by Rian Harper
“So not good.” I started to panic.” They must have run the plates from my car.”
“You assaulted a deputy?” Jasmine snickered.
“Emma did. Long story. What am I going to do? What if someone recognizes me? I have to get out of Athens.”
“We need to tell Emma about this first.”
At Jasmine’s suggestion, we ignored the hospital policy and ventured out in search of the OR waiting room. Finding our way was easy enough once we got to a hallway with a sign pointing us in the right direction.
When we rounded the corner, Emma was sitting on the edge of her chair, leaning over with her head in her hands.
“Emma.” I swiftly sat down beside her.
She smiled a little when she saw me. “Hey. I thought you guys weren’t supposed to be up here.”
“Any change with Everett?” Jasmine was trying to sound concerned for the sake of the situation, but she wasn’t doing a very good job.
“No, he’s still in surgery.” Emma replied.
“Emma, the police are looking for us.” I wasn’t going to sugar-coat it.
“What? Why?”
“Because of what happened last night. I’m thinking they ran the plates from my car because they had my driver’s license picture on the news.” I whispered, so as not to draw the attention of the family that was sitting on the opposite end of the waiting room.
“Oh, God. I didn’t even think about the license plate. Stupid!” She chastised herself. “I’m so sorry, Nate.”
“Honey, they’re looking for you too. The newscasters didn’t have your name or picture, but they sure gave a nice description of you.” Jasmine included.
Emma didn’t say anything, but her eyes moved in a way that told me she was thinking—thinking about how to handle our newfound situation.
“Miss Marshall.” A doctor in dark blue scrubs with a hair cap on and a surgical mask hanging around his neck came around the corner.
When Emma looked up at him, I could see her mentally switching gears from one crisis to the other.
“Your brother is in recovery. We were able to stop the bleeding, but he has yet to regain consciousness. We are going to monitor him for the next hour, then admit him to a room in the Critical Care Unit.”
“When can I see him?” Emma stood as she asked.
“Transport will come get you when they take him up.”
Emma nod with understanding and sat back down. As the surgeon walked away, I could see from her expression that her thoughts were reverting back to our other problem. I leaned in close to her and put my hand on her knee. She didn’t acknowledge my touch.
“Emma, we have to leave Georgia.”
“I know.” She replied concisely.
“We need to leave soon.”
“I know.”
“How are we going to get Everett out of here?”
She didn’t answer as quickly as she just had. “I don’t know. Just let me think for a minute.”
That minute turned into an hour, as was made evident by transport summoning us away from the waiting room, leading us to the room they were taking Everett. As I stepped into CCU room number eight I saw Everett attached to a machine monitoring his heart rate and respiration. The nurse assigned to him was still in the process of attaching a blood pressure cuff to his arm. Emma and I rushed to his side while Jasmine remained just inside the door. Her distaste for Everett, the reason for which was still a mystery to me, kept her concerns merely superficial.
The nurse, finished with her routine, scratched a note on Everett’s chart, then adjusted his bed so that he was half-way between sitting up and lying down. Before she left, she reached up to the TV mounted high on the wall in front of Everett’s bed and turned it on.
“Sometimes the ambient noise helps people come to faster.” She said. “Just hit the call button if he needs anything.”
As soon as the nurse was outside the room, Emma leaned over Everett lying in his bed and started talking to him. She told him everything was going to be all right and how brave he was, just so he could hear her voice. Astonishingly, Everett woke up that instance.
“Emma?” He opened his eyes and blinked hard a couple of times, adjusting to being awake.
“Hey brother. I’m here.” Emma said soothingly as she pushed his dark hair up off of his forehead.
“I feel like I was put in a rock tumbler.”
“You look like it too.” I confirmed.
“Nate? So you made it out alive, huh?”
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
“What happened to the shifters?”
“We took care of them.” Jasmine piped in, still standing at the door.
“Jasmine.” Everett smirked.
“She helped us find you and fight off the shifters.” I placed my hand on his shoulder.
Jasmine moved from her spot by the door, her high-heeled boots clicking on the linoleum floor as she walked to the other side of Everett’s bed.
“Yeah, and you owe me one.” She said playfully.
“Everett, do you remember anything from when Cade had you; anything that can give us a clue as to why he wants Nate dead?” Emma asked.
“The only thing I remember was that Cade was talking on the phone with someone—like he was taking orders from someone else. I don’t think he’s the one who wants Nate dead. I just think he’s the instrument.”
It was disheartening to know that we still didn’t know who wanted me dead. If Cade were just the assassin, who could have put in the order? It was time that I dug a little deeper into my history. There were some more questions that needed answers. And I was wagering the answers were not going to be easy to hear.
Chapter 12
Emotions
Everett needed his rest, so we said goodnight and he dozed off into a medicated slumber. As soon as he was sound asleep, I felt it was time to ask Emma some more questions about Kane descendants and how I might fit into their fantastic world. Out of the plethora of questions that occupied my mind, there was one in particular that nagged my curiosity the most—why I didn’t have a power. I finally knew where I belonged, but ended up being broken. Emma said that I was special just for the fact that I was a Kane descendant, but I felt like the most ordinary person in the world compared to the extraordinary people who now surrounded me.
My stomach rumbled from hunger. It was going to be tricky getting some food. I was now wanted by law enforcement and couldn't risk being seen in the cafeteria. The more I tried to remain invisible, the better. I couldn't just ignore my stomach as it wrenched around without anything to digest. I decided to ask Jasmine if she would get all of us something to eat from the cafeteria. That way, I would avoid being seen by anyone and I could have some alone time with Emma to inquire further about my ancestry.
Jasmine reluctantly agreed and went in search of the cafeteria, allowing Emma and I to be alone. Emma was sitting next to Everett, leaned over with her chin on his arm.
I walked over and placed my hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing, Em?"
"I'm better now that I know Everett is going to be all right." I could not hear the stress in her voice anymore but she sounded exhausted. "How are you coping with everything? You have had a rough night too."
"I'm okay. I have a lot to process. And I still have a lot of questions."
Before I could ask her anything, she interjected, "I have a question for you first."
My interest was piqued to say the least. I quickly generated all of the possible questions that she could ask me, but I wasn't at all prepared for what was to come out of her mouth.
"Do you love me?"
I was flabbergasted to say the least. I opened my mouth to try and reply but nothing came out. Of course I loved her. I fell for her the moment I saw her.
“Nate. Say something.”
“I-well-uh…” Stammering was the only thing I could manage. I really didn’t know what Emma expected me to say. It scared me a little not knowing if she would reciprocate
my feelings. What happened next, however, lay to rest any doubts I had about her feelings towards me.
Emma reached up, gently grabbed my arm, and pulled me to sit on Everett’s bed in front of her. She placed her other hand on the back of my head, where my hair curled slightly around her delicate fingers. She pulled my face closer to hers until our lips met for a tingling kiss. I savored every second of that kiss. Somehow, it seemed even more perfect than the first time we kissed the night before.
“Ow.” Our moment of perfection was halted when we heard Everett let out a less than convincing complaint. “You’re sitting on my catheter, Nate.”
I jumped up from the bed immediately and started apologizing profusely. Emma let out a little giggle.
“Not funny, Em—“ Before Everett could even finish berating Emma, he was back to sleep.
The two of us relocated to a corner of the room, so as to not disturb Everett anymore. Although asking about my lineage had been at the forefront of my mind, it now lingered behind the fog that the kiss prompted to roll in. Everything around me was hazy; everything but Emma. When I looked at her, she stood out, glowed even, amidst my monochromatic surroundings. I came to realize that her glowing wasn’t just my imagination, but that she actually had a slight aura surrounding her. I could see tiny arcs of electricity dancing across her arms.
“Emma.” I pointed to her arms, bringing to her attention the current flowing up and down them.
“Well that’s new.” She looked in amazement, as she turned her arms over, getting a glimpse of them at every angle.
I was confused at her statement. “Emma, that’s hardly anything new.” I had seen her several times over the past couple of days spark electricity from her hands.
“No. I mean, I’ve always been able to control it. Turn it on and off. I don’t know why this is happening to me right now.” As she spoke, she got brighter and brighter. Anyone who walked in would without a doubt know that she was glowing now.
Up to that point, the arcs were small and stayed close to her skin, but they quickly started getting bigger and jumping off of her body. I was only a few feet from her, and was about to become a victim of proximity. She was so electrically charged at this point, the current was trying to find something to escape to. Unfortunately, it found me. The first zap hit my torso, which sent me doubling over in pain.
“Agh!” I stepped back, holding my stomach. I had not been electrocuted before, and I wasn’t particularly fond of the experience.
The arcs got bigger and bigger, and started radiating from all parts of her body; her fingertips, her chest, even the ends of her hairs. The second jolt hit my left shoulder, and placed me on the floor in a twisted ball of agony. I lie on the floor moaning, holding my shoulder. The arc that hit me was so powerful that it burned through the long-sleeved shirt I was wearing and singed my skin a little.
“Hey guys, they didn’t have turkey, so I got roast beef.” Jasmine was returning from the cafeteria and hadn’t yet looked up to notice that Emma was charged. She was rifling through her purse with one hand, while holding our bag of lunch in the other. She stopped when she nearly stepped on me still lying on the floor in pain.
“You know they have perfectly good chairs over there.” She looked up toward the chairs she mentioned and finally saw Emma, aglow and wrought with arcs of electricity. “Did I miss something?” She sounded less than concerned.
“I can’t turn it off, Jas.” Emma was panicking, and rightly so. Not a moment after, her arcs found an outlet in the room, and everything shut down—the lights, the monitors, the television. There was no way of telling if she threw a breaker or if she created a power surge that knocked out all power to the hospital. Emma looked like an electrical storm in the otherwise dark room for the minute before the backup generator activated, and the systems came back online.
I picked myself up off the floor and stumbled behind Jasmine, further away from Emma and the bolts flying off of her. I definitely did not want to get zapped again. It was astonishing that all of this commotion had yet to wake Everett. He lay in his bed oblivious as to what was happening around him. Whatever medication they had him on, I suddenly became envious of as the pain in my shoulder started burning, reminding me of my wound.
“Jasmine! What do I do?!” Emma was now hysterical.
“I don’t know! Try concentrating and shutting it off!” Jasmine suggested.
“I’m trying!” It was to no avail. The electricity she was producing was more intense than I had seen either her or Everett produce, and it was frightening.
Jasmine dropped her purse and the bag of food she was holding and automatically maneuvered into a defensive crouch. “Emma—“ She dragged out Emma’s name in a warning.
“If you can’t stop it yourself, maybe I can.” Jasmine suggested with a hint of sadism. She drew both of her arms back, then quickly pushed them forward toward Emma, releasing a powerful shockwave.
I watched in horror as the energy leaving Jasmine spread across the room in front of her. When Emma was struck by the force, she was lifted off the ground and thrown through the window behind her. It happened so quickly, all I heard was glass breaking, and when I looked up, Emma was gone.
“Emma! No!” I rushed to the window pane, tripping over a chair that was now in pieces due to the shockwave destroying it.
Everett hadn’t escaped the blow either. His bed, too, was now completely flush against the wall the window lay in. He was still unconscious, although now he was lying on his stomach diagonally across the bed, with his right arm hanging across a guard rail. It was amazing that all of his monitors were still hooked up to him and beeping, even though they were now laying on the floor.
Panic rushed through me as I pushed my way through the debris in front of the window. All I could think about was Emma lying on the ground comatose or worse—dead. I leaned my head out of the window, careful not to get cut by any of the jagged glass left in the pane. There she was, lying on the ground, knocked out cold but still breathing. Fortunately the CCU was on the second floor, so she didn’t fall far. Unfortunately, the commotion had already drawn spectators and do-gooders from the parking lot, trying to tend to Emma.
My breathing was slow and heavy. I was trying to not hyperventilate. I was furious with Jasmine for blasting Emma out of the window. I was concerned for Everett as he lie helpless on his hospital bed. I was beside myself with urgency to get down to Emma to see if she was, in fact, all right. My emotions and thoughts were overwhelming me, so I had to stop and collect myself. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to calm down. As I felt my heart rate begin to fall, I heard a bystander shouting from the ground.
“Up there! He pushed her!” I opened my eyes quickly and looked down upon the crowd. A young man kneeling next to Emma’s head was pointing directly at me. The half-dozen people that were also congregated around Emma looked up at me as well, as the man shouted for someone to call the police.
Not the police I thought to myself as the scene playing out before me registered. I was already in trouble with the Athens Sherriff’s Department, and I couldn’t risk a swarm of officers around the hospital looking for me.
I turned around to ask Jasmine what we should do, but she was already one step ahead of me. She was unhooking Everett from the IVs and waking him up.
“What happened?” Everett asked in a daze.
“Later. Right now, get dressed.” Jasmine snapped as she tossed clothes at Everett, from which she pulled from her purse.
“How are we going to get Emma with all of those people around her?” I asked as I looked back out of the window and saw paramedics rolling a stretcher toward her from the Emergency Room.
“I’ll deal with that, just get Everett to the car.” She barked the order as she threw her keys at me.
Although I was curious as to how Jasmine was going to accomplish retrieving Emma without the people surrounding her protesting, I kept my mouth shut and did what I was told. With Everett’s arm around my shoulder, and
him limping along beside me, we managed to get downstairs and out the Emergency Room exit without too many strange glances. As we passed the crowd of people surrounding Emma—which had grown to over a dozen—I couldn’t help but look back to see if I could catch a glimpse of her.
Just as we approached Jasmine’s car, I noticed something as I looked back again at the crowd. Jasmine was standing on the window ledge right above Emma and her onlookers. Her eyes met mine from across the parking lot, and suddenly I knew what her plan was.
“Everett, get in the car and crank it up. I’m going to get Emma.” I handed him the keys and started running toward the crowd.
When I was halfway across the parking lot, I looked up and saw Jasmine jump from the second story, and land in a crouched position directly over Emma, who was still lying unconscious on the ground. When she touched-down, she let out a massive shockwave that knocked all of the bystanders away from her and Emma, allowing me to quickly run up and scoop Emma up in my arms.
“Nice kamikaze plan you had there.” I said sarcastically as we ran toward Jasmine’s car. Jasmine let out a mischievous laugh. I was not very amused, and still had intentions of berating her for the scene she had just caused, which brought unwanted attention to us all and put Emma’s life in danger.
After placing Emma in the back of the car with Jasmine, I climbed into the front passenger’s seat with Everett in the driver’s seat.
“Are you okay to drive?” I asked Everett, thinking it was ludicrous to have the person, who was only minutes ago in a hospital bed, driving.
“Yeah bro, I’m great.” He said passively as put the car in reverse. It was then that I noticed most of his bruises and cuts were gone. He was acting like he hadn’t had invasive surgery a few hours ago, and it was bizarre.
“What happened to your face? You’re bruises and cuts are gone. They couldn’t have healed that fast.” He grinned at my comment, which let me know I was about to learn something new about the descendants; something new and extraordinary.