The Awakening

Page 64

 

  He gave his attention back to the work at hand.

  "Hey, how did it go at the bookshop?"

  He looked up. He didn't recognize the girl in front of him. She was dressed as a witch, and she had gone all out. Wickedly pointed hat, green makeup. "Sara?" he said incredulously.

  "Yeah. Well?"

  He didn't answer. He still just stared at her. Then he asked, "Sara, isn't your costume against your beliefs?"

  "I was feeling like a rebel," she said dryly. "Well?"

  "It's all going really well, thanks," he told her.

  She came closer to him. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, but you've really got to watch out. "

  "Why is that?"

  "Your friends from New Orleans… they may not be your friends. "

  "Oh?"

  "He was in the shop today. Look, Finn, I admit to being afraid of you, right? There's something really off with you. But I can tell you, too, that your friend Lucian… well, there's something really off with him. "

  "And how do you know that? Did you read his palm or his cards?"

  She shook her head, then lowered it. "I know because…"

  "Yeah?"

  She stared at him again. "When he looked at me, I would have gone anywhere with him. "

  "He's got a wife. He tried to seduce you?"

  "No," she admitted. He thought that she was blushing, but it was hard to tell, since she was wearing green makeup. "But," she continued, "he could have made me say anything, do anything. I think he's dangerous, and… tomorrow is Halloween night. He's dangerous, and you're dangerous. I know that you're dangerous, Finn. I don't believe that you mean to be—you just are. You're the chosen, or something. "

  He watched her, remembering the great hostility he had felt toward her, and the almost ridiculous desire to seize her sexually, assault her. Right now, she just seemed like an ordinary young woman dressed up for a Halloween party. But she also seemed sincere.

  "You should lock yourself up somewhere," she told him.

  "Thank you," he said gravely. "I'll give that my deep consideration. "

  "Finn, I'm serious. You see, I looked at Megan tonight while she was singing, and… she had an aura around her. "

  "An aura. What does that mean?"

  "It means she's going to die," Sara said, and turned and walked away, back into the crowd.

  He watched from the shadows.

  And just before midnight, it happened.

  The door to the ICU room opened and closed. The person in scrubs, cap, and mask entered slowly, bootie-covered feet moving silently across the room.

  He waited.

  The person moved to stand over the bed, looking down at Andy Markham. Seconds ticked by.

  Then the person moved around to the plugs that connected to the monitors and oxygen system.

  And bent down.

  "No. "

  Lucian stepped from the shadows and said the single word. The person spun around.

  To his amazement, he saw that it was Aunt Martha who had come to do old Andy Markham in.

  Finn was watching for her anxiously when Megan returned to the stage.

  "What's the matter?" she asked him.

  "Nothing," he told her. "Nothing at all. "

  "You're lying. "

  He shook his head. "Are Morwenna and Joseph here?"

  "If so, I haven't found them," Megan said. She was certain her cousin and Joseph would show up tonight.

  She watched Finn curiously, because he seemed to have gained a shade of pale. Still, she decided not to press the point. "It's getting late, but I'm sure Morwenna and Joseph will show up. Unless they're just too tired. Hey, I did see Theo Martin at the bar. He's not on duty tonight, but he told me he's keeping an eye on things anyway; people can get crazier and crazier the closer it comes to Halloween. Even just rowdy, you know? He was telling me that sometimes the local college boys like to pretend to be 'haunts' during some of the tours on these days, and that they can pretend some pretty silly things, that get people hurt—

  like trying to break into places, wearing sheets, and coming out on balconies. One kid dressed up like a ghost and fell out of a second floor window of one of the historic buildings last year. Luckily, he landed in some bushes and only broke his leg. But thankfully, Theo took our stalker in the parking lot last night very seriously, told Sam he had to hire a few guys and the cops would provide extra on their own. So, there are several extra guys here and around the parking lot tonight. "

  Finn nodded. "I've seen a few of the uniformed cops. "

  She smiled. "So why are you so white?"

  "We need to get back in the sun for a while, that's why," he said lightly. He glanced at his watch. "Our time is up. Let's do our set. "

  Megan picked up her mike and looked out at the crowd as Finn announced their next number. There was a grim reaper standing very close to the stage. He had on a cowl that almost completely obscured his face, and still…

  She could see his eyes.

  She shivered.

  It appeared that his eyes glimmered in the dark. Like those of a cat.

  Or a wolf.

  Martha stood still, staring at Lucian, but not seeming to see him. She wasn't even surprised that he was in the room, a stranger.

  "What are you doing?" he asked.

  She kept staring at him.

  "Martha!" he said, and waved a hand in front of her. She didn't blink. He snapped his fingers, and at last, her lids rose and fell.

  She took a look at him. Her eyes widened in sudden terror. She opened her mouth as if she would scream.

  "No!" he said again, very softly.

  The scream died on her lips, but her distress became very apparent. "Who are you? What am I doing in here? Oh, my God—Andy!"

  "Sh. Andy is all right. The question is, what are you doing here?"

  "I—I don't know!" she said with dismay.

  In a few minutes, someone in the hospital would realize that there was a commotion going on in an intensive care room. "Let's get out of here, shall we?" Lucian said.

  She stared at him, still trying to figure out who the hell he was, but aware as well that she was dressed up and in scrubs and in a room where she shouldn't be, not at that time of night.

  He opened the door quietly, ushering her out.

  The night nurse, Janice Mayerling, was standing in the hall. Right in front of the room. She was staring into space. She didn't see them, despite the fact that they walked right in front of her. Lucian motioned to Martha to move down the hall, toward the elevators. He tried the same routine, waving a hand in front of Janice's face, to no avail. He snapped his fingers directly in front of her eyes. She blinked, shaking her head, pretty face knit in a frown of bewilderment, quickly masked. She stared at Lucian. "Sir, who are you? What are you doing here? Visitors are not allowed to roam around in this wing. "

  "I'm not here," he said quietly. "Get in with your patient; stay with him. "

  He turned and walked down the hall to join Martha. Though still distressed, she seemed to have stiffened up with solemn Yankee resolve.

  "Who are you?"

  "Lucian DeVeau. I'm a friend of Finn's. "

  "Finn," she murmured. Her eyes widened again. "Megan… she's all right?"

  "They're both fine at the moment. The question right now is you. "

  A deeper dismay and confusion filled her eyes. "I went to bed!" she exclaimed, lowering her voice as the elevator arrived and she looked in to make sure that it was empty. "I went to bed; I fell asleep. I woke up here. Oh, my God! I hope it isn't Alzheimer's!"

  "I doubt it," Lucian said.

  The elevator came to the ground. "I—I don't understand any of this at all," she said in deep frustration. "I don't remember… I don't remember getting out of bed, coming here… I don't even remember waking up. And I'm in… I'm in scrubs!"

  "So that's it—you
don't why you're here, you don't remember getting here, driving here, anything?"

  She shook her head. "Why would I come here? I saw Andy this afternoon. Oh, this is so frightening.

  But… you! Why were you in there?" she asked, her confusion turning to suspicion and anger. "I don't know you—and I don't believe you know Andy. How did you get into that hospital room?"

  "I don't matter in this," he assured her.

  "You could have hurt Andy!"

  "Martha, let's get back to you. I stopped you before you could pull the plug on Andy's oxygen supply. "

  "I would never do such a thing!" she protested adamantly.

  "But you would have come to the hospital and dressed in scrubs to sneak into his room at night?"

  Martha, looking mortified, hurried to the exit. She pushed open the door to the outside, inhaling deeply as if the night air could clear her mind.

  She didn't look at Lucian, but gasped. "I had a dream! I remember the dream. Andy was in it. He was some kind of a monster and he was calling to Megan. I could hear him, and his voice wasn't at all old and decrepit, it was compelling, commanding… even seductive. And I remember in my dream that I was trying to get to him, to stop him before he could hurt Megan!"

  Her eyes turned to his, as if wondering if he could verify such a strange dream, but then she squared her shoulders again. "This is ridiculous! Andy wouldn't hurt Megan, and I never usually have dreams—oh, it's all this stuff with Halloween, and the shenanigans of all our local Wiccans. Or the college pranksters. I'm going to see a doctor first thing in the morning. This is so dangerous. There's my car. I drove here. I might have killed someone!"

  "I'll see you home," Lucian said.

  "You'll do no such thing. I don't know you—for all I do know, you could be a maniacal killer. You'll get yourself out of here, before I call the police. "