Dark Arts (25 page)

“Oi!” Maxwell said as he caught sight of
Steven in a fresh suit, towering over Scott. They were right beside
the door to April’s hospital room. Trent, as equally fair as his
sister but thick, a towering footballer, leaned against the wall
opposite the door. He seemed calm, entirely unaffected. “Back up,
quiet down!” Maxwell said, the harshness of his tone making up for
his lack of volume. “She’s right in there.”

Steven quieted down, but was still so
furious he was shaking. The bruises on his face reminded Maxwell
that he was facing someone he had difficulty restraining himself
with. The pair of officers down the hall reinforced his need to
keep calm. “You should be inside, holding her hand, taking care of
her, happy she’s still with us,” Maxwell said.

“Like any of you know anything about her or
the future she’s lost,” Steven replied. “She was going to marry
Revelationem Lux royalty, bridge my family back to our European
ties, now no one will touch her. What am I supposed to do with
what’s in there?”

“Sir, I understand this is traumatic,” said
a nurse coming down the hallway. “But please keep your voice
down.”

“You see these people here?” Steven said,
turning on the nurse and pointing at Scott. “Especially this one?
They’re her family now. I told her not to go near them, she went
against me, and this is what happens.” He looked to Scott. “You
want her? You can have what’s left.”

“That’s enough, Steven,” Allen said, Bernie
beside him. “If you want to leave, if you want to blame people,
that’s fine. We will take care of her, we’ll answer all the
questions you should be here for, and when she’s well, she’ll have
a home.”

Steven didn’t say another word, but rubbed
his hands together in the air as though he were washing them for a
moment, then strode down the hallway. His son didn’t make eye
contact with anyone, but followed a few steps behind. Scott’s
father nearly bumped into him as he came around the corner. He was
the opposite of Steven, the embodiment of compassion and
concern.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Scott whispered as he
accepted a brief but firm hug. “This wouldn’t have happened if she
wasn’t hanging around.”

“Don’t worry about any of that. I doubt
anyone could stop her from doing anything she wants to. Did I hear
that right? Is Sands abandoning her?” Desmond asked Allen.

Allen nodded solemnly. “She’ll never be
alone. I know you don’t have the room, so we’ll move her into the
main house if that’s what she’d like.”

“Thank you, Uncle Allen,” Scott said.

The nurse, an older woman with three
clipboards still under her arm, was watching everything. “I’ll tell
her doctor what’s happened. Are any of you related to her?”

“No, but we have her father’s number, so he
can talk to him directly. If he doesn’t change his mind about
leaving her alone here, then we’ll gladly make sure she has
everything she needs.” Desmond said.

“It’s really up to her,” the nurse said.
“She’s eighteen, and we can have her write her wishes down when she
isn’t so heavily sedated.”

“Is she going to be all right?” Scott
said.

“Well,” the nurse looked at the group of
them again before going on. “I will tell you what her doctor told
mister Sands, but this didn’t come from me, do you understand? I’m
not supposed to, but I have a feeling he won’t be coming back.
Overall, April will be fine. Most of the damage was cosmetic. The
damage to her left eye looks a lot worse than it is. She was able
to fight off her attacker so he was only able to bruise and cut
around the eye, so it’ll look bad for a few days, but once the
swelling goes down, she’ll be able to open both her eyes again. The
worry now is infection, so we have her on a course of antibiotics.
Her hand will require several surgeries, the rest is a game of wait
and see as healing begins. She’s going to be heavily sedated for
the next few days at least. That’s as much as I can tell you
though, the best you can do is make sure she’s not alone. How do
you know her?”

“My son is…” Desmond started.

“I’m her boyfriend,” Scott finished. “I’ve
known her since we were kids.”

“I grew up with her,” Bernie said. “We’re
all friends of hers, and she was taken from a party we were
having.”

“Well, the police cleared you all,” the
nurse said. “I’ll tell the doctor to call her father, if he’s
really left her here alone, I’d appreciate it if someone could stay
around.”

“Funny, the police haven’t spoken to us
since we were first interviewed,” Miranda said as she rejoined
Maxwell. “They didn’t say anything about who they’re
suspecting.”

“I’m very nosy,” the nurse said. “And I know
Samuel, he called before she came in, told me to keep an eye on her
and all of you.”

“Valerie?” Allen asked.

“I was wondering when you’d recognize me,”
she said. “It looks like a lot of people have had a rough week.
What happened to your lip there?”

“Farming accident,” Allen said. “It’s good
to see you.”

“I’m glad you’re all here,” she told them.
“I couldn’t imagine that girl having to recover alone.”

“She’ll never be alone,” Allen said. “Don’t
worry.”

“Thank you,” Valerie said. “Tell Samuel I’m
looking forward to his next batch of chokecherry wine.”

“I haven’t seen her in twenty years,” Allen
said as she walked out of earshot.

“About twenty three,” his brother, Desmond
said.

“Aunt Susanne said everything’s almost
ready,” Miranda said.

“All right,” Allen said. “I think Bernie can
take your place, Desmond, that is if you’d rather stay here.”

“Thank you, Allen.”

“It’s still going ahead?” Scott asked
quietly. “Even with this?”

“The stars don’t stop for anything, even
tragedy,” Desmond told his son. “They do it tonight or we wait
another seven years.”

“We’re dedicating tonight’s ceremony to her
though,” Miranda said. “We have everything we need, Samuel and my
Aunts are already taking care of it.”

“Okay, that’ll help, thank you,” Scott
said.

“There’s one thing, and it’s not easy for me
to say, Son,” Desmond said to Scott. “We’ll help her because that’s
what this family does, but you have to be sure of your commitment
before you are the first face she sees when she wakes up. I
remember what it was like to be young, and think that every girl
was the greatest love of my life in the early days.”

“I love her,” Scott said. “We knew each
other all through school, this is real.”

“Are you sure, be sure, because I don’t
remember you talking about her for years.”

“She’s the Sands girl,” Scott replied in a
whisper. “I know what you think of that family, so of course-“

Maxwell didn’t hear the rest of the
conversation. Two police officers, one he went to high school with
named Craig, a towering brown haired man, and an older one quietly
tapped him on the shoulder. “Maxwell Foster?” asked the older
one.

“That’s me,” Maxwell replied.

“We have a few questions, you’re not in
trouble, we’re just trying to clear a few things up,” the older
officer said. “Let’s have a word in the family room.”

“Is he in any trouble?” Bernie asked.

“No, we just need information. He’ll be back
in ten minutes,” Craig said.

“Be right back,” Maxwell told everyone.

They all sat in the nearby
family room, a space decorated with simple landscape paintings on
the wall, brown sofas and chairs all around. John Travolta grinned
from the cover of the Tiger Beat magazine on top of the stack in
the middle of the coffee table.
John
Travolta --- SHY? Unbelievable but true! His story inside!
The cover proclaimed.

Maxwell took a seat on one side of the room
and the officers remained standing. “Questions?” he asked.

“We’ve come to understand that a band mate
of yours, Zachary Ross, was just admitted an hour ago. He was found
in his apartment downtown by a friend this morning. He’s still in
surgery, but we have been informed that his injuries are similar.
It doesn’t look good for him,” the older Officer said. “The family
has requested that you and the rest of your band stay away from
him. They claim that you may have been responsible for providing
him with psychedelic drugs that could be responsible.”

“April was attacked and tortured, I can’t
see how drugs could factor in, and if I’m honest, I’m no dealer
anyway,” Maxwell said.

“Zachary’s wounds are worse. It’s early yet,
but the doctor has already been able to tell us that most of the
injuries were self-inflicted, except for the removal of his
tongue.”

Maxwell lowered his head into his hands,
remembering the last conversation he had with Zachary. What made it
worse was the nature of the injuries, they all seemed like the kind
of work that Panos would do if he were alive. Maxwell knew for
certain that the discarded monk had used ceremonies and spells from
the book to empower himself in death. It was him, circling,
possessing people who were not initiated or guarded. It made sense,
Panos tried him first, visiting in the dead of night and trying to
pull his amulet off him so he could get in. He failed, then he got
into Zachary. “Does it look like Zack attacked April?” Maxwell
asked.

“No, he almost bled out because he cut
himself sometime early this morning,” Craig said.

“Why would you ask that?” his older partner
asked.

“If the two were similar, then,” Max threw
up his hands and shook his head. “I don’t know, I’m trying to make
sense of all this.”

“Well, it looks like there is some kind of
connection, judging from the wounds, but it’s early yet. Zachary’s
condition is much more severe, there was extreme blood loss. Sir,
could you stand for us and submit to a search?”

Maxwell did as instructed as Craig closed
the door. “This’ll just take a minute, Max.”

“Need me to strip?” Maxwell asked.

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’m Officer
Rollins, that is Officer Gibbs,” he said.

“I have a knife strapped to my calf under my
pant leg,” Maxwell said, putting his hands up. “It’s
peace-bonded.”

Officer Rollins tugged his pant leg up and
removed the scabbarded blade. He had the peace bonding off and was
examining the blade in seconds. “Ever use this?”

“My father and grandfather used it for
hunting a long time ago, but I just strapped it on for the first
time a few days ago,” Maxwell said.

“We’ll keep this so it can be compared to
the wounds.”

“No, you won’t,” Maxwell said. “I’ll have it
back once you’re done patting and prodding because I’m not under
arrest and there’s no sign it was used on anyone.”

Officer Rollins put the knife down on the
coffee table and began patting Maxwell down. It was the most
thorough search he’d ever experienced, and by the end all the
things in his pockets was on the table beside the knife. Even a
crumpled napkin had been straightened and flattened out then draped
like a poor man’s doily over the table edge before he was done.

“I smell cannabis a little, are you a
smoker, Maxwell?” Officer Rollins asked.

“I only smoke regular cigarettes, Officer,”
Maxwell replied.

“But you don’t have a lighter or cigarettes
on you?”

“I didn’t say I bought them, I just smoke
‘em.”

“Right, okay, no drugs on you, get your
things together and go on your way. You shouldn’t come back to this
wing, you should stay away from Mister Ross’ family out of respect
for him.”

Maxwell found it extremely easy to resist
the urge to ask what he’d done to deserve the banishment. Even
though he didn’t wield the knife that cut Zachary and April, he
knew he’d brought the devil that did. The police wouldn’t believe
him if he told them both assaults were his fault, but if there was
a hole he could have himself dropped into to stop any further
damage, he would let them escort him to it. The first thing he
picked up was the scabbard and knife, and under the watchful eye of
Officer Rollins, he sheathed it then tied the leather strap around
the hilt firmly.

“Zack going to survive?” Maxwell asked.

“It doesn’t look good.” Officer Rollins
said. “Stay away from the family.” He opened the door and led Craig
from the room and down the hall.

Miranda was waiting outside, visibly
worried. “All’s well, love,” Maxwell said to her. “They just wanted
to pat and poke me a little, make sure I didn’t give Zack something
that made him cut himself. He’s here in surgery they tell me.”

“What happened? Is it bad?” Miranda asked,
crossing the room and sitting down beside him on the sofa.

Maxwell pulled his pant leg up and started
tying the scabbard there. “Those two don’t think he’ll make it, the
family wants me and mine to stay away, so we’ll have to hope Zack’s
too stubborn to die from here.”

“I’m sorry,” Miranda said.

“This is happening because Panos followed me
back here,” Maxwell whispered. “Anyone close to me is in danger. I
think Zack was possessed, he’s not initiated and he doesn’t carry
any protection like I do. When Panos attacked, he tried to get my
amulet off me after separating us. That’s why his blade didn’t find
a softer mark.” He pulled the chain out from his chest so he could
find the notch in the silvered steel. “He was trying to cut this
off so he could get in.”

“Okay, so Zachary, but why April?” Miranda
asked.

“I’m not sure,” Maxwell said before taking a
moment to think. “It’s known that he wants the Book of Doors, and
she’s close to Scott, everyone knows the Sands family too. Maybe
she’s just too close to it all? Zachary’s wounds are
self-inflicted, so Panos could have gotten in and done the work.
I’m sure it was him, Purifiers don’t do that anymore, especially
not in Sudbury, there are too many people here who know how to
catch them and make the bodies disappear.”