Ever My Merlin (Book 3, My Merlin Series) (26 page)

Vane turned toward Grey. Grey’s fingers tightened on the seeing stone. Colin stepped in front of Grey.

“She’s dying, you idiots,” Vane barked at them.

Grey blanched. “What?”

Injecting as much vitality into the statement as possible, and with more effort than I actually possessed, I croaked from behind Grey, “I-I’m okay.”

His eyes snapped to me. “I don’t think so.”

Vane shoved him aside. He reached me. Monster green filled his irises. I couldn’t help flinching. Vane didn’t miss my reaction. The green receded to leave only hazel-brown. He said softly, “The beast’s caged, Ryan. It’s just me.”

The beast may have been caged, but its door had no guard. Still, I was glad to see him, ridiculously glad. Vane put his hand against my stomach. Green magic flowed over the cloth, but nothing happened. “Merlin, why isn’t this working?”

“It’s the same as in the hallway. The Kronos Eye seems to be blocking any magical healing.”

Throwing his brother a glare, he ordered. “Ragnar, call an ambulance.”

I blinked trying to stay awake as Grey scrambled to get his phone.

Vane grabbed my hand. Real fear rolled off tight shoulders. “If you close your eyes, DuLac, you’ll force me to gut my own brother.”

I almost smiled. Prince Charming, he was not. Then, my chest constricted. My arm jerked in his grip. Worried eyes, brown pupils surrounded by a ring of green, were the last thing I saw before my heart gave out.

***

I woke up to find myself in a sterile, white room.

Everything hurt. Even my eyelids were sore. When I took a breath, my side spiked with pain. My ribs were bruised. My breastbone ached as if it were pounded relentlessly, which it might have been. I remembered hazy bits of an ambulance. Beyond that, I lay immobilized on a metal bed. I looked up. Set against a tiled ceiling, bright fluorescent tubes illuminated the room with crisp clarity. A black-tinted window let in muted, natural light as if too much might be painful. The window showed I lay several stories high in a red brick building, a sign declared it as “Thoreau General.”

I stretched out my hand, wincing as something pulled at my skin. Thin tubes slipped beneath the dermis connected to an IV marked “saline.” A metal heart rate monitor was wrapped around my index finger on my right hand. Machines beeped steadily behind my head. I pushed up with my elbows on the slanted mattress of the hospital bed and reached for a plastic tumbler full of water. I only had enough strength to swipe at it drunkenly.

The door opened.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Grey walked into the hospital room carrying a handful of white lilies.

I arched a brow, the only action that didn’t cause shooting pain. “You got me flowers? You must have been really worried.”

“Mom started it.” He crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug. I squeezed him feebly. Weakness made my bones feel like liquid. I tried to drop back against the pillows. Grey held me tighter. “You look better. A lot better. Don’t do that again.”

With effort, I put a hand on his back. “I know I should’ve found a way to call you from Sri Lanka, but it was only for a few days—”

Grey pulled back with a strange expression. “It’s been two months since India, Ryan. I found you at the old bridge four days ago.”

My jaw dropped open. “What—?”

A round, middle-aged woman, wearing blue scrubs, bustled inside the room. “You’re awake! I was hopeful when your heart rate fluctuated.” With a beaming smile, she crossed to check the beeping machine behind my head. She gave Grey an impatient look and he quickly moved out of her way to the other side of the bed.

I watched her. “What happened to me?”

The nurse stilled, giving Grey an odd look. “We have an on-staff counselor. She will be happy to come and talk to you.”

On-staff counselor? That didn’t sound good. What story did they tell the hospital? I touched my stomach. Under the cotton blue gown, thick bandages taped my stomach. The Minotaur’s sharp teeth flashed in my mind. It was hazy, thankfully so, but I remembered it with more clarity than I intended. I remembered the pain.

Suddenly, I wanted to rip the gown off and examine the horror waiting for me underneath.

Grey leaned over me, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “You’ll be fine. Mom brought in the best plastic surgeon in the area. It just needs time to heal.”

Plastic surgeon? Since when did I need a surgeon when there were a bunch of wizards running around?
I rubbed my forehead. Memories seemed hazy. I remembered the hallway and the monster. I remembered a strange, yet incredibly real dream of a meeting at the UN. I remembered Vane’s fist pounding my chest, fighting for me. Or was it the monster who fought? I didn’t know.

While the nurse busily checked my pulse, Grey went to a long tray table beside the bed and replaced some dead daisies inside a crystal-blue vase.

I stared at the wilted brown petals. “How long have I been here?”

“Almost four days,” the nurse answered cheerfully.

I started coughing. The nurse handed me the plastic tumbler of water and waited. I lifted the tumbler with shaky hands to my mouth and managed to take a small swallow. My body ached as if it had been run over by a semi-truck. Four days in the hospital.
Two months lost.
My mind struggled to process the numbers. I remembered hazy bits of the hospital. Waking up a few times in a darkened room—probably this room—then quickly passing out again.

The nurse continued to watch me with a critical eye. She waited until I finished drinking before saying briskly, “Excellent. You’ll be hungry soon. I’m going to order you some food. I need to alert your doctor and the… others.” She pointed to a cord hanging off the hospital bed. “If you need anything, push this button.” In a whirlwind of efficiency, she spun around to leave as quickly as she came. She paused at the door and oddly enough, glanced back at Grey. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay, hon?”

I took Grey’s hand and squeezed it to show her. “I’ll be fine with my brother.”

The nurse nodded, but the worried look didn’t leave her eyes. This time, when the door opened, I noticed that two men in black suits stood just outside my room.

As soon as the door reclosed, I dropped Grey’s hand. “Why am I in a hospital? And why was the nurse looking at you like you’re a murderer or rapist? What’s going on?”

“Er, a lot has happened, Ry.” He paused, giving me a deer-in-headlights look that made me wish I had the strength to toss the tumbler of water at him. “Are you sure you’re ready to hear all of this?”

I ground out, “Start at the beginning.”

“I got to the Old North Bridge at the same time as the paramedics. You were really torn up and… God, the blood.” His eyes took on a faraway look. “I don’t think I can ever go back to that park again.”

My heart skipped a beat.
Alexa.
We lost her at the bridge. I picked up his hand and squeezed it.

Grey shook off the memory. “Anyway, we made up a story of you being attacked. The police wanted to know how I knew you were there, so I planted a cell on you. Except for a few hours, you’ve been here since I found you with your stomach ripped open, bleeding to death at the park. Understandably, the nurses have been rather protective of you. They said they’d never seen such a horrific mauling. It almost looked like an animal attack, but some of the bruises they found came from human fingers.”

I touched my stomach, pressing in on the heavy bandages, and tears of pain sprung to my eyes. The Minotaur flashed in my head again. I shivered. Even though he tore me open to save me, I don’t think I’ll ever forget those teeth. “And Matt?”

“He was unconscious when the police came. They think he was attacked first.  Which got him off the hook, unfortunately—”

I held up a hand. “What do you mean
unfortunately
? Is he all right?”

“He’s fine,” Matt answered for himself.

For the first time since I had known him, my heart didn’t immediately leap into my throat at the mere sight of him. It could have been because everything hurt too much. Messy, brown hair fell over his forehead as he crossed the room to me. Oh, he still looked mouthwatering in a tight brown T-shirt, lean abs, and ragged jeans, but the faraway, unfocused look in his eyes, which formerly intrigued me so, only annoyed me today.

Grey moved so quickly I almost didn’t see him. He punched Matt in the face, growling, “How did you get past my gargoyles? I told you, Emrys, you’re not welcome here.”

Matt reeled back at the surprise attack.

A clipped accented voice said, “Mr. Ragnar, step back. The gargoyles are fine. Just a minor freeze spell.”

“Freeze spell?” the other one muttered, as if he couldn’t believe it.

Two men came into the room.

I recognized the first one right away. “James Bond.”

“Robin,” corrected the British spy from Sri Lanka.

I studied the other man in quintessential Boston wear—black T-shirt, dark jeans, and a Red Sox baseball hat. The whole ensemble was perfect. A little too perfect. Still, he was definitely American. I said, “Is this your friend, Felix?”

“I prefer Frank,” the CIA agent confirmed with a warm, you-should-trust-me smile.

 I didn’t buy it. “What’s going on, Grey?”

“Sire!” Colin and five other gargoyles crowded into the small room. Robin and Frank reacted immediately by positioning themselves between Matt and the gargoyles. The spies slipped out handguns with silencers from under their shirts.

Colin sneered at the two. “As if that would hurt us, Regulars.”

“No, but it will slow you down enough to take your head,” Robin replied.

Two of the gargoyles behind Colin snarled.

I gaped at them all. Nothing in the bizarre scene made sense. I guessed that Matt and the two spies were allied together, and Grey was pissed at Matt. The latter wasn’t so odd, after all. Grey lunged at Matt again.

“Grey, stop!” I said.

Colin caught him. Grey spat, “He almost killed you.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill her,” Matt said, rubbing his jaw. “I’m trying save her. To save all of us. She agreed to use the seeing stone.”

Grey snorted in disbelief. “You should never have taken her to New York. She had a cardiac arrest.”

I squawked, “The UN meeting was real?”

I’d landed in the woods and I’d imagined being back at AC High. I touched the bandages again. The hallway may have existed in my mind only, but the monster had been very real. It had saved me. Then, Matt had taken me to the UN meeting?

I rubbed my head, pushing back the beginnings of a headache. “Can someone tell me what’s going on? Why am I in a hospital? Why have I lost two months? Why are the spooks here?”

Matt answered in backwards order, “The First Member asked me to work with Robin. We were in Rawana’s realm for a little more than seven weeks. The Kronos Eye poisoned you and you’re in the hospital because magical healing hasn’t worked. The poison seems to be immune to it.”

“The Lady hid the answers in a thing that poisoned her own champion?” I remarked. “Brilliant.”

Matt frowned at my assessment. “The
path
to the answers. She didn’t have the answers, only the instrument to get them; and I doubt it was her intention to harm you. Rawana said he waited for a wizard-warrior. You’re one-half of that pairing. The Lady must have expected me to be there with you. Except I didn’t have my magic.”

“Actually, you didn’t have a pure soul,” I corrected.

Grey let out a snort of laughter.

“Because of you, Ragnar,” Matt spat out. “Because I pulled you back from death after the trial.”

“I remember when I died, Emrys,” Grey retorted.

Matt raked a hand through brown hair, messing up the neat style. He explained, “Now that we know what we’re up against and—”

“We do?” I interjected.

Matt gave me his long-suffering Merlin look. “You brought the proof, Ryan. This isn’t conjecture anymore on our part. The leaders of the world have to know the danger we’re facing and we need their help. I’ve given the apple to be studied—”

My mouth dropped open. “You gave away the apple!”

“Well, it seems I arrived just in time.” Vane’s mocking voice filled an already crowded space. With one quick flick of the wrist, he sent both groups—the gargoyles and the two spies—flying across the room, parting the way for his entrance.

Vane said silkily, “I find myself very interested in this apple.”

He should be. It had been in his memory. Perceval had taken an apple from the vault in Carthage.

The gargoyles and spies scrambled up, drawing swords and guns. They tensed for battle as if the Grim Reaper had suddenly appeared. Vane sneered and marched further into small room.

“The apple is being studied by the world’s most eminent physicists in a secure lab even you won’t be able to find,” Robin added.

Vane turned cold eyes on him. “Want to wager?”

Frank almost took a step back before he realized what he was doing and stopped himself. Robin gave him a pat of sympathy.

Vane turned to me.

“Forget your minions—I mean—mermaids?” I said lightly.

“They’re busy,” he answered with an enigmatic smile. He didn’t bother glancing at anyone else as he crossed to the bedside. A critical eye swept over me, stopping at my heart, causing it to ache a little. He said quietly, “You could do better than that gown.”

I fiddled with the papery green material covering me, sticking my nose in the air. “It works well enough.”

“Well enough isn’t up to your level,” he said huskily.

A sting of tears—happy, unhappy, I didn’t know which—sprang to my eyes.

Matt took a step closer to me. Vane’s gaze snapped to him. In a blink, Vane caught his brother by the throat and pushed him face down into the mattress at the foot of the bed.

“Vane!” I squeaked.

Matt flailed as Vane suffocated him. Hard fingers squeezed Matt’s throat. Vane pushed him deeper into white sheets. He yanked the Dragon’s Eye out of Matt’s jeans pocket and threw it on the bed in disgust. He railed at his brother, “You’ve dropped to a new low, Merlin. You can’t control something as powerful as the seeing stone with the little bit of magic you’re managing to steal. Don’t think I hadn’t noticed you taking magic from me. You could have killed her.”