Chosen
Page 41
Jael lay with her eyes closed, afraid to open them and face reality.
She remembered her father’s words to her so recently. They’d been down in the dojo sparring and she’d gotten angry when he tricked her, threw her to the mat and put a joint lock on her. He just smiled and put out his hand to help her back up.
“When you’re at war, Jael, you shut down your emotions and go into combat mode. Don’t let anger or fear or even love keep you from your purpose.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the familiar verse, printed on a large white board that greeted her each day when she stepped into the workout room, and read it aloud. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith.”
She snorted. “Do you really think my faith is going to help me kill vamps?”
“Your faith is your strength. Stakes, knives, fighting skills…” he shook his head, “they’re just tools. Without the strength of faith, wielding these weapons would be impossible.”
“I don’t understand.” She wiped sweat from her face and neck with a towel and threw it into the hamper against the wall.
“Do you believe God chose you for this purpose?”
“Obviously. What other explanation could there be? After all, I was born with six toes.”
He grinned. “Now you’re being a smart aleck.”
“No, I mean it, Dad.” She took the rubber band loose from her scraggly ponytail and pulled her hair back into a tighter semblance of order. “There are too many strange, unexplainable things for me to think otherwise. Sort of like knowing the world is spinning at the exact right speed and distance from the sun so it doesn’t freeze or burn up. Stuff like that doesn’t just happen. It’s ordered.”
“You know what? You’re pretty smart,” he said thoughtfully, rubbing a hand over his whisker-rough cheek. “We could be related.”
“Ya think?” she said, playing along with his teasing game.
“Nah! You’re definitely your mother’s child.”
Her mom had called down the stairs for them to come up for lunch right about then and their sparring session was over. Their last one… ever.
Jael felt tears slip through her lashes again and drip onto the pillow beneath her head. She squinched her eyes tight and pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth trying not to cry.
“Jael?” Uncle Seth’s voice came from close at her side.
If she opened her eyes it would all come true. Everything. Brianna’s kidnapping. The rescue. The fight. The car chase. Everything. She kept them clinched tight.
“I know you’re awake. You’re giving yourself premature wrinkles doing that,” he teased in a voice that sounded far from light-hearted. “It’s time to face hard facts, kiddo.”
“You don’t understand… I can’t.”
He took her hand in his and pressed it to his cheek. “I’m the only one who does,” he said, and she felt the dampness of tears on his face.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him.
Her uncle stood hovering over her, his eyes red rimmed and bloodshot. He looked as exhausted as she felt, but he smiled. They stayed that way for a minute, not saying anything, just being the little bit of strength the other needed. Words seemed inadequate.
Finally, Seth released her hand and drew a deep breath, glancing back at the closed door. “Officer Wallace and a highway patrolman are waiting to take your statement. Shadow already gave one, but they insisted on speaking with you once you were up to it.”
“What did he tell them?”
“That he was taking you home from a late date when a big white car came out of nowhere, swerved around as though the driver were drunk and nearly hit his bike. A couple miles later you came upon the wreck and called 911.” The succinct way he said the words seemed wrong. Even if it were partially true, it felt too common for what happened to her parents. They deserved more than to be a car brushed off the road with a sweep of words, an explanation that sanitized all the pain and emptiness their deaths left behind in her heart.
She twisted the edge of the sheet in her hands. “Can’t you talk to them, Uncle Seth?”
“I wasn’t there, remember?”
She ducked her chin. “Right.” She knew they had to stick to the story. No one could know the truth. No one would believe the truth.
“Where am I?” she asked, looking around the small room. There was a television screen hanging from the ceiling in the corner, a whiteboard with Nurse: Mary scrawled on it in blue marker, and an uncomfortable looking chair in the corner.
“Sunburn Medical Center.”
She pushed the blankets back and threw her feet over the side. “I’m not staying here. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Good thing,” Seth said, stepping back, “There’s not even a doctor available. He’s in Reno for the week. Apparently, there aren’t any babies due for at least another month around here, so he didn’t think he’d be missed.”
“I definitely don’t miss him,” Jael said, glancing uneasily at the metal stirrups on the end of the tall bed. She still wore her jeans and bra but her t-shirt had been replaced with a cotton gown. She felt beneath it. Bandages. She pulled it up and probed the long sterile strip with her fingers. “Did I have to have stitches?” she asked, remembering being cut by the glass shard.
He shook his head. “Nope. The nurse cleaned and bandaged it. She said it wasn’t deep and put some surgical glue on it to hold the edges together. I don’t think she was very confident about stitching you up without a doctor present.”
Her boots were on the floor in the corner. She hopped carefully off the edge of the bed and bent to pull them on, feeling the tug on her skin beneath the bandage. “Do you have my shirt?” she asked, not too keen about wearing a hospital gown out to the car.
He gestured toward the chair.
A plastic bag hung from the arm. The ripped and bloody t-shirt had been folded neatly and placed inside. She pulled it out. “Mind turning around for a sec?”
Seth turned and waited while she slipped it over her head.
There was a knock at the door and then it opened part way and Officer Wallace stuck his head in. “Excuse me, young lady. I see you’re getting ready to check out of here. I don’t blame ya.” He advanced into the room and pulled his hat from his head. “First off, I want to offer you my condolences. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Jael straightened up and met his gaze. His eyes were kind and filled with concern, but also with curiosity when he saw her ripped and bloodied shirt. She bit her lip and looked away, then drew a shaky breath before answering. “Thank you.”
“Do you feel up to answering a couple questions about the accident before ya go,” he asked, sliding the bill of his hat back and forth between his hands. “Your boyfriend already told us what he remembers, but we wanted to see if you might think of something more. It would certainly help us find the driver of the car that did this.”
“I was kind of out of it after we found my…” she bit her lip.
“Of course,” he said with a nod. “The EMT said you were in shock. Perfectly understandable. But do you remember anything before that? The make or model of the vehicle you saw swerving around the road? Numbers from the license plate? Anything?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I think it was a big car…maybe tan or white?” She felt horrible pretending. It wasn’t right. This man was trying to find her parents killer and bring him to justice. But the truth was…she was the only one who could do that.
Her fingers clenched into fists at her sides. The Bishop would certainly be brought to justice. Justice at the pointy end of a stake. And she would be there to drive it in.
“All right, young lady. You take care now.” He held the door wide and she and Seth filed through into the hallway. The highway patrolman was waiting by the front desk, a paper coffee cup in his hand. Officer Wallace met his gaze and shook his head, mouth grim. They both put their hats on and t
urned to go.
The nurse hurried over from the room across the hall. “Are you leaving?” she asked, pulling the chart off the outside of the door. “I need to have your uncle sign the release form before you go, honey.” She gestured for them to follow her to the desk.
Seth signed papers and spoke to the nurse in low tones while Jael stared blankly through the front window of the clinic’s lobby/waiting room. The sun was up now and glinted off the windshields of two cars parked out front. One of them was her uncle’s Toyota.
“Ready?” he was suddenly at her side, guiding her toward the doors with a hand on the small of her back. “Let’s go home.”
Home. A funny word. Add y to the end and it meant comfy or cozy, add ly and it meant plain and unattractive. Take away the people you love… it was an empty shell.