“Oh my god,” Jasper said sinking weakly back into his chair. “I know what happened.”
“You do? What?” Jake asked sitting up even as Jasper slumped down. “The doctor is assuming she came into contact with something at the Advocacy Bureau, although security protocols should have kept that from happening. But nothing else makes sense. There aren’t many places in town where cursed objects might be stored, and the Advocacy Bureau is one of those places. And since Julia works there…”
Jasper nodded as Jake trailed off. Then he explained to them what happened earlier in the day. Jake and Rachel looked back at him with growing looks of shock.
“Are you sure that’s what happened?” Jake asked when Jasper finished. “I can’t believe that a top-level senior Advocate would be so careless with cursed objects!”
Jasper shrugged wearily. “I can’t be sure. But that’s the explanation that makes the most sense.”
His heart felt like a lead weight in his chest. He couldn’t keep himself from feeling like this was somehow all his fault. He knew it was irrational, but he also knew that Julia wouldn’t have been in that room with the cursed balls if she hadn’t been working with him to give him a tour. Somehow this made him feel responsible. He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes, trying to think. Now was not the time to fall into some sort of self-blaming spiral. Now was not the time to panic. There must be some way to fix this. There was always a fix, if you thought creatively enough. But Jasper was worried that he didn’t understand magic and curses well enough to come up with a realistic solution.
“I have to talk to the doctor, and I have to see Julia,” Jasper said, suddenly hopping to his feet.
“They’re not letting anyone in the room,” Jake said gently. “And the doctor is still on the phone with the Advocacy Bureau, as far as I know.”
“I don’t care. I need to talk to him. And I’d like to see them try to keep me away from Julia.” Jasper knew he had no right to Julia. They weren’t family. They hadn’t been friends long. They weren’t even officially dating. But he didn’t care. He knew in his heart that she was his lifemate, and that was reason enough for him. Even if she was in a coma, he had to see her for at least a few moments. He knew if he held her hand in his, she would sense his presence. She might not know what lifemates were, or that Jasper was her lifemate, but she would know there was someone there who would fight tooth and nail for her, and for her magic.
Jasper didn’t wait for another protest from Jake or Rachel. He ran straight toward the visitor information desk that was a few dozen feet down the hallway from the waiting area. The receptionist was facing away from Jasper and didn’t hear him approaching. She was too busy eavesdropping on a man in a white doctor’s jacket, who was deep in conversation on one of the desk’s many telephones. Jasper had been intending to ask for information on Julia’s room number, but when he saw the doctor, he realized that this must be the specialist who had diagnosed Julia. Jasper slowed his walk and started eavesdropping, too. He desperately wanted to know what was going on.
“She displays all the classic signs of it, yes. I’d get those balls quarantined and away from all humans as quickly as possible.”
The doctor paused as the person on the other end spoke, then nodded slowly and resumed speaking.
“Well, yes. I mean, I am not a legal expert so I can’t tell you what to do there. But I would definitely take Kai in for questioning. It seems he might have some breaches of security protocol to answer for. But most importantly, we need to know everything he can possibly tell us about those balls. The more we know, the better our chances of helping Julia.”
Another pause, then the doctor resumed again.
“Right. Well I did tell Julia’s friends who are here that the odds of her recovering without losing her magic are astronomically low. But there is one doctor I know of who has been doing some experimental treatments for this sort of thing. I don’t know if he’s had any success, but if there’s a chance at all of helping Julia, he’d be the one who could do it.”
Another pause. Jasper’s heart pounded as he waited for the doctor to speak again. If there was a chance of saving Julia, however small it was, they had to try!
“Well, that’s because he’s kind of, um, eccentric,” the doctor was saying. “He’s been quite belligerent in the past when people tried to tell him he needs to do a better job of adhering to the Shifter and Wizard medical code of ethics. His sometimes shady antics have made it difficult to take him seriously. Still, he’s the only one I know of who might be able to help Julia.”
Another pause.
“No, no. He’s a shifter, from a shifter clan, so he’s relatively new at dealing with magical medicine. Most of his theories are unproven, but he’s still the best chance Julia would have. My understanding is his clan started accepting wizards after the Great Dark War, and that’s how he got interested in magical medicine. He’s spent all his spare time learning about it and trying to develop new cures.”
Another, longer pause.
“Yeah. We should try, at least. He’s from the clan that famous dragon shifter saved. What was the guy’s name? Something with a J? Jasper?”
A short pause. Jasper’s eyes had widened. It wasn’t possible was it? They were talking about his old clan? Which meant the doctor they were talking about, the only one who could save Julia was…
“Harry Pasko. I should give him a call now, actually. Time is running out. The longer the curse is in Julia’s body, the less chance the experimental cure will work.”
The doctor said a few more things to whoever was on the other line, but Jasper no longer heard him. His whole head was ringing with the reverberations of two words: Harry Pasko.
Dr. Pasko was the doctor who had so uncaringly sued Jasper for payment after Jasper saved the whole clan but couldn’t pay for his medical treatment. The very sound of his name made Jasper’s entire being twitch with rage. Jasper hated his whole former clan for how they had repaid him for his heroism, but he hated Dr. Pasko most of all.
How was it possible that the person he hated most in the world might be the only one who could save the person he loved most in the world?
Jasper barely had a second to ponder the question before the receptionist turned around and noticed him standing there.
“Can I help you, sir?” she asked, squinting at him as if trying to place who he was. Jasper had seen this look before. It was the look someone gave him when they recognized him as someone famous but couldn’t quite place who he was. In that moment he made a split-second decision. He was going to do whatever it took to save Julia, and he would start by using his fame to get him some special favors. He normally hated doing that, but he wasn’t above special treatment if it meant saving his lifemate’s magic.
“Hi, Penny,” he said, glancing at the nametag the receptionist was wearing and flashing her a brilliant smile. “I’m Jasper. Jasper Moffatt. I need a big favor, if you don’t mind.”
He watched as Penny realized who he was, and her eyes widened. She glanced behind her for a moment to see whether the doctor had realized who was in the room with them, but the doctor was already busy making his next phone call. “J-Jasper Moffatt!” Penny explained. “What an honor to meet you. I’m such a big fan. I mean, I’ve been following your story since before the war ended. And when you came to Torch Lake I was so excited I could hardly stand it! What do you need? I’ll do whatever I can!”
Jasper’s smile deepened. “Thanks, Penny. It’s just one thing. I know there are strict rules on visitors here, but I need access to Julia Nalley’s room.”
Penny was already nodding and reaching for a visitor pass. “Of course. That’s no problem. I’ll just give you a pass and the security code to the room. I’m sure no one will mind if Jasper Moffatt wants to visit! Are you friends with her? Oh, she’s so lucky!”
Penny kept talking a mile a minute, and Jasper couldn’t help but think that it seemed a bit ridiculous to call Julia lucky at the moment. Losing your
magic, and potentially your life, didn’t exactly seem lucky. But Jasper only smiled and let Penny keep talking, until he had the visitor pass and security code in hand. Then he quickly thanked Penny and left the star-struck girl behind as he raced toward the room number on his visitor badge. If time was of the essence, he wasn’t going to waste a single second. Before the doctor here even finished yakking on the phone with Dr. Pasko, Jasper would have taken matters into his own hands.
For Julia’s sake, he was about to bury some very old, very painful grudges.
Chapter Ten
Kidnapping a hospital patient from her room turned out to be surprisingly easy. Jasper wasn’t sure whether he was actually breaking any laws at the moment, and he didn’t really want to know. He had permission to visit Julia’s room, and entered “legally” thanks to Penny’s generosity with the security codes. But he had a feeling even Penny would not have been okay with it if he asked to take Julia off all of her hospital monitors and rush her out of the hospital.
Oh, well. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?
Thankfully, when Jasper had entered Julia’s hospital room, there were no nurses or hospital staff present at that moment. He crept over to her bedside, his footsteps soft and tentative as though he might wake her. He realized this was ridiculous, since she was in a coma, not just sleeping. It would actually be a good thing if she woke up. But his mind seemed unable to process the fact that Julia was in such a serious condition. He could hardly stand to see her like this, lying limp in a hospital bed with her face flushed from the fever, and so many wires connected to her, measuring the vital signs that the doctor had warned might steadily weaken as the day moved forward.
He knew he needed to act quickly, so he hadn’t allowed himself to pause long. But he had kept his movements slow and gentle as he assessed how many wires and connection points there were. Jasper was relieved to see that there weren’t any actual IV needles attached to Julia. He would have felt nervous about ripping needles out, but he would have done it. He knew that was a reckless attitude to have, but he didn’t care at this point. He had to get Julia to Dr. Pasko. He knew in his gut there wasn’t time to waste working out travel arrangements.
“Ready to travel by dragon air?” he whispered to Julia’s unresponsive form. He paused one more moment to admire her. Even like this, she looked undeniably beautiful. He took a deep breath and glanced at the large double window, which would be his escape route. It was still raining outside, and the night seemed to have grown even darker. But Jasper wasn’t afraid of the dark or rain. His dragon eyes could see through pitch blackness, and the water would roll right off his dragon scales. Of course, the weather probably wasn’t the best for Julia in her feverish state, but that couldn’t be helped. Better to risk this than to wait around watching her lose her magic and possibly die. Jasper would wrap the blankets on her bed around her as tightly as possible before shifting into dragon form, so that she’d have at least some protection from the elements as he carried her through the skies.
Jasper glanced at the door to the room. There was a small window in it, so anyone would be able to see what he was doing if they got here soon enough. He didn’t want to cover it beforehand. That would look suspicious, too. He did slide a big guest chair in front of the door to slow down anyone’s entry. Hospitals in wizard towns were a bit special. Everything here was done just a tad bit differently from a human hospital—including security. Jasper already knew that as soon as he pulled the wires off of Julia and the alarms started sounding, the security guards would begin activating the magical security shields on all the hospital’s exit doors. He’d have a hard time getting through those shields, which is why his only choice was to slam through the windows and fly off.
Jake was going to be furious with him. Jake was People’s Governor of Torch Lake, and expected all the dragon shifters to act like model citizens. What Jasper was about to do was going to make headlines in a bad way.
It didn’t matter. Julia was all that mattered. With one last deep breath, Jasper gritted his teeth together and began to execute his escape plan. He began ripping the wires off of Julia. They had been attached using sticky magic, and sparks and colorful magic dust filled the air as he tore them away. Almost immediately, the machines started beeping out some sort of warning alert. Jasper ignored the beeping and kept working. He pulled at the last of the wires, then began quickly cocooning Julia in the blankets. At this point, the security system seemed to have realized that this was more than just an equipment failure in Julia’s room, and a loud security alarm started going off. Jasper forced himself to ignore these alarms as well. He focused on wrapping Julia up snugly, working as fast as he could while still being careful. When he was satisfied that she was as warmly wrapped as she could be, he stepped back and began to shift.
Out of instinct, he roared as he let his dragon form begin to take over. Perhaps he should have been quieter to avoid drawing additional attention to Julia’s room, but he figured they probably knew which room had triggered the alarms anyway. Security was probably already on its way. It never took Jasper long to shift into dragon form, but today it felt like it was taking an eternity. He willed his skin to change faster, even though it was thickening as quickly as ever. His human flesh melted away as his deep blue dragon scales took over. His human face morphed into the giant, horned head of a dragon, complete with a set of razor sharp dragon teeth. His body grew until it nearly filled the hospital room, his human hands and feet disappearing as dragon claws took their place. Wings sprouted from his back, and behind him a large, spiked tail stretched out. As his transformation completed, he heard sudden, loud banging at the door.
“Hey! Hey, open this door! What’s going on in there?” he glanced back to look at the door’s window for just a moment. The doctor who had been on the phone at the reception desk had his face pressed against the small window, his eyes widening to nearly the size of saucers. A moment later he was pushed out of the way by a security guard.
“Open this door right now, or we’re going to break in!” the guard yelled.
Jasper turned away from the door then and ran straight toward the double window. He closed his eyes tightly and smashed his head and neck through. The glass shattered easily, and fell away from his thick dragon scales without hurting him. He pawed at the pieces of the window’s edges that had remained intact, widening the hole as much as possible. It was still going to be a tight fit for him. Rain and wind whipped into the room, and he could hear sirens in the distance. Was that the ambulance, bringing some wounded shifter or wizard back to the hospital? Or was it police sirens? Had security here called in extra help?
Jasper wasn’t going to stick around to find out. Behind him, the guards were now pounding and kicking at the door, trying to push it in. Jasper glanced back once more, and found himself suddenly staring right at Jake.
“Jasper! What the hell are you doing? Open this door!” But Jasper ignored Jake’s muffled voice and turned back toward Julia. He grabbed her from the bed with his front dragon claws and started flapping his wings as he used his back dragon legs to move toward the window. The rain whipped at his face but he didn’t notice. He was peering out into the darkness, hoping there were no wizard police officers up here on broomsticks. He didn’t think they would have had time to arrive yet, but you never knew. If one had been close enough when the emergency call came in, they might have been able to reach him by now. Jasper could deal with police if he had to, but he’d rather not. He’d rather just get out of here before things got even messier than they already were.
Behind him, he heard a roar. It sounded off the second before he went airborne, and he knew immediately what it was. Jake was switching into dragon form to try to chase him down. Jasper flapped his wings as hard as he could, relieved to see that the skies around him were still dark and empty. No wizard police yet. He had to get as much of a head start on Jake as he could. Jake was probably one of the only people in Torch Lake with the strength to stop J
asper right now. Jasper, who was the only acid-breathing dragon in town, could have gotten away even from Jake if he breathed acid onto him. But there was no way Jasper could live with himself if he breathed acid on Jake. Which meant he had to make sure he outflew his friend.
Jasper didn’t slow down to look back. Instead, he stretched out his dragon body to make himself as aerodynamic as possible. He gripped Julia tightly in his claws, silently willing her to hang on. Come on girl, he thought to himself. Don’t peter out on me now. He had no way of knowing how she was doing, or how the cold wind and rain was affecting her. All Jasper could do was fly as fast and hard as he could.
He heard another roar behind, and he knew that Jake must be flying now, too. Jake would have been easily able to break down the hospital room door once in dragon form, and he would have wasted no time in chasing after Jasper. Jasper didn’t look back. He kept moving forward, willing himself to move faster. Jasper loved and respected Jake, but there was no way he was going to listen to Jake right now. Julia’s life and magic took precedence over everything.
A flash of lightning lit up the sky for an instant, and Jasper caught a glimpse of the town below him. He loved Torch Lake, and he hoped that what he was doing right now would not earn him the wrath of the High Council. Surely, they wouldn’t kick him out of Torch Lake for trying to save Julia? He knew the High Council hated it when dragons misbehaved, and often punished them severely to make a point. Dragons were supposed to be near-perfect citizens, after all. If the High Council decided to make an example out of him, they could force him to leave this place. He hadn’t initially wanted to move here, but now he couldn’t imagine moving anywhere else. Torch Lake was in his blood. He couldn’t bear thinking about losing his membership in this clan, so he forced himself to focus on something else. As he flew, he tried to hear Jake behind him. Occasionally, there was a roar that told him his friend was still angrily following him.
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