Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2)

by Anderson, Holli

  Johnathan looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a tilt to his head. “You don’t even have any teeth. How do you eat those things?”

  The Imp smiled a toothless smile. “I rips ‘m with m’ fingernails and swallows ‘m. Chewing is un-needed.”

  You would think the picture he’d just painted would make me lose my appetite, but, it didn’t. McDonald’s fries, that’s all I’m saying.

  “Well,” Halli said with a frown. “Aren’t you hungry? You need to eat something.”

  “Oh, m’Halli. I eat when you all sleep. I’m a hunter. The place with your beds has a goodly pond, fulls of golden fishies!”

  Johnathan, Halli, and I looked at each other and laughed.

  Back at the hotel, we congregated in the boys’ room. “Where’s Seth?” Johnathan asked, looking around the room.

  “In there,” Alec hooked his thumb toward the bathroom door. “I have a feeling none of us will want to go in there for a long, long time.”

  Surpy slunk over to the wall that cornered with the bathroom door. I looked at him questioningly. He put his long pointer finger to his lipless mouth and shook his head. I decided to play along, just to see what he was planning.

  The toilet flushed; water ran for a few seconds in the sink. Seth opened the bathroom door and came strolling through. “Whew…” That was all he got out. Surpy jumped from around the corner and yelled in a deep, basso voice I didn’t think was possible from the little creature.

  “Raarrrrrrr!”

  I had never, ever, in my life seen a reaction quite like Seth had. He dropped to the floor. Just dropped—like he’d been shot. He clutched at his chest, unable to breathe for several long seconds. When he finally drew in a gasp of breath, the rest of us started laughing. Hard. Tears rolling down our faces. Joe laughed so hard the only sound coming out was an intermittent wheeze. And, that made us laugh even harder.

  Seth was the only one who didn’t find it extremely humorous. “You little freak!” He lunged for the Imp.

  Surpy dove behind Halli and clung to her legs. Seth started toward her. Laughing too hard to get any words out, she just held her hand out, palm facing Seth.

  “Are you kidding me, Halli? Did you see what he did?”

  Halli nodded, wiping tears from her face—uselessly because they still streamed.

  I crossed my legs where I stood, afraid I might pee my pants. My stomach ached from the laughter, and Seth’s indignation made it all the more funny. The best thing about it was Seth was famous for jumping out trying to scare people. A taste of his own medicine was a bitter bite for him to swallow.

  “You guys are not funny.” Seth plopped down on the bed and folded his arms. His mouth twitched at the corners just a little. When Halli snorted, he lost the battle of trying not to laugh.

  The wind picked up and a flurry of snow started to fall, swirling around our heads like little Faeries. I’d come with Alec to visit his mom again—mostly to try to keep him out of trouble. We jogged—heads down against the chill wind—from our portal landing in the trees, to the first set of doors to the Forensic building.

  Heather manned her desk and buzzed us through into the foyer. “Hi, Alec.”

  “Hey, Heather. How are you?” He made the simple question sound like he meant it. It was a true talent to make ‘how are you’ sound sincere.

  She shrugged. “I’m okay.”

  “Just okay?”

  She squirmed a little. “Well… something happened here last night.” She rushed her next words, “But your mom’s fine.”

  “Well, I guess I can see for myself. I’m here to visit her before we head back to Moab.”

  Heather’s gaze dropped to her desk. “I… um… I’m not sure if they’ll allow her any visitors today. The… uh… incident, involved her. She seems to have had a set-back because of it.”

  Alec turned on the charm. “I really need to see her. Could you please just ask? Maybe I can talk to Dr. Atkinson about it.”

  “Okay, yeah, I’ll ask.” Heather picked up the phone and pushed some numbers.

  We backed away from the desk. I stood on my tip-toes and whispered in Alec’s ear. “So, what’s the plan if they won’t let us in?”

  He tilted his head down. “I’m going in anyway. I’ll go invisible and just portal in.”

  “What happens if you portal into someone?”

  Alec shrugged.

  Through the bullet-proof glass dividing her from us, Heather spoke via the little speaker in the glass. “Alec? Dr. Atkinson is on her way up to talk to you. I’m going to buzz you through to the metal detectors, then I’ll take you back to the conference room.”

  Alec slapped me on the shoulder. “Doc Atkinson’ll let us see her.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m sure she will.” I remembered how easily Alec had charmed her last time.

  We walked through the door Heather had unlocked with the press of a button at her desk. I took a deep breath, preparing for a replay of the day before in regards to the utter mechanical blow-apart of the metal detector.

  Luck was with us for once, however. The big metal machine hadn’t been fixed yet. After we subjected ourselves to the necessary pat down, Heather led us to the conference room. Shortly after we took our seats, Dr. Atkinson came bustling in, cheeks flushed. She nodded to me absently before landing her adoring gaze on Alec. I rolled my eyes. The mindless female adoration was really getting on my nerves.

  “Alec, it’s so good to see you again. I heard about your visit yesterday. I’m so sorry you had to witness the unfortunate death of one of our patients. Other than that, it seems your visit went well. Very well. The nursing staff said you were able to keep Natalie calm throughout the ordeal.”

  I could feel Alec infuse his charm into Dr. Atkinson, although, I hardly felt he needed to. She was obviously still under his spell. “Dr. Atkinson, it’s a pleasure to see you again. I feel the visit went very well, too. I need to see her again, tonight, before I head back to Moab.”

  “Yes, that’s what Heather informed me. There is a slight problem. There was a rather disturbing incident late last night and it seems your mother has had a setback. She quite often suffers from night terrors; last night’s was the worst I’ve heard about. She’s more heavily sedated than usual and is on lock-down until we can be sure of her safety. There are no visitors allowed for patients on lock-down.”

  Alec reached across the table and laid his hand on top of hers. The feeling of the spell brought back too recent memories and the strength with which he poured it on made me nauseous.

  “I’m sure you can override that rule, Dr. Atkinson. It would be good for her to see me. I had a calming influence on her yesterday. It’ll be the same today. We can meet with her in her seclusion room, even, so the other patients won’t be bothered.”

  Eyes glazed over, nearly drooling, she nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think you’re right, Alec. That’ll be fine. Just fine. I’ll escort you there myself.”

  Under the spell, she didn’t even notice that neither of us had asked for any specifics about the disturbing incident.

  To get to the seclusion wing, we didn’t have to pass through the common room. We followed Dr. Atkinson, well I followed her and Alec—she walked at his side, holding onto his elbow as she guided him down the semi-darkened hallway. She stopped in front of a door marked with the number twenty-three, waved her badge in front of a little box with a red light on it, and opened the door.

  Natalie lay on a thin mattress connected to the floor. The mattress was the only thing in the padded room. I was relieved to see she wasn’t in a strait jacket or any other form of restraints. Alec may not have liked that much.

  Alec knelt down beside his mom, and I sat on the foot of her mattress. He took her hand in his. “Mom? It’s Alec.”

  Natalie’s eyes fluttered open. The laziness in her eyelids showed just how drugged up she was.

  Alec looked up at the doctor, who still stood in the doorway. “Dr. Atkinson. Can we have a few min
utes alone with her, please?”

  “That’s against the rules—” She stopped short, and I felt the charm spell oozing out of Alec. Just to make sure, he rose and crossed to where she stood. He lightly gripped her upper arms with both hands and leaned in close, definitely breaking the personal space barrier.

  “The rules don’t apply to us, Doctor. It’s what’s best for Natalie that matters. And, letting her talk to me and Paige alone is what’s best for her. Don’t you agree?”

  I stood close enough to see her eyes dilate. The tip of her tongue stole out of her mouth and lightly traced her upper lip. She leaned into Alec and tilted her face up to him. And, that loser of a friend of mine actually kissed her! And I’m not talking just a friendly little peck. I cringed and curled my lip up in disgust at the full on romantic kiss that may have even involved a little tongue. She was a pretty lady, but, she was old. She had to be in her thirties—maybe even forty.

  I cleared my throat. Alec slowly pulled away. Now it was the doctor who looked drugged, eyelids heavy and pupils constricted. Alec put his mouth against her ear and whispered, “It’s okay. You can leave. Just come back to escort us out when visiting hours are over.”

  She nodded and backed out of the room, closing the door as she did so.

  “I can’t believe you just did that.”

  “What?” Alec asked, raising his eyebrows. “She wanted me to. My new stance is I will never pass up an opportunity to kiss a pretty girl… or woman, as in this case.”

  “Alec. She’s old. Probably old enough to be your mom.”

  “Ya think? I don’t think she’s that old. Her lips didn’t feel old. And, her lip gloss tastes like strawberries.” He licked his lips. “Besides, the whole cougar thing is in. And, it got us some alone time with my mom.”

  “Whatever. The end doesn’t always justify the means.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind. Let’s visit with your mom.”

  Sitting cross legged on the padded floor in front of Natalie, Alec woke her again. “Mom? Sorry to keep waking you up. Can you sit up and talk for a while?”

  Her eyelids were heavy. I could tell, because she could only lift them halfway. She struggled to sit up and finally succeeded, leaning against the wall for support.

  “What happened after we left last night?” Alec asked.

  With her first attempt at speaking, only a dry croak escaped her throat. She swallowed and tried again. “Security… and a couple a’ nurses… came. They kept asking what happened. What happened. What happened. I tol’ ‘em about the monsters.” She patted Alec’s hand and tried to reach mine but found the effort too much and let her hand drop to her lap. “But… I didn’t tell ‘em ‘bout you guys. Jus’ the monsters. I blamed the fire on them.”

  “What did they say?” Alec asked.

  She shrugged. “Not much. Just shook their heads ‘n gave me a shot. Brought me in here. Said somethin’ about s’curity cameras.”

  Alec looked at me and voiced my own thoughts, “Do you think they saw us on the camera? Should we be worried?”

  “If they had known we were here last night, they never would have let us in today, Alec, charm or not.”

  “You’re probably right.” He turned his attention back to his mom.

  “Alec,” she whispered. “You really were here last night, right? I wasn’t just hallucinating?”

  “Yes, mom. We were here. And the monsters were real. You know that now, don’t you? That the monsters you see are real?”

  She shook her head. “No. They can’t all be real. Why am I the only one who sees ‘em?”

  “You’ve been touched… changed in some way,” I answered her. “The Incubus being near you for extended periods, plus carrying Alec inside you for nine months, gave you the ability to see what only few other humans can. That doesn’t mean these horrors don’t exist, though. Other people are just blissfully ignorant to their existence.”

  “Hmm. Lucky me.” Her eyes closed long enough that I thought she’d dozed off again. Eyes still closed, she continued. “You and your friends are amazing. Thank you for saving me.”

  We sat with her for another hour while she mostly slept. Dr. Atkinson unlocked the door and smiled when she saw Alec. “Visiting hours are over, Alec. Can I see you alone for a minute before I walk you back out?”

  He winked at me. “Sure, Doctor.” They left me in the hallway next to Natalie’s locked door, and disappeared into what appeared to be a supply closet. Oh, brother! I thought. If he’s in there longer than five minutes, I’m going in after him.

  The door opened just as I took a step toward it five minutes later. Alec came out first, hair a mess and cheeks red, pulling his t-shirt down over his abs. The Psychiatrist followed, smoothing her hair. She had a huge smile on her face.

  “Let’s go.” I didn’t hide the irritation in my voice. “And do something with your hair before anyone sees it.” I stomped down the hall.

  Alec’s cougar dropped us in the foyer and murmured, “See you later, Alec,” before disappearing through a door.

  Heather sat at her desk. She looked at Alec’s messed up hair and drew her eyebrows together in a frown. Her voice came across the window speaker, “Alec, wait up a minute. I’m about to go on break.”

  I sighed and folded my arms. I think I’m invisible today.

  A nurse came and took Heather’s seat as she exited her little fortress. She stepped up to Alec and smoothed his hair where it stuck up. Her hand snaked around his bicep and she said, “Let’s go for a little walk. I need some fresh air.”

  I tagged along, out into the freezing cold, because I really didn’t want to just stand in the foyer of a psych hospital—that would be crazy.

  “So, how’s your mom?” Heather asked, still holding tight to Alec’s arm. “I heard about what happened last night. Is she okay?”

  “She’s okay. What did you hear? I just know there was a fire and that my mom was raving about monsters.”

  “Oh, there was a fire, but it was out before anyone got there, thank goodness.”

  “Any idea how it started?” Alec prodded.

  I was freezing, even with Johnathan’s jacket on. I evoked the warming spell and felt instant relief from the cold.

  “Well, they watched the security tapes”—she shivered, and Alec wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him–“The two guards who were patrolling that wing were passed out or knocked out or something. The only people on the tapes were Carl, the housekeeper I told you about, and Tiffany, the social worker. They were seen going down the hall about ten minutes before the fire alarms went off. The cameras near your mom’s room flickered and died shortly after they’re seen opening your mom’s door and going into her room.”

  “What do you think they were doing in there? Wasn’t it awfully late for a visit?” Alec asked.

  Heather nodded. “It was. Neither of them were even assigned to that ward. The funny thing is, not a single camera shows them leaving. They would have had to leave down the hall the same way they’d come in—but, they didn’t. It’s so weird.”

  I was relieved we hadn’t been seen. The only place where we weren’t cloaked in the invisibility spell was in and around Natalie’s room. Thankfully that camera had shorted out before we revealed ourselves.

  Alec walked Heather back to the entrance of the building. He leaned in and kissed her. I wondered if she could taste the doctor’s strawberry lip gloss on his deceitful lips. I thought back to the recent times I was under the Incubus’s spell—and decided that, if she could taste it, she wouldn’t care.

  ack at the hotel, I distanced myself from Alec—still annoyed with his shameless behavior. After a quick rundown of our visit, Johnathan insisted we get back to Moab. We portalled back to Trey’s house, Surpy clinging to Halli as if hanging from the edge of a cliff. Alec brought Joe with him.

  “Okay. We’re back in Moab. Now what?” Alec threw himself on the couch in the big living room.

  It was ge
tting late. We’d stayed at the hospital until after nine.

  “I’m going to go downtown and just get a feel for what might be making me so uneasy. It’s time we figure out what the Demon was talking about—about this Gathering,” Johnathan said. “You’re all welcome to come with me.”

  Of course, he knew I would be going with him. He grabbed my hand and headed for the door. A glance behind me showed the only one staying behind was Joe. He seemed to be distancing himself from us more and more—trusting us to make the right decisions without him.

  It wasn’t as cold in Moab as it had been in Provo, but the wind still stung. Soon after stepping onto the sidewalks of Main Street, Alec took the lead. He headed, of course, straight to Mariah—I guess kissing two women in one night, minutes apart, wasn’t enough for him. We reached Jay’s just as Mariah and a couple of other employees were locking up for the night. When she saw Alec standing on the sidewalk, leaned against the pole of a streetlight with his arms folded in front of him, she smiled and pushed a strand of hair from her eyes. I was glad to see she had enough restraint to keep from running to him. She walked pretty fast, though. He kept his arms folded until she stepped close and reached up to cup his face with her hands. Only after her chest rubbed up against his folded arms, did he unfold them and wrap her in a hug.

  And, I had to witness, for the third time that day, Alec kissing a girl. I turned away with more than a little disgust. I looked up at Johnathan, thinking he would be watching them. He wasn’t. He watched me. He had the sweetest smile on his face. I forgot all about our promiscuous friend and his unfortunate crush. Johnathan touched my face, running his fingers from my cheek to my chin, which he tilted up as he leaned in for a short kiss—neither of us was big on public displays of affection. I sighed and nuzzled my smiling face into his warm chest as my stomach tickled pleasantly at his nearness.

  “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come back. I thought maybe you met someone else in Provo, and forgot all about me.” Mariah’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout—which wasn’t something I expected of her even though I hadn’t known her for very long.