“Oh, so Pergice’s his name. Never told me.”
“Yes sir-y, that’s him,” she replied, handing him the cup. He stared at it, swirling it in his hand, as a thought occurred to him —a new game, actually. Could he get Josie to crack? Sure, getting her to break character would be like summoning a demon, but if she kept prancing around pretending to be ‘Nurse Lora,’ he was already halfway to hell. “You know,” he began, continuing to swish the blue liquid in his cup. “I’ve heard Pergice whisper something about you to the doctor.”
“Oh?”
“Oh —yes. He said…he said…he’s madly in love with you, Nurse Lora.”
She sucked in a breath, eyes shooting open, and tapped his shoulder. “You don’t say!”
“Yes, I do say. But I have to be honest.” He looked down, frowning.
“What’s wrong, Glen?”
“He can’t have you,” he said in a small voice. “No,” he then shouted, grabbing at her shoulder. “My heart can’t contain the passion anymore. Lora! You’ve cared for me! You’ve always been there for me! Kiss me, Lora! My love is like a burning—”
“Shut up and drink the damn medicine,” she barked, smacking his forehead.
Mend smiled widely at her. “I win—”
The door slammed open. Three men —one of them, the short plump Doctor Yah’v with his gray hair disheveled— pushed inside a wheeled bed; a hysterical girl laid strapped to it.
“Sago! I’ll find you again,” the patient screamed. “I’ll burn you to ash myself if I have to—”
“Nurse Lora! Get the sedatives,” Doctor Yah’v shouted. “We have to sedate her.”
Josie raced over to the counter with a flurry of glass hitting glass as the three men wheeled the bed beside Mend. One was brown hair, a bit older than Mend. The other was silver haired with a nasty scar over his left eye deep enough that it should have taken out his eye.
Josie returned, syringe in hand, facing away from Mend and toward the new patient.
“Sago,” she screamed again. “You thought you had me in the forest but…I’ll …find....” Her voice softened and then quieted. Josie pulled away from her.
“There, it’s done,” she said. “Doctor, what happened? The Chills?”
Doctor Yah’v shook his head. “I…I have to get Cyne. Nurse…,” he hesitated, glancing a worried look over to Mend. Of course, as Cyne said, the doctor knew Lora was an imposture. I’ll… I’ll only be a minute. You two,” he pointed to the other men. “Stay here. We’ll have to interview you.” And with that, the doctor rushed out, closing the door behind him.
The two men sighed with relief. The silver haired slumped into one of the chairs. The other leaned on the bed of the sleeping woman. Josie shared curious looks with them before they glanced at Mend —the kind of look usually reserved for people who knew each other, and knew something didn’t go the way they had planned. More Shadows Agents?
Mend laughed.
“Glen,” Josie said, bringing him a wet towel. “Go on drink your medicine. Please.” Please? Rather polite of her all of a sudden. Mend drank it, fire, hot coals and all. She took the empty cup, hands shaking. Mend would have thought she was acting, but that kind of shaking couldn’t be faked. Ah, to see trouble in paradise. Not so perfectly professional now are we, Josie?
As she carried the cup away, Mend leaned over and caught the face of the new patient. Darker skin, but not as dark as Cyne, same age as Mend roughly, short black hair, oval face. Very —sorta pretty, but the shape of her eyes looked vaguely familiar, almond shaped and those thin black eyebrows…small scar under her right eye…. Mend went back through his memory, looking through faces. He found one that matched those eyes perfectly.
He laughed again. “That’s Roe, isn’t it,” he said out loud.
The two men snapped their eyes on him. The one with silver hair slowly rose from his chair, and drew his lips to a line with a deadly stare, all while flexing his fingers.
Josie sighed. “Dumb ass kid,” she muttered before, “Guys, this is Mend. He knows me. And he’s a memorizer.”
The brown-haired man twisted away, not quick enough to avoid Mend snapping his face into memory. “Who is Mend,” he asked, covering his face with his sleeve. Too late. The silver haired one didn’t turn away. His frown turned into a malicious smile, and Mend snapped that face into his memory too, thinking it somehow suited him.
“Hello, gents. Yup, I’m Mend,” he said. “But I think it’s custom around here to face people you’re talking to.”
The silver-haired man, still sporting a grin that seemed to hide too many unpleasant thoughts, placed his hand on his chest. “Nice to meet you, Mend. I am Zeth—”
“Shut up; we don’t have time for this,” Josie warned, returning to Roe with a damp towel. She preceded to wipe Roe’s forehead and face. “And no. He’s not to be killed.” Zeth looked crestfallen. “He’s one of Rochelle’s. I have to get him back to her.”
“Alive,” Mend added, not enjoying Zeth’s constant study of him.
“Damn her,” the brown haired man cursed. “We got enough trouble.”
“What happened to her,” Josie asked. “Why was she yelling like that?”
Zeth shrugged. “Don’t know. Picked her up a couple of days ago with this other man. An Islander. She claimed he was a Count. Salvador Von Sago. That was the name.”
“Can’t be him. That’s impossible.”
“Yes, I know. A Count out there, crazy,” Zeth continued. “She got worse too. Thought I and….” He looked to Mend again. “Bran—”
“You idiot, don’t give him my name!”
Zeth chuckled. “He’ll be dead before—”
“No,” Josie pointed her finger at both of them. “He’s gotta make it alive.”
Zeth shrugged. “Yea, yea. Rochelle, I know. But Roe’s lost her mind. I’d think she had a Chills infection, but she has no fever. I checked her blood. Found something strange I couldn’t identify. But it’s gone now. Metabolized. I can’t help her if I don’t know what poison she had.”
“Because it isn’t poison,” Josie said, peering into the Roe’s eyes. “Mend, she’s the same as you, but worse.”
“Roe’s been exposed,” Mend asked.
“Yea, but how? Her mission was to infiltrate Ruby City and…” Josie let out a laugh. “So that’s it. Prince Landrie must have found a Shard of the Almighty in those mountains.”
“That would fill in a few mysteries,” Bran said.
“It’s just a guess, but she isn’t well enough to tell us,” Josie replied, going back to the counter to wash the cloth, then return to Roe. “Roe… should be fine, though. Her contract is with Siga, and their doctors have a lot of exposer experience. They’ll be able to heal her —they better heal her. You two gotta get out of here.”
“What about you,” Bran asked. “We can help. They think we’re fisherman.”
“Too risky. Just go to the shore and disappear.”
“Awe, I wanted to stay,” Zeth pouted before giving Mend a toothy grin. “Get to know ‘Rochelle’s friend’ here.”
“I won’t be long either,” Josie answered. “I’ll… damn. I’ll have to leave her here alone.”
“What? Why?” Mend sat up on his bed, his muscles surprisingly stronger. “Let’s all go right now. Before Cyne comes back. …Maybe…Zeth can stay behind, though. Cyne might like him.”
Josie gave him a flat stare. “Shut up Mend. We’re in charge here. Zeth, Bran. Get going and wait at the shore. I don’t want you on the island tonight. I’m finishing up my job with Siga and I’ll meet you there with…our guest.”
“And Roe,” Mend insisted. They had to take Roe, and they had to leave tonight. Everyone here knew Josie was an imposture. One look into Roe’s mind by Siga, and he’d know Roe and Josie worked together. They would both be captured and killed. Why should I care? I’m free anyway…right? “Ugh! You’ve got to listen to me, Josie. You can’t go to Sig tonight. We –you have to leave.”
“Just say the word, Night Mother.” Zeth inched closer to him, making a grabbing motion with his hands. “I know ways to make your life a living hell, boy.”
“After living with Roach, you might be doing me a favor.”
“Roach?”
“Mend,” Josie snapped again with her back still turned to him. “Remember what I said, don’t screw with me. Now keep quiet and let the adults —the professionals work.”
“Dumb arrogant bitch,” Mend shot back. It was either all or nothing, now; either, he’d tell her or he’d never sleep another night again. “I don’t give a damn what you think I did or didn’t do. They know you’re an imposture and they think you’re trying to kill me. You’re being set up so Siga can drill into your mind. He’ll find out you and Roe are playing him a fool. There, I said it. Now go. Get out of here. Thank me later. Don’t let the door hit your—”
She faced him with a twisted grin and a syringe in her hand.
Mend laughed, “you’ve got to be kidding—"
“Alright Mend,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been patient enough. I don’t know what angle you’re working here, but I can’t have a loose cannon ball rolling around while I wrap things up. I’m going to put you to sleep and have these gentlemen carry you. Next time you wake up, it’ll be Rochelle’s hand sweeping across your face. And for my sake, I hope she breaks your jaw.”
“Damn it, woman,” Mend shouted, eyeing the needle. “Why won’t you believe me? ’m not this clever, damn it!”
“Bran. Zeth. Hold them down.”
The two quickly grabbed him, holding him place. Mend tried squirming free, but they overpowered him, not that they needed much to restrain him. “Curse words. I should have used more curse words and maybe you’d believe me. You stupid, dumb, horse-faced—”
“Mend,” she said, gesturing Zeth to extend Mend’s right arm. Zeth pulled it forward, exposing his forearm to the needle. “Why don’t I believe you? Because I know you. You would be the last person I expect trying so hard to save my life.”
Mend tried pulling his arm away, the needle approaching his skin. If he passed out…at least…he’d make up for a lot of lost sleep. But Josie would get caught tonight, then Roe. Both would be tortured for Almighty knows how long and tossed away once dead. Let yourself sleep, Mend told himself. She was right. Why in the Depths did he care so much? Josie didn’t care about him. Roe, neither. No one cared about him. And he already had his way home! Why risk that? ‘Because we’re not like them, Mend,’ Rochelle would say, and she was one of them. Why did Rochelle leave? ‘We don’t murder,’ she would say. “We help.”
“No profit in helping, Roach,” Mend said with a sigh.
“What?”
There was only one way of out this: the hard way. “Josie, you want to know why you have to believe me? Because I screwed up worse then you know. I had to tell them everything,” he lied. “They found me out and I traded a way off this island in exchange. I sold you out. They know you’re an imposture. They know you’re after Siga’s serum. And tonight, Siga’s going to use his skill on you to find out. So there! Now, believe me? Can you four get out of here, now?”
Josie hesitated for a moment with an incredulous grin. “I would almost believe you but you’re neither that smart nor that brave and definitely not that selfless to sell me out and then confess to it just to save me. You know how stupid that sounds? Zeth keep his arm steady. I want a clean insertion.”
Mend tried to struggle his arm out of Zeth’s hold, but he pushed his fingers into different places along Mend’s forearm, making it fall limp like a dead weight.
“Thank you, Zeth,” she said.
“Josie, please,” Mend pleaded, staring at the approaching tip. “Your mission, it’ll fail. That’s all you care about. Right?”
She snickered. “Don’t you think I would have noticed being setup? Who the hell do you take me for?” Damn it all! Mend was out of ideas; he tried everything and still couldn’t even get this right! Every damn thing he ever tried, he failed—
Josie paused before cocking her head as though listening. She nodded to the other two who quickly released their grips on Mend. Josie didn’t seem worried, though. In fact, she still seemed pleased. Had she overheard something in her favor? Or…did she think Mend was that incompetent? —yes, both.
Suddenly, the door opened and in came Cyne and Doctor Yah’v.
“You’ll be killed,” Mend mouthed to her.
She smiled, hiding the syringe in the folds of Mend’s bed covers. She wagged her finger at it, mouthing, “Don’t touch.”
“Nurse,” Doctor Yah’v spoke. “Any change?”
She turned her back to Mend. “No Doctor, the sedatives worked, and she’s sound asleep.”
Everyone gathered around Roe, giving Mend the chance to scoop the syringe into his strong hand and hide it under the covers. ‘Don’t touch’ she said? Josie should have known better.
“We’ll have to confirm it,” the Doctor said. “But I am very certain I already know what’s wrong with her, Master Cyne.”
Cyne looked over to Zeth and Bran, his face barely showing any emotion. And why should it? The man apparently liked to force others to feel whatever he wanted them to feel, no need to emote anything.
“And you two are,” he asked.
Zeth answered, “we’re fishermen. We found her drowning and saved her, but she demanded to come here. One of your port vessels flagged us in.”
“Ah, yes,” Doctor Yah’v added. “That’s when I was called in.”
“I see,” Cyne said. “Thank you, both of you. If you care to eat, there is a cafeteria downstairs. You’re welcome to—”
“No, that’s alright,” Bran broke in. “We’d better be off. We’ve lost a day’s work already.”
“Of course.” Cyne looked around Josie over to Mend. “And you? I hope you’re well enough to return to work. How have our nurses been treating you?” Josie gave him the deadliest stare she could, which normally would have sent a cold chill down his spine, but not now. Nope. He wasn’t afraid at all. Trust. Loyalty. Camaraderie. The good gentleman, Cyne, flooded him with those emotions like a ocean being squeezed into a bottle. And if he could help the good gentlemen Cyne, he would —and save Josie and Roe at the same time.
Mend chuckled. “Everyone here has treated me perfectly…” He cleared his throat. “Aside from learning that Lora and those other two ‘fishermen’ —Zeth and Bran by the way— are members of the Coming Shadows working with that sleeping beauty —Rowena Lions, nice name, terrible attitude— to spy on the emperor’s secrets, steal his cure for exposure, and steal me way too while they’re at it. If they take me now, I’ll probably end up at the bottom of the Knives. Otherwise, I’m doing pretty well, my good man, and it was very kind of you to ask.”
Josie’s face went from stern warning to boiling rage in under a breath, the most satisfying thing Mend had ever seen. Cyne, not surprisingly, didn’t emote at all.
Breaking the silence, Josie laughed, but she couldn’t hide how mad she was getting. “How… how ridiculous. He must be relapsing into paranoia.”
Cyne nodded to Mend, probably the most show of thanks he had ever given anyone. “Yes. He is. I’ll return in a moment. Doctor, please come with me.”
The two walked out of the room and Josie tilted her head, listening. “Shit. He’s calling guards.” She slapped Mend across the face, before grabbed his neck, wringing it in her hands. “You stupid bastard,” she seethed, her face contorted into that of a angry beast. “I’m going to kill you right here, right now!”
“Let me do it,” Zeth whined.
Bran grabbed her arm. “Just break his neck. We have to go—”
Mend, with a quick thrust of his arm, jabbed the syringe into Josie’s side, releasing the sedative into her body. Her grip loosened as she turned to watch the liquid seep into her.
“Night. Night. Night M
other,” Mend coughed raggedly as she collapsed to the floor muttering curses.
“That felt better than I expect,” Mend said, rubbing out the soreness of his neck and the tears from his eyes. “Hmm, two sleeping beauties and two strong Shadows. Guess you two better carry them off before anyone gets back.”
Zeth reached for Mend. “Bad move—”
“Wait,” Bran yelped, his attention elsewhere. “No time. They’re coming. Now. Come on. You carry Roe. I’ll carry the Night Mother.”
Mend held back a chuckle as they worked to release Roe from her restraints and hoist Josie on their shoulders. He couldn’t help but smile at his own plan. Well, it wasn’t a plan, but the opportunity presented itself and he took it. Perfect; he almost wished Roach was here to see it, but she’d probably say he got lucky.
Now, they could leave and be safe —if they were half as good as they claimed to be. And in a few days, Mend would be walked out twice the hero. So long as Roe survived—
“Wait,” Mend shouted, pointing to the cabinet. “Siga’s medicine is in there. Grab it. Roe’ll need it.”
Zeth wasted no time, ripping the door open and stuffing into his pockets bottle after bottle of blueberry fire. Mend was happy to see it go. Once Zeth had overfilled his pockets, the two men —one with Roe over his shoulders and the other with Josie— rushed for the door. Bran fled out while Zeth took one last look at Mend. “Rochelle can’t save you from this, boy,” he said. “Next time we meet, I’ll show you why no one crosses us.” And with that not-at-all subtle threat, he ran out to shouts in the halls and loud thumping of speeding feet.
Mend laid back in bed, smiling with his numb arm still hanging limp by his side. “Ah Mend, you earned yourself another enemy. See Roach, ‘helping’ is not profitable! But a job well done, if I may say so. And I do. Good job, Mend. Wish I had some of that Dreamy Sailor to celebrate.” Now, all he needed to do was avoid Siga’s mind probing, and Cyne and Sera would eventually show up to lead him on his way to freedom. And best of all, Josie and Roe were alive. Finally, he could sleep. “Mission accomplished.”
Even though the commotion outside had settled, he guessed it would take a while before anyone checked up on him, so he relaxed as much as he could, closing his eyes and playing that soft piano in his mind. Hours seemed to glide by on his memory of a soothing rain tapping outside, a smooth piano playing inside, and a cold drink in his hands—
Call of the Chosen- Broken Kingdoms Page 56