Page 91 of Shadow Blind

Kait sucked in a sharp breath. “Why not?” She sucked in another breath and bit her lip. “Never mind. I’ll be able to heal him. I’ve done it before. I can do it again.” There was a belligerent edge to her voice, like she was daring Cosky to try to stop her.

When they reached the door to the hangar, Cosky led them to a golf cart type vehicle with four seats. They climbed inside and Cosky guided the vehicle down a corridor and into a spiraling, downward ramp. Demi was so caught up in her fear that her surroundings didn’t quite register, just a vague impression of a tunnel with two lanes divided by a white line, endless smooth walls, glass doors that occasionally whooshed apart and disgorged people. The cart pulled into a recessed parking slot in front of a rectangular glass door. A bright red sign above the glass read Emergency Room. Demi’s heart jittered like a jackhammer as she followed Kait and Cosky through the door. Just because Aiden was still alive didn’t mean she couldn’t still lose him.

You’ve already lost him, remember? You sent him away. He isn’t yours anymore.

The reminder didn’t lessen the dread.

The clinic was sparkling clean—yet smelled like antiseptic, blood, vomit and desperation. The smell had to be something her mind had pulled up from long ago, from back when she’d sat beside Donnie’s emergency room bed. The Coronado ER and this one couldn’t smell identical. Yet somehow, they did.

While her parents had already been dead when she’d gotten the call, Donnie had died in the emergency room. She’d sat there beside him, holding his limp hand, urging him to return to her. He hadn’t. He died without ever opening his eyes, without saying goodbye. In truth, he died before they’d made it to the ER. He died in the stands when that baseball had shattered his skull. Her heart and hope had died in the ER that day, too. It had taken years for her heart to awaken, for hope to return.

She wasn’t ready for another bedside vigil. She wasn’t ready to pray over another man she loved. If only this moment was a nightmare and she’d jolt awake to find Aiden stretched out beside her in bed.

Except he wouldn’t be in your bed, a voice in her mind jeered. You sent him away. Remember?

As if she’d ever forget. As if the reality of that wasn’t constantly sucker punching her in the heart.

Cosky led them through an empty waiting room, to a nurse’s station beside a dark blue door. The nurse looked up. Her face softened when she saw Kait. “I’m so sorry about your brother, sweetie.”

“I need to see him,” Kait said, her voice shaking.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. He’s in isolation.” The nurse’s voice was as gentle as her face.

“He’s infected?” Kait grabbed Cosky’s hand.

The nurse reached for a black, corded phone at the edge of her desk. “Hang on, let me get Dr. Brickenhouse. He’ll fill you in on your brother’s condition.”

Demi fought to focus on the nurse’s conversation with Kait and Cosky, but that damn phantom ER smell kept invading her senses and hijacking her mind.

We’re not visiting Donnie. This is Aiden. He is not dead. He’s not dead!

Her chest throbbed to the beat of each word.

After what seemed like forever, but according to the white clock above the nurse’s head was only five minutes, a man in a white coat, with a long, silver braid, pushed through the blue door to their left.

“Kait. Marcus.” The doctor solemnly shook each of their hands. A somber expression lined his face.

His gravity sent electric flares of fear up Demi’s spine.

“Why is Aiden in isolation? Is he infected with those bots? Is that why he’s sick?” The questions burst from Kait.

“He’s in isolation as a precaution.” The doctor sighed and pushed his glasses up to massage his eyes. “I wish I had more information to impart. But we don’t know why he’s sick. We believe he’s having an autoimmune response, but we aren’t sure why, or what it’s in response to. We’re hopeful the tests, when they come in, will give us a direction. For now, all we can do is treat his symptoms and keep him stable. Our immediate concern is his blood pressure and increased heart rate, both signs of shock. We’re treating these symptoms with medications.”

“I can heal him.” Kait tossed the comment out like a dare.

The doctor’s concerns devoured Demi’s mind.

What if Aiden’s blood pressure plummets, leading to the suffocation of his internal organs? What if his fever climbs so high it fries his brain? What if his heart quits beating? What if…

With each what if, her own internal temperature spiked. Her heart raced faster and faster still. The fear rolled through her in waves. She shut the what ifs down and focused on the here…the now. It was the only way to remain sane. She’d learned that after Donnie’s accident.

Cosky’s voice caught her attention, or rather the tense, frustrated edge to it. It was a tone she’d never heard him use on Kait.

“They aren’t saying you can’t heal him,” he stressed, his voice gritty. “They’re telling you to wait until the tests come back, until the docs can say with certainty that he isn’t contagious.”

“Why hasn’t anyone asked the Taounaha if Aiden’s infected? Benioko knew he wasn’t a danger to me in the hills above Karaveht.”

“Wolf says Benioko is weak from his last shadow walk. He must recover before crossing the veil again. Benioko doesn’t know if Aiden is a danger to others. We’ll have to look to science to clear him.” Cosky looked half frustrated, half relieved. “We’ll have to wait for all the tests they’ve done to come back.”

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