by SA Magnusson
It was as if hours passed before Scott returned with the meds, and he hurriedly injected them into the man’s deltoid.
We didn’t have to wait long for him to calm down.
“Why don’t you get another five of Haldol and another two milligrams of Ativan,” I said to Scott. “I want to be ready if we need it.”
He nodded quickly before hurrying from the room.
“Hey, Dr. Stone,” Benjamin started, holding onto the patient, “would you mind getting us the restraints?”
“Which cabinet?”
“You have to go out into the hall. We don’t keep them in each room.”
After he told me which room to go to, I hesitated before leaving. I didn’t like the idea of these two being left alone with a wild patient, but it appeared unlikely there would be anything he would be able to do to them until I returned. He’d gotten a reasonable dose of two sedatives, and had seemed to respond fairly well. At least, he had responded well enough that I thought it should suffice to hold him down until I was able to return.
Reaching the room, I found it empty, so I took the wrist and ankle restraints out of the cupboard before hurriedly grabbing the chest restraint too. We didn’t like to physically restrain patients, but when it was both a patient and staff safety issue, we would do so. Until we had a chance to calm him down, we might need to keep him held down. The flipside was that it could also increase his violence. I was sure I would react with violence too, if I woke up restrained, unable to move, and bound in such a way that it took away every possible feeling of freedom.
By the time I returned to the room, something was amiss. The bed was empty, and I froze in the doorway. Both Benjamin and James were lying motionless on the ground.
Worse, my bracelet burned on my wrist.
Magic.
Oh, shit.
Almost too late, I saw the now shirtless patient lunge toward me. I dropped, rolling out of the way, and inadvertently rolled into the room.
He positioned himself so that he blocked me from getting out. The wildness to his eyes was gone. Now there was a steely determination, and I looked at him differently than I had before. He had closely-shorn hair. He was far more muscular than any junkie should have been, and with his shirt now missing, the muscularity that I had overlooked became more evident.
“You’re with them,” I said.
I reached for my connection to magic. I needed to have something, whether it was a barrier, or something else, and I needed to do it quickly. Moreover, if he had spells with him, I could at least attempt to trigger them, and in doing so, I thought I could find a way to escape.
Once free of there, I needed to figure out who I would call. Barden would come immediately, but it would raise questions. Matt would also come, and he would raise even more.
I hated having the magical side of things mingling with my medical side.
This had to be how Kate felt. I knew she didn’t like the idea of the two sides of her mingling, either, and although she tried to keep them separate, there was only so much she had been able to do.
“I thought it was going to be harder to get to you, but you came right out, didn’t you.” Even his voice was far calmer now than it had been.
At least I understood how he had managed to incapacitate James and Benjamin as quickly as he had.
What about Scott? I didn’t want Scott to barge in here, and end up caught in the middle of this. He might be old and slow and annoying at times, but he didn’t deserve to be magically attacked.
“Yeah? Now that you got me, what do you intend to do?” I managed to connect my magic. It happened slowly, but far faster now than it once had. It didn’t require me to reach for the same helplessness it once had, a strange sense which had always left me wondering why I needed to connect to it in order to get a hold of my magical powers. Even when I was able to get a hold of the magic, I didn’t have that much.
It was strange. I had felt helpless in my life before, and the one time when having magic would have benefited me, I hadn’t been able to use it. Then again, in everything I’d heard from those who had magic, I should have manifested my talents sooner than I had. Mine hadn’t come out until recently, far later in life than most people. It left me wondering if my magic was weaker, though it was possible that wasn’t the case at all. Maybe I had suppressed it.
“We’re going to walk out the back entrance, and then you and I are going to go for a ride,” he said.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“No?”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. And I’m certainly not going to see your boss.”
It wasn’t even difficult to understand why I was John Adams’ target. I had thwarted his plan, and I was the reason he was now on the run, separated from the organization—or at least, part of it. If he had access to men like this, then it meant he still had access to operatives within the organization, and it was likely enough that he could cause real danger.
“I’m afraid you’re not going to have any choice in the matter.”
I finished tapping out a circle. It was basic, and I had done as Barden had instructed, making sure I wore dark-soled shoes so I could use them to stretch a circle around me if it came down to it. It was a simple pattern, and yet, simple patterns often had the most effective uses to them.
What I needed right now was a way of delaying this man, of finding a way to either trigger his spells and knock him out or prevent him from doing anything to me. If I could delay him—or better yet, get past him and make it to my locker where the spells were—I should be able to escape.
“What makes you think you can hold me?”
“You’re a hedge mage. You might have gotten lucky the last time, but—"
I didn’t give him a chance to finish. I used the circle as a focus, and rather than drawing it into a barrier, I wrapped power through it, and sent it out as a trigger.
I wasn’t sure how well it would work against him. If he was a real mage, a full-fledged mage like John Adams, I wouldn’t be able to overpower him. Against a hedge mage, I thought I had a chance, though it would be slim. As trained as they were, I didn’t know if I would be able to get past him.
My power exploded outward. There was a danger in unleashing it like this, mostly because if I used it too quickly, I ran the risk of having it wiped out to the point where I wouldn’t be able to react again. The circle would focus that a little bit and prevent me from needing to draw too much power, yet at the same time, I didn’t know if it would work that way.
My spell slammed into him. It washed over him, and I felt a hint of resistance; I pushed into it, shoving everything I had against the spells he carried. I needed to trigger them. Nothing more.
I gritted my teeth and he watched me, almost as if he knew what I was doing. Could he be aware of it?
Shit.
Of course, he would know. John Adams would have warned them what I could do. My ability was a simple trick, nothing more, and it certainly wasn’t enough to intimidate them. I needed to have something more.
But a simple trick was all I had.
It had worked before, and so I pushed, drawing power, before remembering the necklace Barden had given me. I always resisted using power from Barden, knowing that the moment I did, it would alert him. It also weakened him, drawing power off him in a way to make him less than he should be. I didn’t like doing that to Barden, but in this case, alerting him to the fact I needed his power served another benefit. I wouldn’t have to call him. I suspected Barden had a way of tracking my location, though he’d never said so directly. And if he had a way of tracking my location, he would know I was working, and hopefully would either come to help me himself or send one of his people here to check on me and figure out what had taken place.
I took up the necklace, wrapping my hand around the symbol. Using it, I drew upon Barden’s power, pulling it through the circle, focusing it, and shoving that force toward the attacker.
As before, I could feel the
resistance against my trigger, but this time, I was determined to continue pushing. As I used that power against him, forcing my way through his barrier, I let the power explode out of me.
It wasn’t just my power, though there was something in the necklace and the way Barden had shaped it which allowed my power to focus, far more than it would be able to otherwise. The spells the man had carried suddenly exploded. It felt like firecrackers going off, though it did so soundlessly. I could feel each one triggered through the bracelet, and as they went off, pain surged along my skin, cold and burning, and I fought the urge to release my spell. When they were done, I waited to see what he might do.
He still stood there, so I raced toward him, slamming my shoulder into him. The suddenness of it startled him, and he was knocked back, crashing into the door, throwing it open.
He fell to the ground, but out in the hall, I tried to run, and he seized onto my ankle. I tried to kick him free, but he was stronger than me.
“Active shooter!” I screamed it, knowing it would get the desired effect. He might not have a weapon, but the drill was the same. Everyone in the ER began to run, chaos swirling everywhere. He tried to get to his knees, and I could see he was looking around, trying to figure out what was taking place.
In that moment, I kicked him. It sent him falling backward, and I felt no remorse at having done so. Once freed, I raced along the halls. “Active shooter! Room three.”
By the time I reached the nurses’ desk, the call went out overhead. I wasn’t sure whether the usual lockdown procedure would even work with the ER and the hospital having lost power the way that it had, but doors began to shut around me, and locks fell into place.
I needed to stay ahead of this guy.
“Stone? What happened?”
I spun. Roberts frowned, standing in the middle of the hall. Behind him, I could see the hedge mage making his way toward me. He was moving carefully, and a thought went through my mind. Could this be one of the guys who had caused Brad to have his accident? Could he be the reason Brad had undergone his surgery?
If he had, I wanted to get revenge for that. Brad had gone through more than he should have because of the paramilitary. Because of Matt.
“Come on, Brad! Active shooter,” I urged. I put myself in between Brad and the attacker, and pulled on more power through the necklace, wrapping it around Brad, protecting him. If nothing else, I would ensure he got through the hallway.
“Where?”
“Hurry. Get to the locker room.” At least from there, I thought he might be able to get outside. We needed to get a hold of security and the police, and yet, even if we did, it was unlikely either of them would be able to disarm this guy. It would take someone else with more power.
We rounded a corner and I paused long enough to look back. The attacker was making his way toward us, moving slowly, but still heading in our direction. The sense of cold creeping through the bracelet and working along my arm drew my attention. It was supposed to draw my attention, and in doing so, made me question just what power this hedge mage had.
We reached the locker room and I hurried to my locker, reaching into my purse and grabbing the pouch. Positioning myself in such a way to block Brad from seeing it, I strapped it underneath my scrubs. I needed to find a coin—a spell—to help disable this guy, but which one? I didn’t know that I’d be able to use it quickly enough to trigger.
A Sleeper. That might be the best option, and if I could knock him out, then I could get a hold of someone who had the right power to immobilize him. I doubted he would linger long in a traditional prison. I needed to find a more permanent—and magical—approach.
“Get out of here,” I said to Brad.
“What are you going to do, Stone? You know the drill. Run. Hide. Fight. We’re in the run stage.”
“I know we are. I’m going to barricade the door.”
Brad frowned at me, and he headed out, squeezing out of the other entrance. I waited to make sure he was gone, then pulled out my phone, punching in a message to Barden. At least I could give him an idea of what was taking place so that when—and if—he showed up, he wouldn’t be doing so blindly.
I tapped in another message. This time, I sent it to Matt Gillespie. I hated the idea of reaching out to him for help, but if anyone could offer any assistance, it would be Matt.
Matt responded right away by calling. “What do you mean you were attacked?” he said as soon as I picked up.
“One of your guys. He looked like a junkie.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s a pretty effective drill.”
“Yeah. Especially in an ER where we’re trained to help.”
“Are you safe?”
“I triggered his spells, but I don’t know how long I’ll be safe.”
“You should get out of there, Dr. Stone.”
“We’ve got patients here.”
“He’s not going to go after the patients.”
A scream echoed.
“What was that?” Matt asked from the other end of the line.
“What were you saying about him not attacking patients?”
“He wouldn’t do that. It’s not the protocol.”
“What’s the protocol for those who have gone rogue within the organization?”
There was a moment of silence. “I guess I don’t know.”
“Exactly. We don’t know if they will continue to attack, or if they will do something else. Either way, I can’t simply wait to find out.”
“You can wait until I get there, Dr. Stone.”
Another scream. This one sounded close by. What if it wasn’t patients he was attacking? He had already taken out two of the nurses. If this was an active shooter situation, I knew what I was supposed to do. We were trained on this. Firstly, it was a case of running and getting to safety, and letting the professionals take care of the threat. If we couldn’t run, the next step was to hide, get behind a locked door. I needed a place where I could barricade myself inside and wait it out until the right people were able to come. Lastly, we were briefed to fight. If there was no other choice, only then were we supposed to take action.
All of that was based on the idea that I wasn’t the right person to respond. But what if I was? That was the question I didn’t have an answer to. Against somebody with magic, I had magic too—whereas security and the police did not. And these were my patients. These were my people. If I did nothing, if I simply hid, I was doing them a disservice. And I couldn’t do that.
I didn’t like the idea of racing out, risking myself against someone I knew could overpower me, but I had neutralized an aspect of his power. Because of that, I was hopeful I could somehow find a way to neutralize him too.
“Will a Sleeper work against him?”
“Dr. Stone. Jen—"
“Will it?”
“It should, but he’s going to have some protections against it.”
“I might’ve removed many of those protections.”
“You’re still going to have to push a lot of power into it. The Sleeper spell is considerable, but if you just trigger it, it might not be enough.”
“Then why give it to me?”
“Because I didn’t expect you to need that one, not this soon. I was thinking I would be able to work with you first.”
There came another scream, and at this point, I didn’t feel as if I had any choice but to take action.
“Get here when you can,” I said to Matt.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“This is my ER. These are my people. I have to do this.”
I hung up the phone, slipping it into my pocket, and reached into the pouch. I fingered the coins, finally coming across the one for the Sleeper, and picked it up, along with the Stinger. I didn’t want to use that, but if it came down to it, I wasn’t above tormenting him a bit. Maybe I should have grabbed the Twister spell. That way, if I couldn’t knock him out, I could hold him in place.
But it was easier just to have a
few spells rather than a bunch of them. Gripping the Sleeper in my left hand, the Stinger in my right, I stepped back out into the hallway.
6
The first thing I noticed when I stepped back in the hallway was that there were people lying motionless on the floor. I came across Kim and paused, leaning down to check her pulse, and she was still breathing. I didn’t see any signs of trauma, which left me wondering if she had been magically attacked or whether there was another reason she was out.
Another scream sounded, this one farther down the hall. I thought of the people I’d seen since coming in, and while there hadn’t been that many, they were here for help. They didn’t deserve to be a part of this. The attack was because of me and what I had done.
That, above anything, troubled me.
I followed the sound of the screaming, making my way slowly, carefully, knowing that at any moment, I might be surprised by an attack. I held onto power, surprised I had maintained my connection to magic, though I had done so by drawing through the necklace.
So far, Barden hadn’t responded. The only one who had called me back was Matt, and I was thankful for that, but I would be far more relieved if Barden were to come.
Another scream. This one sounded like it was close to the front entrance.
I doubted locked doors would mean anything to someone with magic. With enough power, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to blast his way free, and I had a hard time imagining he would struggle to get out of here. There would be few doors which would withstand the attack he was throwing around. I couldn’t think of anything here that would be able to prevent him from forcing his way anywhere in the emergency room. And I suspected that was the point. He wanted to draw me out.
I needed to be smart about this. Hadn’t Matt said that John Adams was skilled at playing whatever game he intended? If this was nothing more than a game to them, if this was his way of trying to use me as part of some plan, then I couldn’t let myself get caught up in it in a way that would end up with me as a patient and lying on a cot.
Besides, I still didn’t know what John Adams wanted from me. If it was only a matter of revenge, then there would be other ways to exact revenge upon me. No, he wanted something. He wanted to make me suffer, or he wanted something else.