Boneyard (The Thaumaturge Series Book 2) (23 page)

“Dahlia’s here,” Cody said. “She’s with her husband up in intensive care. I’m here ‘cause your mom’s your emergency contact and she’s already in Idaho. So she called me.” His voices softened. “Sorry, man.”

I shrugged and looked to Scott. “And
you
?”

He put his hands in his pocket. “I was listening to the police scanner last night. You know it was Coronation and Cam was out and...” he looked at me. “I heard enough to know it was you. Ebron, you told me you would
call
me.”

“I didn’t have time,” I protested weakly. “So Danielle? What happened to her? Is she... I paused, looking around again. “Where are we anyway?”

“Butte,” Cody said. He let go of my hand and slumped back in the chair. “They brought you in an ambulance really early this morning.”

“Fuck,” I moaned. “That’s going to be so expensive.”

“Considering what you were doing,” Scott said darkly, “They should consider it fair compensation.”

“What time is it?” I asked. I twitched my legs, moved my arms, twisted my neck around until it cracked. All systems operational. I needed to go. “Where’s my phone?”

Cody stood and crossed the room to the door. He pushed it all the way shut to get to my coat, hanging from a hook on the back of the door. He rifled through the pockets to produce my phone, tossing it onto my lap as he resumed his seat.

“My truck?” I asked, grabbing my phone and thumbing in my pass code. Half past ten in the morning. And shit, low battery.

“Chad said that he moved it onto the shoulder, but it’s still there on the highway.” Scott said. At my curious look, he shrugged. “I spoke with Chad this morning. He had to go back to Heckerson, but he did come down with you last night.”

“It’s fine,” I said, waving him away. “Do I have to talk to a doctor or something? Because I really need to go.”

Scott and Cody exchanged a look.

“Do you remember what happened?” Scott asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I pushed myself too hard too fast. I need to see Danielle. I can probably finish her now. I can at least try. Can I leave?”

“They won’t tell us anything,” Cody said. “There’s a paramedic, though. She’s waiting to talk to you.”

My heart sank a little. “Oh,” I said. “Diana Hewitt?”

Scott nodded. “Yeah, she stepped out for a minute. Want me to go get her?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said. I had eight missed calls—one from Scott, one from my mom, two from Dahlia and four from Leo.

I looked back up at Scott. “You called me?”

He paused on his way out the door. “Yeah, when I was listening to the police scanner. When you didn’t answer, I figured you’d gone and done something stupid, got yourself in trouble.”

I glared at him, hating the indignity of sitting in a bed wearing nothing but a hospital gown. “They were kids, Scott. Just kids. Maybe they’re all here? Diana might know. I was just trying to help.”

His face softened. “I know, son. You just...” He shook his head. “I wish you’d let people help
you
, is all.”

He gave me a small smile and slipped out the door, leaving me alone with Cody. I turned to him. “I need to get out of here.”

Cody studied my face. “Dude, maybe you should just, you know, take it easy. Don’t you think that’s this is, like, a sign that maybe you should slow down?”

“No,” I said. “This happens all the time. Well, I mean, not
this.
” I plucked at my hospital bracelet. “But every time I bring someone back I get sick. And then I get better. Trust me,” I told him. “It’s not a big deal. I need to finish Danielle. And then I need to go. I got other stuff going on and I need to get out of here to find Leo.”

“Yeah,” Cody said slowly. “He called. I didn’t answer.”

“Why the hell not?” I demanded.

Cody lowered his gaze. “You know. He’s like, not ... I didn’t know what to say.”

The steady beeping of the machines filled the silence between us. Somewhere down the hall, hushed voices approached and then two nurses hurried past without looking in. I looked at the sliver of light allowed by the drawn blinds and tried to guess where Leo would be, how much time had passed since he’d left. It was Sunday, right? And he’d left Friday night? Did he know I was here? Unlikely. Though why had he called? Maybe he’d needed me. Maybe something had gone wrong and he called me and I hadn’t been there. I flapped my hands impatiently. I cracked my knuckles, finger by finger. 

Cody shifted, uncrossing his legs and then propping one ankle up on his knee. He cleared his throat. “You want me to get you anything? Need some food or something?”

“Food would be good,” I said. Truthfully, I felt nothing, not even hungry. Though water would be nice. “Thanks, Cody. And thanks for coming down. I really appreciate it.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, no worries. I mean, you’re like, my brother or whatever.”

I didn’t dare look at him. My throat pulled tight, my stomach even tighter, making my whole body like one thrumming bow string about to snap. I stared at the IV coming out of the back of my hand and curled my other hand over it. Blue veins popped out against my white, dead-looking skin. I slid both hands under the scratchy, pale yellow blanket.

“I’ll go get you some grub,” Cody said, standing up. “Then when you’re free to go, you can ride back with me.”

“Thanks, man,” I said softly.

He nodded and started for the door. He glanced back over his shoulder. “Don’t worry if I take a little while. There’s this hot nurse I’ve been trying to corner and maybe she’ll be on her lunch break soon.”

I snorted and flashed him a grin. Then he was gone and I was alone.

The battery bar on my phone flashed red, but I had enough juice to check my text messages. Just one, from Leo, at six that morning:
Where are you?

I sank back into the mattress, wedging my ass down into the corner of the L so that I could comfortably draw up my legs. Helplessness washed over me, leaving my fists clenched, my stomach twisting, my whole body straining like something needed to burst out. I’d made such a mess. I’d fucked things up so bad. How to even begin again, to get back in the game? And where to go from here was anyone’s guess.

I breathed into the silence, long enough that I began to feel disconnected from it all, like the still room belonged to someone else’s life and I was but looking through a glass. Late autumn rain pattered against the window, muffled by the beige blinds. Someone’s shoes squeaked as they dashed down the hall. The sleeves of my shirt, untidily bundled with the rest of my clothes on a chair in the corner, fell like a still life painting in shadowed folds. I released steady breaths into the quiet room, willing my heart to slow, my fists to unclench.

They all returned at once, Scott and Diana Hewitt, along with a petite woman in a white coat that I assumed to be a doctor. I turned my head towards them as they all filed in and the quiet broke with the stomping of their shoes. Scott and Diana awkwardly crowded in along the window-side of my bed, Diana sagging against the sill, her uniform rumpled and dotted with blood. She gave me a small smile when I met her eyes, though, a smile that seemed genuine.

The doctor came to flank me on the other side of the bed, perching on the edge with one leg tucked under the other.

“Hi,” she said, smiling gently. “I’m Dr. Rundle. How’re you feeling?”

“Fine,” I said automatically and she smiled a little wider.

“Good, I’m glad to hear it.”

“Am I free to go?” I asked, trying to subtly shift my foot away from the warm pressure of her hip.

She tossed her hands up a little. “Yeah, unless you want us to run some tests.”

I frowned. “For what? I just fainted, right?” It took effort to say that, casual like, like I was some Victorian damsel with the vapors.

Dr. Rundle glanced at the beeping machine beside my shoulder. I followed her gaze, trying to see what she was looking at, but I only saw numbers on a tiny gray screen.

“You fainted,” she said. “Where are you from?”

I tilted my head. “Heckerson,” I said. “Why?”

She shrugged. “I just wondered if you were new to the area. The altitude gets people sometimes, and you had the symptoms of altitude sickness.”

That made me pause, though I supposed in some way, it made sense. I thought of how it felt to rise into the astral planes, how my physical body faded like an old photograph and my—what? Spirit? Soul? Consciousness? rose into the light-speckled dark like a bubble rising in water.

“No,” I said. “I was born and raised here.”

She lifted one shoulder. “Well, try to take it easy the next couple of days. Rest, plenty of fluids. Eat yourself into a tryptophan coma on Thursday.” She smiled, waiting for me to smile back. I tried, but my eyes slid away from hers.

“So I can go?” I asked instead.

“Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat and sitting up a little straighter. “I’ll have them send up your release papers. It may take a few hours. We’re short-staffed. The holiday, you know.”

“Thanks,” I said, and gave smiling another shot. That one worked better and she touched my arm.

“Take care of yourself,” she said. “And have a happy Thanksgiving.”

“You too,” I replied automatically.

I turned to Diana when the door had clicked shut. “Where’s Danielle?”

“She’s here,” Diana said without hesitation. Dark circles ringed her eyes, but she squared her shoulders as she looked at me. “You up for another shot? I can get you into the ICU.”

“Let me eat something,” I said. “Then let’s do it.” I gave a half-hearted fist pump.

The corner of her mouth quirked up a little. “Okay. Good. Thanks. I’m going to go to my sister’s house—she lives here—and take a quick shower and then I’ll be back, okay?”

“Okay,” I said. “And then maybe later, we can talk?”

Diana paused and fixed me with a thoughtful look. “I’m not going to tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“How many people saw me last night?” I asked, an edge creeping into my voice. I hadn’t realized that I was angry at her.

No, not at her. At Chad.

What if I hadn’t answered the phone when he’d called me last night? Or if I’d just hung up on him? I wouldn’t be here, in a hospital bed, after failing a resurrection that was witnessed by two dozen people

And three teenagers would be dead.

I couldn’t have it both ways.

“I’ll deal with that,” Diana told me cautiously, eyeing me like she thought I wasn’t who she thought I was. Like maybe I might be dangerous. Ha. Little did she know. A spray of Corvin’s brain matter flashed through my mind, how his blood had looked against my shiny wood floor and I wondered helplessly, desperately, where Leo could be.

“No one’s going to make trouble for you,” Scott said suddenly, moving to stand next to me and dropping a hand on my shoulder. I felt steadied under its weight. “I’ve talked a little bit to Diana here and she says that, uh, the emergency folks aren’t looking to make things public. They just want your help.”

I really didn’t want to get into it. But fuck, there needed to be ground rules. I had to stay in control.

“I don’t do it for free,” I said, raising my chin a little.

Was that disapproval in Diana’s eyes? Good. She had to know she couldn’t steamroll me into doing it. I wasn’t a fucking saint.

“You want
money
?” she asked, incredulous. Outraged, maybe?

“I want compensation,” I replied calmly. I indicated the room around me, the beeping machine beside the hospital bed. “As you can see, I pay a price every time I do it. It’s only fair that you compensate me for my time and efforts.” A union representative would have been appreciated right about then. 
Bargain for fair wage, paid holidays. Maybe dental. How about a decent retirement plan?

Diana just scoffed and turned her furious eyes on Scott. I fought the urge to glance at Scott’s expression, but he just squeezed my shoulder and stayed quiet. Whatever she saw on his face, she didn’t like, and her gaze flew back to me.

“This is crazy,” she snapped. “Who do you expect to pay? The EMTs? Me, personally? What, should we make
payments
?”

“I don’t care,” I snapped back. “I’m not doing it for free. I have bills to pay. Hospital bills, if you haven’t noticed. Do you work for free?”

If you don’t help, people will die.

I shoved the thought away before it could take root and make me waver
.

 People die every day.

Ebron, you can
not
draw attention to yourself!

Yeah, I especially shoved that voice away.

Diana glared, her jaw clenched. I tried not to notice the blood on the cuffs of her sleeves, on the front of her jacket. I couldn’t afford to be taken advantage of. What had she called me? A
tool?

Well, you had to pay for tools.

“I’ll talk to everyone,” she said, gathering herself up. “I don’t know... what we’ll do but—” she gave me a hard look. “We’ll figure out a way to pay you, if that’s what it takes to get you to help.”

I kept my chin up, focused on holding her gaze. My heart slammed into the bottom of my throat. “Good,” I said and my voice stayed steady. “Then we can talk more later.”

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. And then we’ll see about the girl.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“You can just put her on my bill, right?” she threw at me, and slammed the door as she left.

I exhaled and Scott did too. He sank into the chair beside my bed.

“Oh, man,” he said, running a hand down his sea captain’s beard. “What a mess.”

“What am I going to do?” I asked quietly but Scott answered anyway.

He leaned forward, looking at me intently. “You take care of yourself first. Hear me, Ebron? This whatever it is you got? It’s yours and yours alone. Don’t let her bully you.”

I smiled weakly but couldn’t think past the thudding of my heart.

“Shit, son,” Scott said, settling back into the chair. “I’ve seen what you can do, and I don’t doubt it’s a heavy burden. You gotta keep your head on straight. People are always going to want things from you and it’s up to you how much you give them.”