T*Witches: Building a Mystery (11 page)

He was already there.

They didn't notice him right away. The first thing they saw when Cam wheeled Alex into room five eleven were enough flowers and potted plants to fill a garden.

A short, stout woman, the circles under her eyes almost the same color as her graying black hair, sat in the midst of this bright jungle. She sat alongside a hospital bed, holding the limp hand of a little boy and talking to him in a language Cam and Alex didn't understand.

Tubes and wires flowed from the child's arms, chest, and bandaged head to monitoring machines behind him; machines partially hidden by a vase of bright orange birds-of-paradise set among huge tropical ferns.

"Are you Mrs. Tung?" Cam asked gently.

That was when Alex realized he was in the room.

Cade.

He was standing behind a ficus tree, its pot wrapped in tinsel paper and decorated with a big red ribbon. He was leaning against the window, his head pressed against the glass.

When he heard Cam's voice, Cade turned. Alex dropped her head, pretending to be dozing, hoping he wouldn't guess who she was, that no blue hair was sticking out of her bandages.

"Alex?" he said at once. But he was looking at Cam.

Cam jumped. "What are you doing here?"

"You first," he said. "You're not her. You're her sister, right? The twin."

"Camryn," Cam confessed. "I... I work here." She smoothed down her pink apron as if offering proof.

"What are you, some kind of volunteer?"

The child's mother was looking back and forth, from Cam to Cade, trying to keep up with the conversation. It was clear she knew very little English.

"I'm a candy striper," Cam said smoothly. "I'm taking this patient to her room." She glanced at Alex, whose bandaged head was collapsed onto her chest. "I must've gotten the room numbers mixed up."

"No big," Cade said. Then, turning to Mrs. Tung, he spoke very slowly and gestured with his hands. "I'm going to see the doctor, okay? Find out how Nguyen is doing. This girl—from school. She's a friend." He nodded at Cam and walked out, without so much as a glance at Alex.

"It's not him. He's not the messenger," Alex said the minute he was gone.

Cam hesitated. She'd gotten nothing but honest vibes off the boy. Still, what was he doing here?

Guilt
, Alex answered.
It was his sister's car. For all we know, his sister was driving it.

"What if
he
was?" Cam whispered. "What if Cade was the driver?"

"He doesn't have his license," Alex said lamely. She didn't want to think about it. One look at him had set her back days. She could feel her anger and distrust melting away, her heart growing tender, warm. But Cam was right. What was he doing here?

Cam smiled and nodded at Mrs. Tung. "What's our plan B?" she said softly to Alex. "I didn't think about his mom, or anybody else, being in the room. We'd better take off, I guess."

"Stay, stay!" a raspy voice invited them. "I'll just be a moment. I'm going to talk with Mrs. Tung."

"Doc! I mean, Karsh!" Cam's arm felt all tingly from where his starched lab coat had brushed against her.

"Right you are," he answered. "And what are you supposed to be?" he asked Alex, with a very un-Doc-like touch of sarcasm. "Let's hope no one scrapes a knee in this town, there's probably not a shred of bandage left."

Turning his back on her, he addressed the boy's mother. "Madame Tung," he called her, and bowed. And began speaking in an Asian dialect, which the grateful woman quickly responded to. The next thing they knew, Doc had led her out of the room.

Alex jumped out of her wheelchair and peeled off the bandages. Cam had closed the door and begun emptying her pockets, spreading out at the foot of the bed the little pot of crushed herbs, the bouquet of violets, Alex's pink crystal, the paper on which they'd written their spell—and two aroma candles, one of which was labeled ROMANCE.

How doable is this?
Alex wondered, looking for the first time at the little boy in the bed. He was very pale. She could see his blue veins under his sallow skin. His lips were dry, parched, swollen. For a moment, she closed her eyes.
Oh, please, please help us,
she thought.

Help us to help you,
Cam added, staring at the child's yellowing bruises.

Guide us—

"Okay, let's do it, shall we?" Doc was back in the room, rubbing his hands together. His fingers—was Alex imagining it?—seemed just a smidge thicker than Doc's normally bone-thin joints. "That wasn't the spell, was it," he said, sighing. "I've heard better from no-talent novices."

They'd just been warming up, Cam told Karsh defensively. Alex picked up the crystal, which began to heat at once. Cam held the violets, which she'd intended to wave under the boy's nostrils—but now, seeing that he had a breathing tube in his nose, she wasn't certain what she'd do with the little flowers. Cam and Alex held each other's hands and stared uncertainly at the incantation they'd written out.

Karsh broke in, instructing them to hold the boy's hands, as well. "The healing energy will come from you. Flow through you. I'll take care of the accessories." He held out his hands—which looked far more delicate than Alex remembered—and they deposited their magick preparations in them.

"See him truly," Karsh instructed. "Listen to the blood pulsing through him. Feel his body's needs. Read his mind's will. Offer him your strength in exchange for his weakness."

But they were already doing that. The moment they laid hands on the boy, sights and sounds assailed them. The jagged break that ran along his skull. The slosh of bruised marrow in two shattered ribs. Sizzling red germs massing like an army of fire ants in his crushed ankle.

The battered boy couldn't speak with his mouth, but his entire self was whispering to them. And his brain, inside the broken skull, his brain was whole and healthy and desperate.

"Not bad." Karsh laughed. "I'd leave out that big-headed 'my' before 'moon magick' and 'curing sun.'" He was reading over their incantation. "Otherwise, you've written quite a nice little spell. Go on, then, recite it."

Alex began:
"Universe of love and health..."

"I think I need the herbs now." Cam held out a hand for them and Karsh, grinning proudly, poured the green flakes into her palm.
"Use these gifts of nature's wealth, to heal this child who wronged no one,"
Cam said, sprinkling the fragrant powder over the sheet covering Nguyen.

"With my moon..."
Alex began.

Karsh shook his head at her.

"Uh, with... moon magick,"
she corrected herself,
"and curing sun."

"Stand back!" Karsh cackled, raising his hands.

Suddenly, the twins were drawn together with such speed and force that they banged heads over poor Nguyen. "Our necklaces!" Cam shouted.

"They're locked," Alex realized, feeling the violent pull of the gold chain on the back of her neck, and heat rising off the joined charms.

"Help!" Cam squealed.

"Do not forget your mission," Karsh warned. "Focus on the child!"

And, in that uncomfortable position, faces mashed together across the bed, they tried.

"Universe of love and health,

Use these gifts of nature's wealth,

To heal this child who wronged no one

With moon magick and curing sun."

The monitoring machines began to blink crazily. Nguyen stirred. "I'll go find his mother," Karsh said, rushing out of the room faster than they'd ever seen his old legs carry him.

"Wait!" Alex hollered, but he was gone.

"Oh, this is fun," Cam grumbled, trying to tug apart their locked amulets. "Now we're conjoined twins."

A tiny voice mumbled something.

Alex and Cam looked down. Nguyen's mouth was moving. And then his eyes flew open. He was as startled to see them tented above him as they were to hear his sudden surprised giggle.

Thank you, oh, thank you!
Cam was crying.

"Cut it out," Alex whispered, but her eyes were also wet. And a moment later, she, too, was chanting,
Thank you, oh, thank you,
because their sun and moon charms had flown apart, tossing them backward into separate banks of flowers.

A nurse, who'd seen the remarkable change in Nguyen on her computer at the nursing station, ran into the room just as Cam and Alex left.

Hurrying toward the elevators, they passed the visitors' lounge. Cade was sitting there alone, his head in his hands. Instinctively, Alex took a step toward him, then stopped.

"Go on," Cam urged. "I'm going to speed-dial Beth and tell her I'm on my way down. But Alex, until we find out who the messenger is, please, please be careful."

Alex hugged her sister. "Totally," she promised, then went into the lounge. "Hey," she said, and Cade looked up.

"Hey, yourself. Was that you in the mummy suit?"

Alex laughed. "I was pretty surprised to see you there."

He stared at her for a moment, then looked out the window. "My sister did it," he said. "She was driving home, with her roommate. Nguyen ran out into the road and she couldn't stop in time. She hit him. Hit and run—"

"I sort of knew that," Alex admitted, sitting down beside him.

"Well, the police don't. And neither does my father. He'd have her arrested or locked up in some loony bin if he found out. Karen's been getting into trouble since she was a kid, since our mom died. She never really got over it—"

Alex sighed. "Trust me, I understand."

Cade turned back to her. "I sort of knew you would," he said, taking her hand. "My dad, he put way too much on her. On Karen. She was only thirteen and he thought she ought to pitch in, take Mom's place. She was supposed to be like his little hostess and housekeeper, and a substitute mom to me. Plus he started traveling a lot about that time."

"I'm sorry. But still..." Alex squeezed his hand. "I mean, what's that got to do with the robberies and Eddie?"

"I took the money," Cade said. "I stole it—from the house, from my dad. He leaves a lot lying around—"

"But why?" Alex asked. "Does it have anything to do with the other girl in the car? Was she driving?"

"Jennifer? No, she is... I mean, she
was
Karen's college roommate. Jennifer Shepherd. They were freshmen together at Newton. But it was Karen. I wish it wasn't. Karen was driving."

Alex nodded, closed her eyes.

She seemed to be listening to something that Cade couldn't hear.

After a moment, as if she were talking in her sleep, she said, "But Jennifer, the roommate, she had something to do with it, right? With the robberies."

She heard an argument. Two girls quarreling—over the fallen boy's boy, she guessed.

We've got to get him to a hospital!

Leave him, Karen. Let's go.

No, we can't. Jennifer, help me. Do you have your phone? Call 911. Hurry.

You want to tell the police you were doing seventy?

Was I?

Come on, Karen. You're hysterical. I'll take you home. Your headlight's smashed. There's probably blood on the car. If you dad's there, we'll say that you hit a deer or something—

No. We can't leave him. He's hurt. He's just a kid and he's hurt bad.

Karen, get real! I'll come back. I'll take care of him, okay? I'll take care of everything. Let's go!

"Jennifer," Alex said, opening her eyes with major effort. She felt dizzy now. There was ringing in her ears. "Jennifer Shepherd. She's ... blackmailing your sister."