by M. W. Muse
“Of course.”
She couldn’t comprehend her tone, but her voice had definitely changed.
“Have you called her friend Calli?” Lissa asked River in a regular voice.
“No, ma’am,” he choked.
Lissa seemed very calm for what was happening. Legacy figured she knew she was going to be okay, but couldn’t really come out and say this to anyone. Or Lissa hoped she would be and didn’t want any negative feelings to cloud those hopes.
“I’m going to call her,” she said.
Legacy heard Lissa leave the room.
“Baby, can you hear me?” River whispered in her ear, stroking her face. Then she felt his head lean down onto the side of her face, and he cried into her ear. “Please…wake up.”
“She’s on her way,” Lissa said as she heard the door open to her room.
She heard a chair pull up beside her bed next to where River was sitting.
“You have to stay positive,” Lissa whispered, but not to her.
“I-I-I don’t know how to be positive. I love her so much. It’s hard enough not being with her, but I-I…” He starting crying again, and Legacy was shocked to hear him say that he loved her. She knew he cared about her, but this went way beyond that. River took a deep breath. “I don’t want her to be hurt. I’d rather never have her and she keep on living without me than to ever see her hurting.”
“You know who’s responsible for this.” Lissa said. It wasn’t a question. Lissa knew it was River’s mom.
“Yes,” he hissed. “I know. She doesn’t understand.”
“It doesn’t matter. She’s not going to allow it to happen. You know that. I know you know that.”
“I know. I can stop her.”
“You already failed.”
River started crying again. “I didn’t expect it to be so soon. I thought she’d wait until Legacy got stronger.”
“Your mom doesn’t need to wait. In her mind, she has less than a year to take down a god, defying other gods in the process. This isn’t going to be easy. She’s going to take every chance she can get.”
River kept stroking Legacy’s hand in his. “Why does this have to be so hard?”
“Because you’re not a regular human. Regular humans wouldn’t be able to handle this. You’re changing too. She is linked to your change. You may not realize it, but she was helping you when you thought you were helping her.”
“What do you mean?” His hand stopped moving.
“I mean you have both been helping each other cope with the changes in your lives. I can’t tell you if she will love you in the end. Only she knows the answer to that, and she doesn’t know that answer yet. You’ll have to be patient with her.”
That was what Mom just told her. That she’d have to be patient with Adin and River. Apparently, they’d all have to embrace that virtue.
“I don’t even want her around Adin, much less in love with him,” River muttered.
“She can’t stop the way she feels just like you can’t. He’s not your enemy. You both want Legacy safe and happy. He may not see that yet, but now you do.”
She heard the door open.
“Lissa?”
It was Calli’s voice.
“Oh no! Legacy?” She heard Calli run to her side, and she felt her rub her arm. “What happened?”
“She got electrocuted,” River whispered.
Calli gasped, but she could tell it wasn’t from the news. She must have seen River’s face.
“Um, I called Adin,” she said gravely. “He should be here any minute.”
“Good,” Lissa said. “She needs to hear his voice.”
River sobbed, holding her hand up to the side of his face. “I can’t leave her.”
“No one’s asking you to leave,” Lissa said calmly.
She heard the door swing open, and the person’s breath caught. No one said anything, but she heard footsteps coming around to the other side of her where no one else sat.
She felt a familiar hand on her face. It was Adin. He leaned down and put his lips to her ear. “Legacy? Sweetheart, can you hear me?” His breathing was jagged. He must have been crying before he even got here. “Please…” he cried.
Adin reached over and took her free hand. Now, he was holding one, and River was holding the other. She heard Adin sigh. He put her hand on his face and held it there.
“Your hand is so cold,” he whispered, but he was taking comfort in that. He leaned down and put his forehead onto hers. His momentary comfort disappeared.
“Legacy, please wake up,” Adin pleaded through tears. “I love you so much. I need you more than anything. You have to be okay.” After several minutes of Adin crying with his head down on hers, he finally spoke to the others, but he didn’t move from his position. “What happened?”
“She was electrocuted,” River whispered.
“How?”
“The storm.”
“She thinks your mother controls things like that.”
“I know.”
“Do you think that?”
“Yes.”
Even though they were being short with each other, they were keeping their voices low and trying to be civil for her.
“She should have tried to kill me instead,” Adin whispered. “Not her…not her,” he cried.
It seemed like the two men in the room where the only ones crying. Lissa and Calli must be sitting there watching the two of them fall apart.
She wanted to console them. Her love and her friend. They were all bonded together. But Adin wasn’t the link.
She was.
If she hurt, they all hurt. If one of them was hurt, she’d be the only one suffering. It was her all along.
“She no longer works for you,” Adin whispered, his head still down. It wasn’t a request. It was an order.
River didn’t say anything. She was sure he agreed with Adin on this.
“Excuse me, we need to examine the patient,” she heard a male voice say as he entered the room. “Only her family can stay in here while they do that. It’ll only take a minute.”
She felt River’s hand slip from hers, but Adin didn’t move.
“I love you,” Adin whispered into her ear, and she wanted to tell him that she loved him too. She wanted him to stay. She didn’t want him to let go of her. He lifted his head off hers and placed her hand back at her side. He started to release it, but she squeezed his fingers.
“Legacy?” Adin asked frantically. “She just squeezed her hand,” he said quickly, talking away from her.
“Adin…” she barely breathed, not sure if he could hear her.
He was right back at her ear. “Yes, Legacy, I’m here. We’re all here.”
“Don’t go…”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he cried, but she could hear a hint of relief in his voice.
“Adin, I’m hurting.”
She heard several people gasp. Now that she was able to speak and move a little, she realized she was in excruciating pain.
“Where are you hurting, sweetheart?” Adin was panicked.
“Everywhere.”
She lost the grip she had on his hand. She could no longer speak or move.
“Legacy? Legacy!”
“Everybody out,” someone ordered.
“I’m not leaving!” Adin said, and from the tone of his voice, no one was going to argue with him.
“He can stay,” Lissa mumbled. Since she asked him not to go, Lissa wasn’t going to make him leave. Thank the gods.
“C’mon, River,” she heard Calli say.
She heard River’s breathing spike, and she knew he wanted to stay too. But he left quietly.
She felt hands all over her. Adin let go of her hand, but he was right by her head, talking to her, letting her know he was right there with her.
“Why is she in pain?” he asked angrily.
“This is normal. It’s actually good that she’s in pain. It means she can feel. Now, we need to treat he
r pain. We’re giving her some morphine. She’ll be asleep for awhile.”
The voice turned away from her, she guessed to talk to Lissa. “Now that she woke up, we’re treating her pain, but the medication she’ll be on will cause her to be out of it for a few days. She’ll wake up here and there, but only briefly. The medication will help her pain while her body heals itself.” He lowered is his voice and said, “Because of who she is, it’s the best way.”
“Okay,” Lissa murmured, and she realized the doctor was in on the family secret.
When he spoke again, he used a regular tone. “After a few days, we’ll start to taper her off the medication to see where she’s at in the healing process. If she’s in a great deal of pain, we’ll start all over again. Hopefully, her pain will be less, and we’ll be able to manage it while keeping her conscious.”
“So how is she?” Lissa asked.
“All her vitals are good. Her blood pressure is up, though, but that’s probably because of the pain.”
They must have given her more morphine because the next thing she remembered hearing were monitors beeping. She heard some voices in the room, and she could feel both her hands being held. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t.
“Ouch,” she mumbled.
“Legacy?” she heard Adin ask. “Get the doctor,” he muttered.
The other person dropped her other hand and left.
She moaned again, trying to move her body.
“He’s on his way,” she heard River say, and he held her hand again. “Lissa’s on her way back up too.”
The pain was building slowly, getting more intense. “I’m really hurting.”
“The doctor will be in here in a minute,” Adin whispered. “Your pain medication is wearing off, and they need to check on your healing progress.”
She started crying. “It hurts. It’s getting worse.” Was she on fire? Flames licked all over her.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
She felt Adin’s hands on her face and River’s hand stroking her arm.
Then she started screaming. The pain was unbelievable. She was burning alive.
River dropped her hand, and she heard the door open. He must have left to find out why it was taking the doctor so long.
“Legacy? You to calm down,” she heard an older man’s voice say as he walked to her bed.
She tried, but she was hysterical. She just cried and cried.
“Can you open your eyes?”
She did, but they were blurry from the tears.
“Why am I hurting? It hurts all over. Adin!” she screamed, turning toward the hand he was holding again.
He put his free arm around her neck and put his head to hers. She cried uncontrollably.
“Shhhh.” Adin tried to soothe her. “What are you waiting for? Please just give her the medication.”
“I just did. I was afraid of this. We’ll give it another try in a few days.”
She whined softly as the pain lessened and she wondered if her skin was charred.
“Try to relax, sweetheart.” Adin had his hand on her face, stroking it.
Then the pain disappeared, and she fell right back to sleep.
Sometime later, she heard the monitors clearly, but didn’t hear any voices again. She didn’t hear anybody talking to her or each other. She didn’t even hear anybody breathing.
“Hello?” she tried to say, but she couldn’t even hear it herself.
She felt something in her hand. It was the same hand Adin had held, but in it was something hard, cold. She grasped it, trying to figure out what it was, but she couldn’t tell.
Then she heard the door open.
“Legacy, I’m your nurse. Can you hear me?”
She mumbled.
“Good. You’re under medication. There’s nothing to be scared about. I’m going to call Lissa. She’s here. She just stepped out for a minute. The beds aren’t very comfortable.”
“What-what time is it?” she whispered.
“It’s two in the morning.”
“Adin?”
“He left when visiting hours were over. He’s been here every day, all day. So has your other friend. You have quite the little fan club.” She chuckled. “I wish my boyfriend looked like either one of them, and girl, they both think you hung the moon.”
She wanted Adin here. She missed his hand in hers, anchoring her to realty.
“She’s awake,” she heard the nurse say. “Legacy, Lissa is on her way up.”
“’Ka-a-ay.”
She felt like she was falling back asleep, but she heard the door open again. “Legacy?”
“Hmmmm?”
“It’s Lissa. How are you feeling?”
“Tired.”
“That’s good. You need your rest.”
“I want Adin.”
“I know, honey. He’s been here, and he’ll be back in the morning.”
“No…call him, please.”
“I’m doing that now. He asked me to call if you woke up.”
She started to fall back asleep, but she heard Lissa mumble on the phone.
“She’s awake, and she’s asking for you.” A pause. “Yes.” She walked back over and put her hand on Legacy’s. “Legacy, he’s coming up here right now. You can go back to sleep.”
She must have because the next thing she realized was Adin’s hand in hers.
“Adin?”
“Yes, sweetheart. I’m here.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s about ten in the morning.”
“Did you come?” He obviously had come at some point, but several hours had felt like seconds to her.
“I’ve been here since Lissa called me last night.”
She tried to lift the hand he wasn’t holding so she could touch his face, but someone else had it.
“Who’s over there?”
“River. He’s been here every day, too. So have Calli and Lissa. Olive has visited you, too, and so did my mom. Everyone’s been so worried about you.”
“Every day? How long?” She wanted to ask how long she’d been here, but she didn’t have the strength to finish.
“You’ve been here six days. They did two rounds of heavy medication. This is the second time they’ve tried weaning you off. Do you remember the first time?”
“I remember hurting, and I remember screaming.”
“You did,” Adin whispered. “You were in a lot of pain. It was very hard for me—for us—to watch you hurting like that. Are you in any pain now?” he asked softly.
“A little. I still feel very tired.”
She felt Adin move and fidget with something on her bed. Then she heard the intercom.
“Yes?”
“She’s awake and hurting. Can you send in the doctor?” Adin asked.
“He’ll be right in.”
“You need to rest,” Adin said to her. “Your body is healing, but you seem to be doing much better this time. They’ll give you some more medicine after the doctor examines you, but it won’t be as much as before.”
“Okay,” she said, a little strangled.
“How do you feel?” Adin asked while River stroked her arm.
“Like I got hit by a train.” She grimaced.
She heard the door open. Her eyes were still closed.
“Legacy, I’m Dr. Sutherland. How are you feeling?”
“Not good. It hurts to move.”
“We’re going to put you on a morphine pump now, so you can disburse the medicine when you need it. You’re still going to feel pretty tired. I want you to sleep as much as you want today, but when you’re awake, try to stretch out in the bed. Tomorrow, we’re going to try and get you up and around. Depending on how well you do tomorrow, you may be able to go home in the afternoon.”
“Okay.”
“Can you open your eyes for me?”
She opened them slowly, but squinted. The light in the room was too bright. The doctor turned off the overhead light, and she
was able to open her eyes a little more. Then he took his light and looked into each of her eyes. Her eyes felt puffy and sore, like she’d spent the day watching sad movies.
He continued examining her, so she turned her head and looked at Adin for the first time. His eyes were red and swollen too. But he looked like he had been crying for days. He looked so tired and weak.
“You look sad,” she whispered to Adin as she faintly rubbed her thumb on the side of his hand.
He sighed, and fresh tears formed. “It’s been a long week,” he breathed.
She tried to smile at him. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.” And she was sorry. She didn’t want him hurting, no matter how much pain she was in.
He smiled, but his eyes were still gloomy. “I’m sorry I couldn’t take your place.” His tears spilled over.
The doctor rubbed her shoulder and that hurt. “Do you know what happened to you?”
“Um, I remember being at work. The roof was leaking, and I was mopping.” She turned her head to look at River. He looked just as bad as Adin did. She sighed and looked at the doctor. “Then I remember being here and screaming.”
She remembered more than that. She remembered everything, but she didn’t want River to hurt anymore than he should. She could tell he had beaten himself up enough already for their fight and for his mother’s involvement. And Adin was apparently trying to be understanding of River and let him stay, so she didn’t want Adin to know about the fight she and River had been having when the lightning struck. Adin’s leniency would vanish, and even though he looked as if he could barely stand, he’d probably find enough strength to throw River right out of the room with his bare hands.
“You were struck by lightning. You’re very lucky,” the doctor continued.
She nodded slowly.
“Hit the call button if you need anything,” the doctor said as he and the nurse vacated.
She yawned.
“You should try to go back to sleep,” Adin whispered.
And she did. She slept peacefully with both her hands being held. She didn’t dream or feel any pain. She was happy to have both Adin and River here with her. She didn’t like the fact that she wanted River here, but she didn’t argue with herself. She didn’t have the strength to fight off the bond that was there. She was just glad Adin swallowed his pride and allowed River to comfort her too. She woke up sometime later and heard Adin and River whispering.