“Where else would I be?” He looked from one eye to the other. “You’re going to be okay. Don’t be afraid.”
Sarah shook her head but didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to tell him she couldn’t cast.
He turned his attention to her right wrist. “Do you know you were in a coma?”
“Yes.”
“It’s been awhile, Sarah.”
“I know. Six weeks.” More tears slid from her eyes.
“They can give you something for the pain. It doesn’t have to hurt. Let me hide the evidence and I’ll hit the call button.” Paul lifted her right arm to show her it was free and straightened.
“No, don’t. I can’t take drugs,” her voice rasped, like Aunt Lily’s barfly one.
“Not even if it makes you stop hurting?”
“Witches don’t take drugs.”
“Is there a fine if you do? Because pain isn’t going to help you any.”
“It messes us up. We have to be able to feel everything around—uh, I’ve been given drugs, haven’t I?” Of course I have. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t push pain away. Maybe it had nothing to do with chasing away dark matter. Keep telling yourself that.
“You’ve been given all the drugs.”
“Help me up? I need to get out of here.”
A whispery chuckle escaped him. “You’re not going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. Meds have been keeping you alive. I don’t think you should rule them out just yet.”
Now that Paul mentioned drugs, she could feel them sluggishly moving through her system. Anesthetic numbed the inside of her mouth, and ammonia made her nostrils cold. Although Paul leaned close, she couldn’t smell his body wash or tell if he was still brushing his teeth with kid toothpaste. Bright light reflected off the icon dangling from his neck and it hurt her eyes. Maybe the light hurt because of the medication, too. “I can’t stay here.”
Paul dropped into a chair beside her bed. “Listen to me. You nearly died! I’m not just saying that. You haven’t moved in ages. I doubt you can sit up, much less stand.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I can.” Sarah tried to prove it by sitting, but her muscles ignored her and her insides screamed in protest. She squinted against the scorching light at Paul. A very important question entered her mind. If I’m this bad, what happened to Kathleen?
Suddenly more afraid, she asked, “What happened after I passed out that night?”
Paul stood again, checking the wires and tubes attached to her body. “They had no clue what was wrong with you. At first both you and Kathleen had the exact same symptoms, only she didn’t get worse and worse! They’ve been calling in doctors from all over. You don’t have a doctor, you have a team! It’s going to take your entire Archer fortune to pay for this.”
Kathleen didn’t get worse and worse? Tears of relief filled her eyes this time.
Apparently satisfied, Paul stopped fiddling around with her wires and leaned against the bed railing. “About a week ago they decided both you and Kathleen had ingested some sort of rare bacteria that supposedly formed once in some wine somewhere. They’re calling the fact that both Henry and I drank from the same bottle with no problem ‘a decanting fluke.’ An entire team of world-renowned doctors came up with that theory, but not one of them figured out you were actually a bitch witch having a jealous meltdown because of a love spell. Such is the state of medical care today. Blame it on your HMO.”
Sarah didn’t laugh. “She’s out of the hospital though? With Henry?”
Paul glared. “If you’re going to start on Henry already, I’ll have you sedated.”
“I’m trying to know what happened!”
“Of course she’s with Henry. He’s taking care of her.”
Sarah nodded. “He has to take care of her?”
“He wants to. He loves her! He always has.”
Sarah closed her eyes. To a small degree that hurt. Even knowing her attraction to Henry was a love spell, she’d been so certain it had also been real. “The spell broke for him then? That night?”
“Obviously,” said Paul without pity.
Sarah nodded, opening her eyes. “Me too.”
Paul crossed his arms. “Don’t you lie to me.”
Memories of how she’d mooned over Henry came back and shame warmed her cheeks. She’d run into that love spell with eyes wide open. Aunt Lily would have laughed her head off. The groping incident in the basement came to mind, followed by the parking lot fiasco. Sarah couldn’t quite meet Paul’s eyes. “I don’t blame you for not believing me.”
“What’s going on?” Paul narrowed his eyes at her. “You never give in this easily. I thought you’d start ripping tubes out of your body and head back to Henry.”
Sarah jutted her lip out and fisted her hands. She could feel some of the tubes dig deeper into her veins and her bladder seemed to be pressing against her lungs. More tears filled her eyes. She shoved away the humiliation of being a love-sick moron and focused on the fact that Kathleen had survived. Even after rescinding the spell and claiming it ten-fold against herself, she’d had no way of knowing how Kathleen would end up.
In that respect she’d been fortunate.
So what if she’d never have a chance to meet Henry and find out if there was anything real between them. He had Kathleen, and she was un-witched, neutered, and useless. Being alone was a small part of her troubles. No matter that it suddenly felt like the biggest.
“Talk to me, Sarah.”
Her entire face trembled, but she still couldn’t bring herself to tell him she’d lost the ability to cast so much as a spark in the palm of her hand. A sob bubbled up.
“Are you in that much pain?”
“I need to get out of here!”
“Oh, Lord.” Paul took a step away from the bed and rubbed his hand through his hair. “Shoot, Sarah! I can’t just take you out of here. They’re going to want to keep you for observation for a couple of days at least.”
“Please! I want to go home.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Paul moved closer and pulled electrodes out of the top of her gown. A machine behind the bed beeped. He leaned over and shut it off. “They won’t even put me in jail. They’ll put me back in the psychiatric hospital.” Paul tugged a metal needle out of the back of Sarah’s hand that looked as big as a nail. Sarah tried not to pass out.
Paul pressed his thumb against it to stop the bleeding. He tugged a stray piece of tape off a tube and stuck it over the wound. “You’ve got a urine catheter in your bladder too.”
“A what?”
With his other hand he lifted a clear tube with some yellow liquid in it. “This is how you’ve been peeing.”
Sarah closed her eyes as a wave of nausea moved through her.
Paul chuckled. “You’re such a baby.”
“It’s not funny.”
“After all the bitch witch stuff I’ve seen you do, it kind of is.”
“Can you take it out?”
“Unless you want to.”
Sarah turned her head away and tried not to moan. She was not cut out for this kind of a life.
Sarah screamed into her pillow to muffle the sound. Paul was lucky she couldn’t cast, otherwise he’d be nailed to the ceiling.
“Sarah, I’m sorry. Was it really that bad? It came out fairly easily. Textbook even.”
Taking a breath, she aimed a punch in the general direction of Paul’s voice. He managed to duck it.
“Look, if you want to go we’d better get moving. Things are quieting down out there, but if someone comes by, we’ll never get out.”
Sarah wiped her tears on the pillow and sat up with a little help from Paul. The position made the burning from the catheter’s removal worse. Paul took a wadded up ball of clothing from a narrow locker near her bed and handed it to her. It took a moment for Sarah to recognize her sweats.
“They’re dirty,” she said, shaking them out. Something white flitted to the floor like dandruff.
“Sorry. I never thought to bring clean clothes. It didn’t look like you were going home—uh—anytime soon.”
“Is that dried barf?”
Paul took the sweatshirt and shoved it over her head, right over her hospital gown. “Don’t be a princess.” He helped her get her arms through the sleeves, and pushed her feet through the pants. Within moments she had her sequin ruby slippers on her feet and Paul was tugging her to the door.
“Hold on.” He peeked out. “We’re going to have to use the elevators. There’s no way you’ll make it down the stairs. You look like you’re going to pass out on me.”
It felt like it. All Sarah’s blood seemed to be draining into the lower half of her body, and she held onto Paul’s waist with a death grip. This pain was nothing compared to what dark matter had put her through, but weakness was new. She couldn’t recall a time in her life when walking felt like climbing a mountain with not enough oxygen.
“Come on, all’s clear.” Paul hauled her into the hospital corridor. The lights seemed even brighter than her room, and her head swam as she did her best to keep up with his long stride.
“Wait,” Sarah warned, sensing the approach of people. Judging by her second sense, they were dressed in scrubs. “Someone’s coming.”
They ducked into the room of another patient and Paul closed the door. He put his finger to his lips and motioned to an elderly man asleep in his bed. Sarah sensed the people move past the door. It was a foggy sense with meds coursing through her veins, but it might be the only witch skill she had left. “It’s good now.” She closed her eyes and leaned against the door.
“You know we could make your great escape tomorrow,” Paul whispered. “I’d stay with you tonight.” He pushed hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear.
“No. I’m not staying here!” I can’t! The temptation to call out to dark matter and cast away her misery was too strong. It would come back if she called, she knew it. With the help of dark matter she could shove this misery away and skip out of the hospital.
She needed her house. She needed quiet. She needed Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and Outlander. She needed to figure out what the hell witches did without dark matter.
Paul wrapped an arm around her and pulled her from the room. “This escape better not be about your obsession with my brother.”
As they made their way with stops and starts, Sarah spotted dark matter in the hospital hallway, crammed into the usual spots. It thrived in cracks and corners and vents, like mold and dust. Wearing the dried vomit-encrusted sweats she’d worn to the hospital, Sarah forced her legs to move down the empty corridor and held tightly to Paul’s warm hand. When they reached the elevators, Sarah stumbled inside and clung to the wall.
How often have I relied on dark matter without realizing it? No wonder it stayed.
But how am I going to function without it?
Inside the elevator dark matter dusted the control panel. “There’s barely any dark matter on this floor of the hospital, and there was none in my room.” It literally left when I told it to!
“Is it in here?” asked Paul.
“Yes.” Sarah motioned toward the control panel of the elevator without thinking about the fact that Paul couldn’t see it anyway. The smudges of dark matter dotting the buttons for the basement and lobby melted away, as if hiding from her reach by going deeper into the control panel. “Holy shit.”
“What?”
“It just moved.”
“Doesn’t it always?”
“Well, sure, but I mean it moved away from my hand! All of it!”
Paul looked from her to the control panel and back again. “It doesn’t usually?”
“No! If anything it runs toward me.” Leaning on the railing circling the elevator, Sarah took a deep breath and scooted closer to the errant bits of dark matter. Dark matter slid away with every step closer she took, moving down the closed elevator doors and vanishing into the crack beneath them. “It’s avoiding me!”
“What does that mean?”
“I have no freaking idea, but I like it.”
Paul smiled at her. “Maybe it’ll make it easier to resist using it.”
“I don’t care if it climbs into my panties and hosts a party; I’m never using it again. I can’t allow myself to, and I won’t.” I can’t! This is my only chance. If I fail now…
“So the temptation is gone?”
“I’ve never wanted to use it more. This pain stuff is bullshit. Every part of my body hurts like a mother fu—”
“I get the idea.”
“Sorry.”
“So you’re chasing away dark matter now?”
“Apparently.” Sarah moved her hand and watched dark matter scurry away like opposite polarity chasing magnetic dust. “Huh.”
“That’s a good thing, Sarah.”
“I know. I just feel so—powerless without it.”
“There’s nothing powerless about you.”
There is now.
She tried to shove that thought away. “Do you have a car here?” Even with Paul’s help, her legs trembled from the strain of walking.
“Ah, yeah. Henry’s rental.”
“He didn’t go home?”
“No. Kathleen can’t make the trip yet. I’ve been running back and forth so he gave me the car.”
The knowledge that Kathleen was still in bad shape further drained Sarah’s energy. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. “I thought she was better.”
“She’s better than you are.”
Unable to hold herself upright, Sarah slid down the back wall of the elevator. Paul grabbed her before she hit the floor. She opened her eyes and mouthed, “Sorry.”
More than a couple days growth of beard showed on Paul’s face, and dark circles ringed his eyes. Sarah swallowed. Part of her wanted to ask why he’d stayed at the hospital with her all of these weeks, but she didn’t. Paul was the kind of guy who didn’t leave his friends behind and that was that.
“You’ve gone above and beyond. I know you stayed with me when no one else did. I—I, don’t know what to say.”
“‘Thank you’ is tradition.”
Leaning all her weight on his supporting arm, Sarah used the last of her energy to smile. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Thank you, Paul.”
Paul wrapped his arm tightly around her back in a half-hug. “You’re welcome. Let’s get you home before you collapse.”
DARK MATTER WHISPERED to Sarah in her sleep and she jerked awake. They were driving on the Mass Pike.
Paul handed her a bottle of water. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been beaten with baseball bats.” She unscrewed the lid and took a sip. It was the best thing she’d ever tasted.
“If you weren’t so stubborn, you wouldn’t have to be hurting.”
“I had to get out of there.”
“If you don’t eat, drink—a lot, and pee in the next few hours, you’re going back.”
“No. I’m not going back. I’m tough. I’m a witch.” I think.
“Pfft.” Paul frowned. “Apparently that doesn’t make you impervious to plain old human frailty. Trust me. I had a front row seat the last six weeks. Just do me a favor and cooperate the next few days, okay?”
“If you’ll do me a favor first. Paul, would you mind taking me to see Henry before we go to the house?”
“That’s what this is all about!” Paul cried. “So that’s why you had to get out of the hospital! Sheesh! I can’t believe I fell for it. Dammit, Sarah! No wonder people used to burn witches at the stake.”
“Don’t be mean.”
“No, I guess mean is your job.” Paul shot her a dirty look. “Anyway, you’ll see Henry soon enough.”
“I will?”
“He’s at your house.”
“Henry’s at my house?”
“Yes. The better to keep his Big Brother eye on me.”
“Oh. Hmm.”
“Try not to swoon. Kathle
en’s there too.”
“So they’re both at my house?”
Paul groaned. “If you need to obsess about Henry, you’re going to have to find another friend to do it with.”
“I’m not obsessing.”
“Obviously.”
“Paul, I’m not in love with your brother.”
“Right.”
“Apparently a six-week coma will break even a love spell.”
“Good to know. But you’re not acting like it’s broken. Anyway, the thing is Kathleen can’t recover in some hotel. Try to remember you owe her. You tried to poison her!”
“I did not! I mean, not really,” Sarah protested lamely.
Paul turned a withering look on her.
“Fine. For a nanosecond I wanted to annihilate her, but I never wanted to or really planned to poison her!”
Paul rolled his eyes. “I was there.”
“I didn’t! Not really!”
“You should have seen your face. I couldn’t believe Henry didn’t see it coming. He was too busy simpering over you, blindly wallowing in that stupid love spell.”
“It was just an impulsive thought—haven’t you ever told someone to drop dead?”
“Pretty much not since I saw my friends actually dropping dead around me in Afghanistan.”
“It was reactionary. I didn’t actually want her to die! I’m not saying I was innocent, you saw what happened. I’m just saying I didn’t plan—”
“Sarah, stop. I’ve seen the look on people’s faces right before they kill. I know what it looks like.”
Sarah bit her lip. He’s right. Don’t gloss it over. You meant it when you cast, even for a moment. Then you were afraid to pull it back because you knew the cost. Just because you did the right thing eventually doesn’t negate your original intention. “I’m sorry, Paul. I really messed up.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Thank you for calling me on it.” Her eyes filled with tears.
Paul reached over to pat her on the head a couple times. “Hey. My point was that Kathleen wouldn’t be sick if it weren’t for you. You can be gracious and let her stay in your house, in your mother’s room if that’s what it takes.”
Bitch Witch Page 17