There was no time to think about what had happened in that room. I didn’t want to think about it. I had woken up, and I had known it was Elias, and yet, I had wanted to kiss him, and I had kissed him, partly thinking that it was a dream.
And it had been a dream, because his lips were perfectly soft, and kissing him had been as amazing as I had imagined. But it had also been something I didn’t feel completely in control of and I had felt dazed and confused when I had completely woken up, my lips on his.
I had to admit, even though I wasn’t particularly fond of him, he was a good-looking man. I hadn’t been with a man for the longest time, and I didn’t know if it was the lack of air or something like that, but fuck, he had been there and I wanted him.
That was the one thing I was completely aware of as I felt myself wake up. Elias was there.
I wanted Elias.
But things weren’t that simple.
My head was throbbing and I felt faint.
“Are you okay?” Elias asked as we walked down the corridor alongside each other.
I nodded. “I’ve been better, but I’m okay. How are you doing?”
“I feel like I have a hangover,” he said. “Which is ridiculous. I think we both need to eat.”
I sighed. “Agreed,” I said. “And I definitely need a shower, and would like to get a change of clothes.”
He nodded. “Totally,” he said. “Do you live nearby?”
“No, about two hours south. You?”
“About two and a half hours south,” he said. “Most of my work is done from a hospital in West Palm Beach.”
“Ah,” I replied. “I’m based in Jupiter.”
“Jupiter Island?” he asked, his eyes widening.
“Don’t look that surprised,” I said. “You know rich people love psychics.”
“We’re not far from each other,” he said. We had finally gone down the stairs and had arrived in the breakroom.
I looked around, my breath catching in my throat when I saw that the cardboard box had been overturned. “Where is the cat?” I asked, scanning the room for signs of where the cat had gone.
I couldn’t see it. I was about to ask Elias something about it when he pointed towards the corner of the countertop. “There,” he replied, with a smile. “Clearly made itself comfortable.”
The cat was lying down on the counter, looking comfortable and stretched out.
I smiled. “We really do need to get somebody to come get it.”
“I agree. But it doesn’t seem so important anymore. It’s not frightened, and there’s no way that it’s getting out of the castle.”
I cocked my head. “You don’t know that. We don’t know how it got to the top of the tower yet.”
He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Huh,” he said. “I guess that’s true.”
The cat sat up and looked at both of us, its curious gaze finally settling on Elias.
“It looks like it knows something,” I said.
“And it looks like a housecat,” he replied. “I mean, don’t take my word for this, but it doesn’t look like it would be rabid.”
“Does that mean I don’t have to go to the hospital?”
“It absolutely does not mean you don’t have to go to the hospital,” he said. “We need to find a way to get you there.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but he looked genuinely concerned. “We could try your car again,” I said.
“Why would that work now, when it didn’t before?”
“We were trapped in a room and now we are not,” I replied. “We could try your car again. Nothing would happen if we did.”
He laughed quietly. “I mean, you’re not wrong,” he said. “I just hate that you’re not wrong.”
“I rarely am.”
He rolled his eyes, but we both laughed. We walked outside together, making sure to close the door to the break room so the cat wouldn’t escape and it would still be there when I got back. The cat still needed help, and we were going to try to get some when we were in town. There was food and water in the room and the cat seemed to have decided to use the cardboard box it had once been trapped in as a kitty litter box. It was fine, for now.
And we were going to get it help. We were going to get everyone here help, including the cat.
If we managed to go to town.
It was a really nice sunny day when we walked outside, but the sun was getting into my eyes and I suddenly felt unused to the heat. It was as if being outside was not something I was familiar with anymore, though I knew that made no sense.
Elias stopped walking. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I just feel a little weird.”
“Weird how?”
I shook my head. “It’s hard to explain. Like we should still be in the castle.”
“We will be back. We just need to get you that vaccine.”
I swallowed. “I hope they let us leave.”
“Who is they?”
“I don’t know. Whoever’s keeping us here. I hope they let us leave.”
Elias nodded. He tilted his head up, putting his hands around his lips. “You have to let us go! We will come back, we promise. But we’re not any good to you if we are dead.”
I laughed. “You are screaming at ghosts now?”
“They don’t seem to listen otherwise.”
“I don’t know if it’s that easy.”
He frowned. “You think this is easy?”
I laughed again as we walked over to his car. He clicked his keys and the car made a sound as it unlocked. “Well,” Elias said. “The battery isn’t dead.”
For now, I thought, but didn’t say anything.
We climbed into his car and I noticed how hot the leather seats were against my legs.
I watched as Elias turned the key in the ignition. The car sputtered for a second and then came to life. We both looked at each other for a split second, until it was clear he could put his car in drive and we could get away from the castle.
I still held my breath until we were out of the parking lot, believing that we might get stuck before we left castle grounds.
But we didn’t.
He drove out, and soon, we were on our way to the hospital.
***
I didn’t want the vaccine, but it was making him feel better, and in truth, I liked being away from the castle, at least for a little bit. It felt like my mind fog was lifted slightly the further away we got from it and I hadn’t realized how mentally exhausted I felt just being around the energy that the castle gave off. I didn’t like being in the hospital any more than that, because the energy felt just as heavy, but at least it was a change of pace.
It was something.
Plus I knew all I had to do was get in and out.
I went for my vaccine, and when I got out, I noticed that Elias was talking to a doctor in a white coat.
“Hey,” Elias said, smiling at me. “How are you doing?”
“Fine,” I replied. “My arm hurts, but I guess they successfully staved off the rabies, so I can live with it.”
He smiled and the other doctor looked shocked.
“Long story, Andy,” he said, shaking his head. “This is Lily Quinn. She’s also investigating the illnesses at Thornbridge. This is Andy Pepine, he’s a physician at this hospital. He’s helping me track cases so we can crack what’s going on.”
I cocked my head and looked at the other doctor. “You work here?”
“Yes,” he said. “What are you looking for, exactly?”
I thought for a second. “Do you know how long medical records are kept for?”
“Not off the top of my head, but I think six, seven years?”
I nodded. “So I wouldn’t be able to find information from say, thirty, forty years ago.”
“Well, no,” he said. “Even if you could, you’d need to be involved in the patients’ care somehow or they would have to have consented. You know this.”
Elias put his hand on my shoulder. “Ms. Quinn isn�
��t helping in a medical capacity,” he said. “Her specialization is more… narrative-oriented.”
Pepine rolled his eyes. I thought I heard him say something about fucking journalists under his breath. “You could try death certificates,” he said. “They might not help much but if the person you’re looking for died a long enough time ago, they sometimes list the cause of death in the death certificate.”
Elias looked at him.
“I almost married a journo once,” he said to Elias then flashed me a wide smile. “Greatest mistake I never made.”
I didn’t return his smile. “Meet me outside once you’re done talking to him. I have a call to make.”
“Sure,” Elias said.
I could feel their gazes as I walked out of the hospital. I sat on the bench nearby and grabbed my phone, grateful I could see bars on the screen.
Basil answered after the first ring. “Are you okay?” he asked. He sounded like he was out of breath.
I tried not to laugh, but failed. “I’m fine. Why?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for the last couple of days,” he said. “Your phone just kept sending me to voicemail, but every time I tried to leave you a message, it said that your mailbox was full.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
“I know. So, are you?”
“What?”
“Okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I replied. “I’m at the hospital and I—”
“Why are you at the hospital?”
“I had to get a shot for rabies,” I said. “Listen, Bay, you still at the hotel?”
“Yes. Haven’t moved.”
“Perfect. I’m on my way. You booked two rooms, right?”
“I did,” he said.
“Great,” I replied. “Thanks. We’ll be there soon.”
“We?”
“I’m going with Elias.”
I heard the long silence on the line. “Do you mean Dr. Arnaud?”
“Yup,” I said. “Pack everything up and be ready to go. We might have to go back to the castle soon. We’ll probably stop for food before we get there, but after that…”
“Sounds fun,” he said, and I could hear the laughter in his voice. “I’m glad you’re okay, Lily.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Me too.”
I hung up when I saw Elias walking over to where I was. He sat down on the bench next to me and turned his body slightly to look at me. “So,” he said. “How was your experience?”
“They found my veins quickly.”
“No, I mean, in the hospital. I know you don’t like them.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess it was okay. All things considered, it could’ve been worse. Still, I would rather not return.”
“Try not to get bitten by any more animals.”
I nodded, smiling. “I’ll make a note of that,” I said. “So did he help?”
“Dr. Pepine? Yes,” he replied. “Though I don’t know how much will help you. He was telling me that everyone that came from the castle had hypernatremia, and the woman who died, she probably died from it.”
“Hyper…”
He waved his hand in front of his face. “Right, sorry,” he said. “Hypernatremia is an electrolyte problem. It means that there is a rise in serum sodium concentration in your body.”
“A what now?”
“Basically, your body doesn’t have enough water relative to the amount of sodium inside of it. The sodium levels in your body start getting really high, and water moves out of body tissues and into blood so that it can equalize what’s happening.”
“That doesn’t sound fun. What causes it?”
“Thirst. Very simply, what causes it usually is being unable to access water, or something in the water. It is basically caused by dehydration.”
“But there’s plenty of water at the castle. Is that why you insisted on getting those bottles?”
“Yes,” he said. “And though I don’t know of a way to poison water purposefully in order to cause hypernatremia, I expect that environmental factors have something of an impact.”
“Is it lethal?”
“Not if you catch it early enough. If you know what’s happening, the patient can have enough liquids. They can just drink water, and nine out of ten times they will get better,” he said. “However, if they are hospitalized for it, their chances of surviving are a lot lower.”
I bit down on my lower lip. “At least none of them have been hospitalized.”
“That’s right,” he said. “Which is why I suspect this is entirely environmental. Because if they are going home, drinking water from the top or drinking water from water bottles or whatever is that they drink, then it makes sense that the symptoms stop.”
“But you haven’t found the source? What could be causing the disease?”
He shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head down, looking a little defeated. “No,” he said. “And Casper wasn’t particularly helpful.”
I laughed. “You seem to be taking this all in stride,” I said. “I don’t know if I could if I were you.”
“I don’t know how else to take it,” he replied. “I think if I worried about it, I wouldn’t know how to cope.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Well, you know how, all we need to figure out is the why. And if something was pointing out to those people, it was for a reason. Something must have happened, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Something… not just environmental, but you know, something. Something wanted this to happen.”
“You think a supernatural entity did this?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I mean, the possibility exists, right?”
“Right. The possibility does, I suppose, exist.”
“So we have to investigate sources,” I said. “Personal sources.”
“You mean like… something that happened to someone?”
“A vengeful spirit,” I replied. “That’s why I wanted to see old medical records. You mentioned that this might have happened before, and if they died because of what people are getting sick from…”
He nodded. “Right. We trace it back.”
“Exactly,” I said. “We trace it back.”
“So how do we start?”
“Honestly?” I replied, smiling at him. “With a shower.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ELIAS
2019
We went back to the hotel Lily was staying at. It was a nice hotel in a touristy side of town, with plenty of restaurants across the street. I was glad to see a modern looking bathroom with a toothbrush and a shower.
I thought about going out to get new clothes—mine were all back at my own hotel, which was at least half an hour away—but Basil told me I could wear some of his.
I felt like a fool wearing his tight jeans and his slightly too small white shirts, but he was complimentary, and it felt good to wear fresh clothes, even if they weren’t my fresh clothes. I had secured souvenir underwear from the gift shop, along with a razor and some shaving cream, and felt like an entirely new person once I finally managed to leave the bathroom.
Lily also looked different too. Her hair was down, side swept to the left, so I could see the undercut on one side of her head. She had changed her earrings, but they were still long and dangled to her neck. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a black detail on the neck and sleeves and jeans that clung to her legs and her ass.
Her feet were clad only in large fuzzy socks and she wasn’t wearing any jewelry. I looked back up at her face and noticed that she wasn’t wearing any make-up, either, and she was perhaps even more beautiful than when I had first seen her.
I couldn’t stop looking at her.
I should have, because she was brushing her hair, and it felt like an intimate moment, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Basil was sitting on the desk, typing away on his computer.
I went over to where she was and sat next to her on the bed. “Hey,” she sa
id.
I smiled at her. “Hey,” I replied. I could smell her shampoo and the soap on her skin.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel human again,” I replied. “What about you?”
“Not sure about that, but definitely better.”
I smiled. “Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate you letting me have a shower here and… well, are you sure I can stay in that room? I don’t mind paying.”
“She wants you to,” Basil said quietly.
She turned around to him, rolled her eyes and turned back to me. “Of course,” she said. “The sooner we solve all this, the better.”
“Well, I don’t actually know if there’s any correlation between our current patients and the patients you discovered,” Basil said and I heard his hands clattering over the keyboard a couple of times. “These people didn’t die of the same thing.”
I turned to look at him. “What did they die of?”
“Mrs. Anderson says multiorgan failure. Mr. Readan says circulatory failure. The other ones all say things like septic shock or—”
I held my hand up. “Those are all directly tied to hypernatremia,” I said. “All of these people died because they were thirsty.”
Lily turned to look at him. “Can you look back further?”
Basil nodded. “How far?”
“As far as you need to go,” she said. “See if there are any isolated deaths. Check the lore, that kind of thing. Maybe one of the more famous deaths matches up with the symptoms here. That would be helpful.”
I shook my head. “Helpful how?”
“Because then we would know. We would know what’s going on, and we would be able to fix it.”
I looked her up and down. I could see the determination in her eyes. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
She nodded. “Let’s just say that if I didn’t really believe it, I wouldn’t even try.”
Basil leaned back and continued typing.
“Okay,” I said. “I think I’m going to try and catch some sleep before we have to go back to the castle. I assume we’re getting there before nightfall for… I don’t know, whatever it is that you need to do?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “A nap isn’t a bad idea. Meet you in a few hours?”
“Yes,” I said, holding up the keycard she had given me. “And once again, thank you for this.”
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