“Well then,” Mark said, “why don’t you go downstairs, in the cantina area, while I run checks on your friend here?”
I glanced at Raiya; she gave me the slightest nod of approval. “Alright,” I agreed. I never needed much incentive to leave my parents. I headed out the door and waited, while Raiya conveyed our good-byes to Mikey and skirted around my dad.
I saw her downcast expression as we left. “Sorry about that. You don’t need to worry about my parents,” I told her. “Cheryl’s never been one to let me be happy.”
“I don’t like getting you in trouble,” Raiya said.
“Like I said, don’t worry about them.” I took her hand as we walked down the hall. “If time and space can’t seem to separate us, I’m not about to let Mark and Cheryl.”
She still seemed troubled, but her eyes lit up with a quiet joy. “Maybe they’ll come around, one day.”
I smirked. “Yeah, maybe after we’ve been married for ten years and have kids. But until then, you’ll have to deal with their disapproval.”
“More like you will,” she corrected.
“I can handle it. I’ve dealt with it for years.” I shrugged. “Besides, I fight demons and monsters from other realms, and I’ve taken Martha’s tests. This is a walk in the park by comparison.”
Raiya laughed before she dropped my hand. “I have to go and check on something,” she said. “Can I call you later?”
“Sure.” I glanced at her for a long moment, until I could see the emotions flickering off her face. One of the cooler things about being Wingdinger, I thought to myself.
I was surprised to see confusion, despair, and suspicion leap off from her expression. What? What did I say?
I reached for her hand again. “What do you need? Maybe I can help.”
“No, it’s just medical stuff here,” she promised, backing away from me. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Okay.” I watched as she hurried away to the elevator and took off.
Was it something I said? I wondered. Did she think I was serious about wanting to marry her?
Replaying our conversation over in my head, I decided it sounded weird. Not because I didn’t want to, but … just because of everything.
I mean, come on. I was seventeen years old. I grew up in a home where family was placed behind work and school and accomplishment, and in a culture where we had forever to worry about the future, so there was little need to consider marriage.
But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t want it eventually, right? Someone to build a future and a family with. Someone to laugh with, cry with, fight with, stand with … someone I could look at and know she would take me as close to forever as this body would let me go.
I stopped short in my tracks as I stepped outside the hospital.
This has never happened before, I realized. I’ve never wanted a family of my own. I’ve never wanted someone to share in my future.
Until now.
I felt sheer terror hit me the same moment soothing joy embraced me.
The concept which had once terrified me suddenly didn’t seem so unusual or scary or even silly. I’d grown up thinking it was not natural—but then, at that moment, I realized I’d had enough experience with the supernatural that I should have been able to recognize it when I stumbled upon it.
☼6☼
Broken
I didn’t mention the topic of marriage to Raiya again, even in jest. It wasn’t that hard; in the days and weeks that followed our visit to Mikey, it got easier to ignore the idea all over again.
As Mary and I entered the hospital and headed up to see Mikey this time, I thought about that. Maybe I should … I don’t know, ask Raiya what she thinks about it when she gets back?
I knew she was risking a lot to live for me already. But I also knew she loved me, and I was more than able to feel her joy when we were together.
Would it really be too much to ask her to marry me? Or if she’d like to, maybe, one day? One day in the far-off future? After we’d graduated? From college? Grad school?
I sighed. I didn’t know much about asking people to marry you, but I definitely didn’t think I’d need to worry about it for several more years. Decades, even.
This is going to require some time.
“It seems unusual that they’ve kept him here for so long,” Mary said as we arrived at his room.
“Huh?” I jerked my attention back to her.
“Mikey,” she explained. “Why has he been held here for so long? Don’t you think nearly three months is a long time?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “PTSD and trauma has some counseling involved.”
“How often has he been to see one while he’s here?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I don’t come to see him a lot. He’s been upset with me, mostly about Gwen. And some other stuff. To be honest, I can’t say he’d want to talk about that, even with a counselor.”
“We should try to find out.”
I only nodded. It is kinda weird that he’s been in here for so long. I guess.
We walked into the room, and there he was. Mikey was sitting up in his bed, reading through a magazine. He looked normal.
“Hey, Mike.” I greeted him with a forced grin.
“Ugh,” he groaned as he glanced over and saw us. “Can’t you guys just leave me alone? I would’ve thought after the last visit you would have let me be.”
“Your mom invited me for Christmas,” I reminded him. “And this time, I brought, uh, Raiya, to see how you were doing.”
“I don’t know why you bothered. She can’t heal me anyway,” he muttered back. He nodded toward Mary. “She told me that several times.”
I guess Mikey doesn’t realize that Mary isn’t actually Raiya, either. Huh. I looked over at Mary as she stepped forward to fluff his pillows.
I wasn’t that surprised at it, after seeing so many of our other friends fail to see anything amiss. But Mikey, true to himself, had developed quite a crush on Starry Knight before he realized she was in love with me. I’d been expecting a little more from him than others.
“Stop,” he said, waving her away. “I’m fine.”
“Why are they keeping you here, then?” I asked. “I mean, why bother if you’re doing fine? You even look like you’re normal.”
“They keep talking about discharging me,” Mikey admitted, “but they won’t. Something to do with the medicine I’m taking. It has to be given under a doctor’s guidance. Specifically, your dad’s.”
“Really?” I asked. “Wonder why.” Mark was a cardiologist. Why was he supervising Mikey’s treatment? Didn’t Mikey have a counselor or mental health nurse who could do that?
“Medicine is a big deal.” Mikey shrugged. “It doesn’t help that they lost my written records a few weeks ago. They were scrambling around trying to find them. They keep looking around, too, when they come and give me my daily dosage.”
“What happens if you go off of it?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He pointed to the computer open on the counter by his bed. “It’s all in there, if you’re really that curious.”
“I can check it? Cool.” I reached for the keyboard. “Looks like your nurse is still logged in. Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Come on, are you actually going to look? I was just kidding.”
“I’m curious,” I replied. “And your nurse conveniently left it open for me to look. If nothing else, this is an invitation to read through everything.”
“Even if they forgot to log out, it’s still against the law for you to read it,” Mikey reminded me. “Those HIPPA laws.”
“Please. I work for the government,” I said, opening the files. “It’s practically a given that I’m going to break the law. Actually, I probably already have.”
I thought about all the time I’d spent looking up Apollo City’s budget and expense reports, looking for some evidence of the front company Dante worked for while he was a part of SWORD. He told
me once, when I was on duty at City Hall, that he did some “security consulting” for the city, under a company called Otherworld, Inc. I’d spent weeks searching for some sign of payment to them, only to come up with nothing.
Even the Internet wasn’t helpful. I Googled and Binged and Yahooed and Safaried a bunch of times, only to come up with nothing. Nothing coherent, I mentally corrected myself, thinking of the Norse/Latin/Finnish webpages that didn’t make sense, even when they were translated.
That wasn’t the worst of it, either; when I Firefoxed I did find some conspiracy theory webpages. Always fun to see those.
I scrolled down through the medical records, while Mary asked Mikey about his schoolwork and the selection of food the hospital offered. He wasn’t happy, clearly, but he was polite enough to answer her questions as I read through his last several check-ups.
Mary is clever, I thought appreciatively. Smart, to get Mikey’s attention off me.
I skimmed the electronic paperwork, looking for Mark’s signature. If he was in charge of the medicine, seeing his familiar scrawl would likely help me find the information I needed.
My eyes stopped moving when they caught sight of a familiar logo.
The medicine Mikey was prescribed came from the Skarmastad Foundation.
What are they doing in medicine? I silently wondered.
Decades ago—or possibly centuries, I didn’t really remember—an old Norwegian man named Ogden Skarmastad came to America and founded a lot of research about astronomy. That was the reason that the Lakeview Observatory was built, the Time Tower was kept up and running, and a lot of the northern part of the city was reserved for research and other related causes. It was also part of the reason that that area of the city was sort of slummy now.
Although, my mind reminded me, Logan did say that the area around the observatory was getting more and more gentrified since the Skarmastad Foundation was providing more astronomy scholarships to the city college.
But why was the foundation making medicine?
I guess it’s more profitable. If it wasn’t for the meteorite, they wouldn’t likely have any interest at all in keeping their astronomy division open.
I took note of the address and decided to check it out later. (Thank goodness for my mad study skills.) I glanced further down the sheet, only to see red as I saw the name at the bottom of the report.
“Dante’s the one who’s approving you for this treatment, not your mom,” I exclaimed, glancing up at Mikey. “Did you know that?”
“My mom comes in all the time to visit and to talk to the doctors,” Mikey murmured. “I don’t know what she knows.”
“Did you know it?” Mary asked. “That your father was the one who approved the form?”
He bolted upright in his bed. “I don’t care,” he snapped. “Don’t you get it? I don’t care.”
“This is bad, Mikey,” I told him. “Your dad doesn’t have custody. This is illegal. Especially if your mom doesn’t know. She’s your legal guardian, even if Dante’s your dad.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t care. It makes the pain go away.”
“What pain?” I asked. “You’ve got PTSD!”
“Exactly,” Mikey yelled back. “I saw someone I really care about get her soul sucked out. It hurts. It really hurts, Dinger. Get your face out of your butt and see that I’m hurting. I’m not stuck in the hospital because I want to be here!”
“The medicine isn’t helping the root cause of your pain,” Mary informed him quietly. “Doesn’t that bother you?”
“No.” He huffed. “No, so long as I don’t have to think or feel it.” He glared at me. “Something bad happened to me, and I can’t help it. I can’t change it. I might as well suffer for it.”
“That kind of attitude will keep you in here for years,” I argued. I wondered at that for a moment; maybe that was what he wanted. He was technically closer to Gwen while he was here. She had been placed in the hospice wing of the hospital, with all the other victims of the so-called sleeping sickness. Mikey might have even been able to go see her from time to time. I doubted he would confess to that, let alone to me.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mikey insisted, turning away from me again.
“Well,” I said slowly, “then I guess it’s no wonder why you don’t like it when I visit.”
There was a muffled snort from under his blanket. “No kidding.”
“I do find it hard to believe I’m the worst guest you have,” I mumbled. “Considering how much you hate your dad.”
“He left me and my family; I expect him to be horrible.” Mikey narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t think I ever expected you to betray me.”
I said nothing. All the arguing in the world wouldn’t have made him believe otherwise—and I might not have believed it myself. I knew I’d disappointed him.
But, on the other hand, it wasn’t like I was feeding him to the wolves.
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that Mikey was at the mercy of his dad and whatever scheme SWORD had ready for him.
“Well, I’m sorry,” I finally spoke up, turning off the computer, before moving toward the door. “I didn’t mean for you to get dragged into all this, you know. Gwen, either.”
He said nothing, but I thought I spied a softening within his gaze. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.
Mary patted his hand. “I’ll try to come and see you again soon. If for no other reason than to help you with your math homework.”
Mikey frowned. “Yeah, fine,” he muttered. “That stupid teacher they’re sending to tutor me is annoying. She isn’t even hot like Ms. Darlington.”
“Careful,” I told him. “Simon’s living proof ugly teachers might be better for you if you’re thinking along those lines.”
“He seems pretty happy, even though he wasn’t accepted into college. I heard he’s working at his dad’s office now.”
“Being a CNA seems to fit him,” I agreed. It had been interesting to see the mix of pride and uncertainty on Simon’s dad’s face when Simon told Poncey, Jason, and me about his big news when we visited him during winter break. “Though I knew his family was hoping he’d go into family practice, so he could take over their business.”
“Well, I’ll never have to worry about that.”
I smiled. “I’d hope so.”
As we were walking out the door, Mikey spoke up again. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “Patricia Rookwood was the worst visitor I’ve had, not you. She was practically throttling me, trying to get me to confess what I knew.” He turned toward the window. “I’m glad she hasn’t come back. If Grandpa Odd hadn’t been here when the doctors came in to give me a transfusion, I’m not sure she would have left.”
I paused at the door, but moved out as he turned on his stomach, facing away from me again.
“He’s hurting still,” Mary whispered beside me.
“Raiya thinks he has a broken heart, and that’s why she couldn’t heal him.”
“That makes sense,” Mary agreed.
“We can’t do much, other than capture the other Sinisters, I guess,” I said. “And we can’t do that while they’re not really active. Aleia told me she couldn’t detect anything from either Elektra or Asteropy.”
“They’ll come out when they need power again,” Mary assured me. “It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“In the meantime,” I said, “I’m going to check into a few things. There are some loose ends with SWORD I’d like to solve.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Mary asked.
A rush of longing ran through me. She’s starting to sound a lot more like Raiya. I shook my head. “Just keep up what you’re doing. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Hamilton.”
I whirled around to see Mark standing behind me. “Dad.”
“Back visiting your friend?” Mark asked. His gaze stayed focused on me; I took it as a sign he was desperately trying to ignore the fact I was still b
reaking Cheryl’s stupid rules.
“Oh, um, yeah. We were—I was just leaving.”
Mark smiled. “You have good timing. I was just about to give him another round of his medicine.”
I glanced at the IV therapy bag Mark had in his hand. The clear liquid would have seemed harmless enough—if I didn’t see the faint glow around it.
My breath caught in my throat as the pieces fell into place.
I hurriedly nodded. “Well, that’s good then,” I muttered. “I’ll see you later.” I tugged at Mary’s arm, and as naturally as I could, I sped away.
“What’s wrong?” Mary asked.
“The bag, with Mikey’s stuff in it. It was glowing.”
“It was approved by Dante,” Mary said. “Do you think it is a special kind of medicine?”
I shook my head. “That’s not medicine. Or at least, it’s not just medicine. That’s Star blood. And not just any Star’s blood. That was Raiya’s blood. Or it had some of her blood plasma in it, at least.”
“What?” Mary’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”
“It was glowing, Mary,” I said. “I could see it. That’s how I’ve always seen Raiya’s power.” I thought about the glow I once saw around Gwen’s hand all over Mrs. Smithe when she came back out of the hospital, and even Adam. “That’s got to be her blood.”
“I know she comes in here regularly,” Mary admitted softly. “And she’s been doing it for years. Do you think they’ve been experimenting with her blood?”
“Maybe.” I thought about Raiya’s healing powers, how she was connected to my family, and her regular appointments at the hospital.
Then I thought about Taygetay, about how SWORD had managed to capture her for a time using Star blood, about how Elysian had found a bill from the hospital.
I frowned. The blood keeping Taygetay locked down before wasn’t glowing like the medicine. Aleia had said that it was possible there were other fallen Stars that were giving blood. But just how many were there?
I put my head in my hands. This just got a lot more complicated.
“Everything will be alright,” Mary said softly. I peeked up at her through my fingers and frowned. I remembered before what Raiya had said, about how I might get help when it came to handling Rachel and Elysian. Had she known Mary might come and take her place even before she left?