First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) (7 page)

Smoke returned a few minutes later with a well-intentioned, but not very sympathetic, physician’s assistant.

“A possible concussion should not be taken lightly,” said the PA when Amber explained she really did want to go home.

“I’ll sign myself out if I have to,” said Amber. “No offense, but I can’t stay here.”

“Do you have health insurance?” asked the PA.

“Yes. Well, no. I … lost my job this week.”

“Still, you should be covered. Did they COBRA your insurance?”

“I don’t want to chance it,” said Amber, accepting the real world excuse. “And insured or not, I want to go home.”

Telling the PA she was afraid of going into soul-flight without warning might win her a quick trip to the psych ward.

The PA gave Smoke a suspicious stare and without lowering his voice asked, “Are you afraid of anyone in your home?”

“Excuse me?” chorused Amber and Smoke.

“Are you being threatened or in any way compelled to leave the hospital?”

Amber gaped at him and Smoke snorted.

“I am required to ask,” continued the PA a little self-consciously. “You have … bruises.”

“With me still in the room?” demanded Smoke. “You ask if she’s afraid of her family when they’re standing right here and can hear every word? For all you know I might be the goddamned bully! Have you got a brain in your skull?”

“I’m fine. I am very happy and my family looks after me well,” said Amber, before the sputtering PA could respond. “And I’ll bet my cousin Rust is a better cook than what you’ve got down in the hospital basement. Please let me go home.”

The PA shrugged. “If you insist. It will take a while to get the paperwork sorted and the nurses need to go over the symptoms of deterioration of mental status with your care-givers before you leave.”

“Who would be able to tell the difference?” muttered Smoke, but only after the PA left.

Amber slumped back on the bed, her hands shaking.

“I’m a wreck. I can’t even argue with a sort-of doctor.”

“We have to get you home,” said Smoke after a pause. “They can’t help you here and we need to get you inside the wards. Whatever hurt you might come after you … for more.” He dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry, Amber. I should have done better protecting you. Should have insisted that you take a few days. Do some simple scrying to look into the problem before letting you go out. Lucinda and Robyn might have been … hurt by this monster and I just threw you in after them.”

“I did this to myself, Smoke. You didn’t even know I’d gone out.”

Smoke’s lips twisted. “You think you got out of the house without me knowing?
What fools these mortals be!
”

She smiled. “Yeah, I expect it was too much to ask.”

“What sort of monster was it?”

Amber closed her eyes, shifting through her memories, pushing aside the terror that rose, drying her mouth and wrapping tightly around her throat.

“I didn’t see the actual monster. All I saw, I think, was like a giant spider’s web. This big, ugly, black splotch with tendrils reaching out in all directions.”

“You didn’t see the spider?”

“No, it wasn’t there, thank goodness, but the web was … drinking me. I could feel it. Knew it. It was gulping me down,” she shuddered, her voice becoming shrill. “I could feel my life just draining away. I couldn’t catch it. Stop it. I almost …”

“Hey. Hey,” shouted Smoke, shaking her shoulders. “Focus. Stay with me.”

“At least I got away before the monster came.” Amber’s eyes snapped open. “Smoke, what if this is the monster that got Lucinda and Robyn? I have no chance against something like this.”

“Calm down. You made a mistake and you survived it. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. Now we just lie to the doctors and get you home and think of what we do next.”

“I don’t know if I can fool anyone.”

“You don’t have to make them think you’re well, Amber. All you have to be is too stupid to have the sense to stay in a hospital.” He gave her a lopsided smirk. “Think you could pull that off?”

“Today? Oscar winning performance.”

They were interrupted by a polite knock at the door. Before either could make a move it opened.

“You’re looking better than earlier,” said a quiet voice from the doorway.

Amber gasped and reached to her side, but the hospital gown had no pockets and she’d no idea where they’d put her fan when they’d undressed her. She made a mental note to find it as fast as possible, then turned her attention to the new arrival.

“Well, you are a well-intentioned liar!” she said mildly even as she fisted her hands into the stiff hospital sheets. “Who are you, exactly?”

“Karl Benn. You … ah … fainted in my bookshop this morning. I’m the manager.”

“Oh, yes. You called the ambulance,” said Amber, narrowing her eyes as she studied the stranger.

“I rode in with you, in the ambulance. Sorry I couldn’t stay. I had to get back to the store, but I phoned a couple of times to see how you were.”

He was tall, taller than her, and pale and looked weak enough that she should be able to take him even in her own exhausted state. Smoke didn’t give her a chance to act. He was across the room and standing between her and the manager, glaring, before Karl could step into the room. She could see him clearly now. Her second impression was the accurate one. He was about thirty, skinny, with the look of a person who’d been indoors and ill for a while. A long while.

Amber examined him, searching for any sign of evil intent, some sign that he was in league with a soul sucker or something similar. There was nothing to see. Unfortunately in the real world evil villains rarely had soul patch beards, deep brooding eyes, and long capes with high collars, or hosted reality “talent” shows. This one’s eyes were deep, but more sunken from fatigue than intending to conceal the mirrors of a depraved soul, and if she wasn’t mistaken, his hands were shaking just a little.

Just like hers.

The magic going on in his bookstore wasn’t doing him much good. Maybe he was an amateur and his spell casting had gotten away from him. He might have called up a monster that escaped his control.

Karl stepped into the room, giving the scowling Smoke a wary berth and a weak smile.

“I just wanted to check in and make sure everything’s okay,” he said, offering a box of hospital gift shop candy to Amber, who kept her hands flat on the sheet and made no move to accept it. “You gave your head a nasty crack. The girl on the register said she could hear your head hitting the ground all the way across the store.”

He winced at his own comment then smiled and shrugged at Amber.

“Well, my brother does say my head’s hollow,” said Amber.

She reached out to scan his aura. There had to be some sign of his intent. No one could lie in his aura. A stab of pain tore through her and she collapsed back against her pillows, pressing the heel of her palms against her eyes.

Smoke was at her side in an instant, dividing his attention between watching Karl and examining Amber for new injuries.

“Amber,” he hissed over his shoulder, “did he hurt you? What did he do?

“Relax, Smoke,” muttered Amber, rubbing at her forehead and uncovering her face. “I did it to myself looking for an aura.”

“Aura?” Karl’s voice was hard.

That word had an interesting effect upon the store manager, Amber noted despite the pain. He went from professional sympathy to suspicious anger in a breath.

“What the hell is going on?” said Karl, taking a step back. “Listen, if you’re trying to set my store up for some kind of con or lawsuit, you’ve picked the wrong place. We haven’t anything to take.”

“What’s your problem?” demanded Smoke loudly, and Amber winced.

Her headache spawned a few baby headaches and they’d invited a few other little aches and pains over for a play date. Her body and spirit were one huge throb and she felt loose, so loose. She turned head slowly from side to side and it seemed that her soul was just a beat behind the movement.

“Nothing, except maybe you,” snapped Karl.

“Enough,” shouted Amber, or at least she spoke as loudly as her delicate jaw and throat would allow. “Listen, you,” she focused on Karl and blinked. Her eyesight was fogging and she could barely stop herself from yawning in his face. If he were a true son of evil he’d take offense at that. If he wasn’t, too damned bad. “Listen. I’m not setting you up for anything. I was heading into your store to ask about a book my aunt ordered online. That’s all.”

Karl looked startled at the sudden change in subject and relaxed a little. Anger faded as his professional mask settled into place.

“Online is where we do most of our sales now,” he said. “What happened? Didn’t the book arrive?”

“Yes, but you see, it’s not the sort of book my aunt usually reads. And a few days later she and my uncle disappeared. I’m sort of tracking them through their last few days to get an idea what was going on,” She studied him through narrowed eyes, “Is there any way you could do a check? See if there’s anything unusual about the sale? Or maybe ask around at the store. Your staff may remember seeing her. It’s unusual for my aunt to buy books online. She preferred browsing. She might have dropped in, seen the book, forgot to buy it, then ordered it online rather than come back.”

Karl regarded her without expression for several seconds. Long enough for Amber to get worried. Had she given away too much information? Yeah, sure, but there were times when she had to take a risk. The longer she looked at the man the more convinced she became that he wasn’t behind the attack on her. She didn’t have the strength to try and scan his aura a second time, but her physical eyes were telling her this was a seriously ill man. She doubted he could walk up a flight of steps without oxygen.

Of course, it could all be an act. A blind.

Right now she couldn’t do that walk, either.

“Okay,” said Karl. “I have no idea what you’re up to, but I warn you, any attempt to pull a con or start a lawsuit and we will be talking through lawyers. There’s a chance that you were innocently clumsy or distracted by concern for your family. I doubt that, because it isn’t the police coming to my door asking questions about your aunt. However, I’m going to ask my staff and get back to you. And I’ll check with the website. But I can tell you right now, I deal with that part of the business myself. If there had been anything to raise flags I’d have noticed it.”

“Thank you.”

Amber decided to ignore the comment about the police. Certainly it would be suspicious to even a mundane police officer that her cousins hadn’t reported the missing family members for eight whole weeks. Or that
her
first action after being told hadn’t been to call 911. She grimaced imagining how that conversation would go.

“Hi, my aunt and uncle – witches both – have disappeared and we suspect they’ve been eaten by a monster. And it just so happens there’s a giant spider’s web on this guy’s bookstore. Could you check it out?”

Yeah, that would fly.

Like a lead balloon.

Oh, wait, didn’t the
Mythbusters
bust that one?

Exhaustion was making her ditzy.

“Uh, just to help, do you have a photo of your aunt?” asked Karl.

“Actually, I don’t,” Amber glanced across to Smoke who picked up his cue.

“She’s five ten, looks young despite being in her fifties. Her hair is silver and reaches all the way down to her knees. This time of year she wears a denim duster with flowers painted all over it. Walks with a limp. She usually carries a walking stick with a carving of a bear on the handle. More a strutting stick than a walking stick. She just likes to carry it around. Stylish! Oh, and a black fedora.”

“Are you crazy, or is she?” demanded Karl.

“Perfectly sane, I assure you,” said Smoke.

Karl stared at Smoke for a moment before shaking his head.

“I can tell you right off that lady never came in my store. I’m there every day from opening to after hours; if she’d come in, I’d remember.”

“Thanks, but if you could …”

“Okay, I’ll ask, but if someone came in like that you could be sure my staff would have gossiped about it and I’d have heard.”

“Okay,” Amber and Smoke exchanged a glance. “Still …”

“I said, I’ll still ask,” said Karl, impatience coloring his voice. “So, tell me. What book did she order?”

“
First Destroy All Giant Monsters
. It’s a …”

“I remember that one going out,” he interrupted coldly. “It was months ago.”

“Almost three months,” agreed Amber.

Karl regarded them with suspicion. Amber guessed he was wondering why they’d left it so long to search for them. With hope he wouldn’t ask; there was no satisfactory answer she could give. Either Smoke or she would sound … odd. Odder.

“And how do I get in touch with you?”

Smoke tried to catch her attention. Amber acknowledged his concern with a slight nod.

“I’m staying in my aunt’s house right now. Same address, same phone number as I’m sure she entered on your site. Can you still pull it up?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, thank you.” As Karl turned to go she called after him, “And thanks for calling the ambulance.”

Karl paused at the door, glanced at her, then at the candy still in his hand. Without turning he dropped the box into the sink near the door.

“I didn’t call. One of the
concerned bystanders
did.”

Smoke waited until the door clicked shut and muffled footsteps told them Karl Benn had left before turning to scowl at Amber

“Why the hell did you tell him all that? What possessed you …?”

Amber considered her answer for several long minutes.

“Because he looks closer to death than I feel.”

Getting out of the hospital took hours. It didn’t help that now she’d regained consciousness Amber couldn’t go back to sleep. Her soul deep exhaustion frightened her. Whenever she felt herself slipping down into sleep she also felt as if she were slipping free of her body. Smoke sat on the bed, holding her hand and talking to her to keep her awake. Keep her anchored.

When they got back to Five Corners Farm having survived Lightning’s erratic driving, the front door wouldn’t open.