. She sat down next to his bed and looked at him. His copper complexion was so washed out, he looked gray. There were rings under his eyes, and his lips were dried and flaky. A plastic tube jutted out of the corner of his mouth, fastened down with surgical tape. He lay still, no movement other than the lifting and lowering of his chest. Adi’s eyes teared up. This wasn’t the man she had gotten to know and love!
His endless energy and power had drained from his motionless body, his eyelids covering his warm black eyes, his capable hands lying parallel to his body on top of the covers. What if he didn’t wake up? What if she were left all alone, and he would never kiss her again, never make love to her? Adi felt as if a hand strangled her. Breathing was hard wi
th grief smothering her. She remembered all the times she was angry with him, and cursed herself for being so blind. This man had sacrificed himself to save her. It was her fault, her stubbornness that had put him here. And maybe killed him.
A dry sob pushed its way out of her chest, and she grabbed his hand. She lifted it, heavy and limp, to her lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
“What are you doing here?” A harsh voice ripped her out of her despair, and she raised her head to look at the older man she had seen in Honi’s room the day before. His angry glare softened when she held his gaze, her anguish clear to see. “They say he tried to kill himself. Do you know anything about it?” he continued after a moment.
Adi shook her head. Then she whispered, “No, he never meant to do that. He’s here because he tried to help me.” She assumed that this man was Jim Fisher, Honi’s father. They had the same eyes, the same sensuous mouth. The man’s face hardened again as he thought about what she’d just said.
“Help you? Who are you? How would taking an overdose of sleeping pills help you?” he finally asked.
Adi tried to remember what Honi had told her. His family knew about the spirit world and his gifts. She could talk to his father without being branded a liar, or worse, insane.
“My name is Adi. I’m your son’s girlfriend. I know that Honi’s a spirit-walker.” This was the moment of truth. She took a deep breath. “So am I.”
The man’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “You’re white. White people can’t be spirit-walkers. Only our people have the gift.”
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