Page 69 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

“Your mum’s probably right,” Amelia said and her heart twisted with the sudden realisation that this child was walking a road of sorrow and pain, much like she had.

But he lives in a different world. Maybe his mother will wake up from the coma.

She would have asked about her, but what was the point? If his mum were improving, Dave would not have to grow up between the Hospital walls.

“You’re sad, Amelia. Are you sick?” The boy tilted his head, inspecting her closely.

She forced a smile. “I’m okay.”

He didn’t seem to believe that. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

“How about a story? It would help distract me.” Amelia remembered that when he was Dave’s age, her brother loved retelling the fables they taught him at school, and later he had even started making up short stories that he shared with the whole family at dinner. Sometimes, Amelia had been envious of him for stealing all of their parents’ attention. The thought made her insides churn with shame.

“Okay, I’ll tell you my favourite story!” Dave’s face glowed as Sammy’s had when given a chance to perform. “Oh, but there are a lot of forbidden words in that one, and Mum says I shouldn’t use them in front of the ladies. Hmm… Oh! I can tell you the story she often put me to bed with when I was younger.”

Amelia swallowed a lump in her throat. The Ugly Duckling was the bedtime fairy tale her mother always told her. For a moment, images flashed in her mind of the small apartment she had lived in with her parents before Sammy had been born. She willed them to go away before they completely broke her. “I’m all ears,” she whispered and settled on the couch as well.

Dave jumped to his feet in the centre of the room. “A long, long time ago, there were two brothers who had the ability to do things the world had never seen before… Or will ever see again! They were called Triceus and Gord. Actually… according to the legend, the two brothers existed long before there was any life on Earth, but lived on another planet. Some say they came from a parallel universe. Others believe they were gods, omnipresent and existing everywhere at once!”

“Sounds cool.”

Dave puffed out his chest, taking his role as storyteller seriously. “As life appeared on Earth, one of the brothers, Gord, became curious and decided to take the shape of a human and visit the earthly creatures. Soon after, he met a gifted young witch who was strong enough to bear his children. They had two sons and one daughter, all three very special. Quick like vampires!” Dave swung his hand through the air. “Strong as manticores!” He flexed his bicep. “Furious like lycanthropes!” He grinned. “And incredibly beautiful like nymphs.” He glanced at Amelia, his cheeks flushing red. “They could wield magic like witches, but their most impressive gift was the ability to talk to the dead!” He faked a horrified grimace.

She straightened up. Her initial purpose had been to deflect the boy’s attention from herself but Dave’s fervour was contagious and she found herself engrossed in the story and his acting it out.

“Some say that before Gord came down to Earth, the only immortal species were the witches and his children’s descendants established the other five species. His daughter, Ana, was more beautiful than Aphrodite, but she used that power for evil. She would humiliate the men who fell in love with her.” Dave crossed his arms and shook his head in disapproval. “Ana’s supposed to be the mother of the nymphs, but, of course, you knew that already.”

“Of course…” Amelia nodded.

He beamed at her. “Anyway, Ana followed no rules and loved to play games with humans. One of her victims was a regular man called John. He was young, with a small child and a wife who was pregnant with their second son. One day, as he came home from a hunt, John met Ana and was not at all impressed by her beauty. She got so upset that she cast a love spell on him. Hours later, John abandoned his family and rushed back to the mountain to look for her. She told him he could be her lover if he killed his wife and child first. Bewitched by Ana, John went back to his house, grabbed his axe and murdered his entire family. As soon as his wife’s body hit the ground, the spell broke and he realised what he had done and who had forced him to do it. He went back to Ana pretending he was still under her influence, carrying the bloodied axe with him to prove to her that the deed was done. Then, when she got close enough…” Dave raised his hand and slashed the air with his palm. “He swung and chopped her head off, without even knowing that it was the best way to kill an immortal creature.”

Amelia gasped. How was that a bedtime story for children?

Dave’s smile disappeared. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s probably not very nice when someone reminds you why nymphs were punished.”

Amelia narrowed her eyes. “No… But what do you mean?”

“Well, you know… Nymphs are the only species without males. Every nymph gives birth to a nymph girl, no matter who they… mate with, I think it’s called. My mum says a man must really love a nymph if he’s willing to have a daughter with her, what with their bad reputation and all… I mean, some of them, obviously. You’re not like that.”

Maybe she shouldn’t pretend to be a nymph anymore.

Before she could say anything, Dave continued with his story. “Anyway, Ana wasn’t Gord’s only child. His eldest son, Sandir, was a true hero for mortals and immortals alike. Unlike Ana, who used her powers for evil, he wanted to help others. He used his speed to capture criminals!” At that, the boy waved his fist in the air. “His strength, to punish them!” That same fist smashed on the table. “And since his favourite thing was trips to the Beyond, he often served as an intermediary between the living and the dead. No wonder everyone thinks he’s the source of vampires and necromancers. Of course, Sandir was very handsome and some say that he needed three women to satisfy his needs.” At that, Dave scratched his head, lips pursed in a cute thinking pose. “I guess that would explain why vampires are the most widely spread species! Necromancers would probably also be like that, if they weren’t so creepy…”

Amelia blinked. “And this is the bedtime story your mom told you every evening?”

“Mum had enchanted a radio to tell different stories with her voice, but I always loved this one the most because it’s real.”

“Real?”

“Amelia, sometimes I wonder if you’re not an alien or something! As if you haven’t already figured out that this is the children’s version of The Origin of Immortal Species.”

Amelia pursed her lips. As in Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, but the immortal species version? “There’s a grown-up version?”

“You’re so funny!” He chuckled and shook his head as if she was the child, then resumed speaking. “Let me finish, will you? So, although Sandir could talk to the dead, everybody loved him, instead of fearing him. He was bad only to those who deserved it – thieves, murderers and other criminals. He didn’t really see a difference between mortals and immortals. Everyone was equal and his friend. He spent his days among humans, ate their food, and drank their wine. His body didn’t really need any of it, but I guess he liked doing it? After hundreds of years with regular people, he forgot that he was different and should be more cautious around them. Once, a stranger asked him to help make contact with his recently deceased son. By that time, Sandir had grown so careless, that he didn’t even ask the man how he knew of his abilities. He didn’t check the room for weapons, either, like he used to do in his younger days. When he sent his consciousness to the Otherworld and his body was left defenceless, the man took out a sword from under the table and sliced his head off.” Dave sighed, as if he felt his hero’s demise deeply. “It turned out that this man was the father of a criminal, who Sandir had thrown off a cliff a few years earlier as punishment for killing a small boy.”

“I can’t believe this!” Amelia exclaimed, but quickly added, “That he was so careless, I mean.”

“Yeah, but he was!”

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