The Druid's Guise: The Complete Trilogy (The Druid's Guise Trilogy)

by Michael J Sanford

  Wyatt jumped at the voice, forgetting where he was for a moment. He thought he felt something brush against his leg. He curled into a ball as best he could in the cramped space. “Of course, I do. But we’ll have to wait until morning. Nurse Bonnie said I have to start group therapy tomorrow, but maybe I’ll get to come outside again.”

  Julia laughed. “You dope. Just wait five minutes.”

  He heard her scramble down from whatever furniture she used to climb up to the ceiling vent. Then, in the unseen room below his, he heard her call out. “Make that six minutes. Just wait six minutes. Then I’ll show you the real night.”

  Wyatt grasped at the vent, silently begging her not to go. Then he grunted at himself. She wasn’t going anywhere. Not unless she could walk through walls the same as she could see the future, and that point he still doubted. Perhaps if he could take her to the Realms she would have some true power, just as he did, but he knew that Earth didn’t allow for such wonder. If he could bring Athena to the Realms, then why couldn’t he bring Julia? Athena…his hand went to the pendant that was forever around his neck and he curled a fist around the small green stone set in ebony wood. Did he dare bring another to that world when all he had experienced there was loss and tragedy? And all at his cause. His fist tightened. As distracting as Julia was, and as much fun as he’d had following her around while she ‘saved the things,’ he knew he didn’t belong at Greenwood.

  “I have to get back,” he said to the silent amulet. “Take me back to her. I know I can save them.” Using his gift to take from the temple wall of the Gazarians proved to him that there was more to his power. He could become stronger. He could find Athena, find Rozen, and then he would destroy the Regency. He’d be a hero again.

  The deep clang of the door lock disengaging tore him from the reverie and brought panic to the forefront. The door let out a faint squeal as it opened, then a deeper note of metal on metal as it shut and relocked.

  Wyatt squirmed until his back was to the wall and he could look out across the floor of his small room. Bare feet padded toward him and then a grinning face silhouetted by disheveled blond hair appeared.

  “Hi, Dumb-name. That’s a terrible hiding place. I told you that before. Good thing it’s not midnight yet.”

  “How did you get in here?” Wyatt asked, wiggling out from under the bed as he did. Getting out was always more difficult than getting in, and Julia stifled a laugh when he became wedged between the bed frame and floor.

  “Don’t just laugh, pull,” he said, scowling up at the diminutive girl that seemed to tower over him in the moment.

  Julia grabbed hold of his arm and, with her help, Wyatt freed himself. He stood and rubbed at his hip, then turned back to Julia. She stood proudly, staring back at him with a smile that seemed impossibly large. Cartoonish even.

  “Well?” he said.

  Julia winked and grabbed hold of his hand. She led him to the door where she leaned against it and pressed an ear to the metal.

  “Are you going to tell me? Or is it another secret? I’m in the club, you know.”

  She hissed and held a finger to her lips. After a moment of silence, Julia produced a small plastic card from the pocket in her dress and held it to the keypad. The keypad emitted a subtle beep and the light around the keys turned from red to green. Following, the lock disengaged. Julia turned to Wyatt, replacing the card in her pocket.

  “It’s not a secret,” she whispered, “but now is when we have to be very, very quiet.”

  Wyatt nodded dumbly, deciding he would go along with the strange girl. What did he have to lose?

  Julia tugged open the door and led Wyatt into the dimly lit corridor. The door eased shut behind them with a metallic click that echoed in the silence. Wyatt held his breath. He hadn’t been at Greenwood long enough to know how the staff operated, but if it were anything like The Crook, and it had to be at least that secure, then he knew that some authority figure had to be nearby.

  He was about to voice his concern when Julia tugged sharply on his arm and began running. Had he wanted to, he could have remained in place and held her with him, but every part of him screamed that it would be his undoing. So, he followed after.

  They raced together down the tiled hallway, hand in hand, passing room after room of secured patients. Wyatt expected each one to burst open, or for a nurse to be around the next bend, and for their reckless escape to be thwarted. But the only sound he heard was their own muffled steps and his own heartbeat thundering quicker with every step.

  “If you don’t run faster,” Julia said, breathing heavily. “We won’t make it.”

  He renewed his focus and lowered his head into the charge to keep up with the fleet-footed child.

  “Faster,” she said again. “Five…four…”

  He put all his energy into his legs, but had to wonder how such a small girl could be so quick. And so sure of what they were doing.

  “Three…”

  “What. Are you. Counting?” he gasped as they leapt up two steps to a higher level of the hallway. He almost fell, but Julia’s tenacity kept him centered and balanced. There were no patient rooms along the hallway they now ran. And only small security lights illuminated the white-washed walls.

  “Two, one,” she said quickly as she pulled Wyatt sharply to the right.

  Together they shouldered into a door and spilled into a dark room. Wyatt hit the floor and Julia kicked the door shut behind them, banishing all light.

  Wyatt groaned through his panting and rolled into a sitting position. An unseen finger pressed to his lips and he held his breath despite needing the air more than he thought possible.

  After what seemed an eternity, Julia removed her finger, and Wyatt let out a gasp, quickly sucking in as much air as he could. He could hear Julia rummaging nearby, but couldn’t see even the tip of his own nose.

  “Where are we?” he said once his breathing evened out.

  “Aha!” Julia shouted as a burst of light lit up the cramped space.

  Wyatt shielded his eyes against the flashlight’s narrow beam as it caught him full in the face. “Hey,” he protested, now seeing only white, when before it had been only black.

  “Oops,” she said. “Accident.”

  Wyatt blinked and looked around once the stars faded from his vision. Shelves lined the three walls not occupied by the door, and each was filled with a motley assortment of supplies. A host of mop handles stuck out from one corner and a cart loaded high with toilet paper sat in another. If he stood, Wyatt would have been able to touch any two shelves at the same time. There was hardly enough room for both Julia and him.

  “Why are we in a closet? Was someone following us?” Wyatt hadn’t seen or heard any indication of that as they had run, but he couldn’t be sure. Keeping pace with Julia had stolen his full concentration.

  “I don’t know,” she said, scrunching up her face. “Maybe.” Then she shrugged, spun the flashlight around in her hand, and offered it to Wyatt. “Here. Shine it up at me.”

  He took it and stood. His legs felt like jelly, but the thrill of whatever they were doing, and about to do, was enough to shoot another course of adrenaline through his limbs.

  He followed her instructions and traced her path as she nimbly scaled one of the shelves. Hanging from the top, she pried open a rusted grate. It popped free with little effort and spun toward the floor, nearly striking Wyatt in the top of the head.

  “Oops,” she said. “Accident.”

  Wyatt smiled. “If you say so.”

  She turned and looked down at him. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  Before Wyatt could muster a witty retort, Julia crawled into the shadowed vent and disappeared. From the gloom she called back, “If you toss up the flashlight, I’ll hold it for you.”

  Wyatt ran the light along the border of the opening nestled against the ceiling. Then he looked down at himself and shook his head. “Uh, Julia.”

  “Dumb-name?”

  “I don’t
think I can fit. Or even climb up there. And can’t you call me by my real name? I’m in the club.”

  “Dumb-name?” she repeated.

  “No. Wyatt the Mighty.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” she replied. Her head popped out of the opening and she added, “Well, are you coming, Dumb-name?”

  Wyatt bit back a snarl. The brief burst of aggression was short-lived as he looked up the beaming face of the disheveled girl protruding from an air duct. He laughed, but that turned into another frown, this time at himself. Maybe it is a dumb name. If I were actually mighty, then my friends wouldn’t be—

  “No time, Dumb-name. We’re going to have to hurry now,” Julia said plainly as she wiggled back into the darkness.

  Wyatt could hear her crawling further away. He stared at the precarious shelf and the small opening. If he didn’t follow, she was going to leave him behind. He wasn’t even sure he could find the way back to his room, much less open the locked door.

  “Come on, Wyatt,” he whispered aloud. “Be mighty.”

  Partially renewed in his fervor, Wyatt began climbing the shelf. Luckily, it was bolted to the wall and proved far sturdier than it appeared. And once he was at eye level with the opening, he saw it was larger than it had first seemed. Though not by much. It took several efforts, and one near fall, but at last Wyatt crawled into the ductwork and chased after his elusive guide as best he could.

  He couldn’t crawl like it seemed Julia was doing, as his frame was far too large to fit in the shaft on his knees, so he resorted to dragging his lower body along. It was dark, stuffy, and hot. In a matter of moments Wyatt was bathed in sweat, which actually helped him slide along a fair bit easier, though it made it difficult to see anything.

  “Well, there you are,” he heard Julia’s voice call from directly below him.

  If she hadn’t had called out and forced him to pause in his advance, he would have likely fallen through the opening that she called up from. He squinted and wiped the sweat from his eyes. Julia was just a blurry shadow below him, but her wide smile seemed to glow in the gloom.

  “Toss down the flashlight,” she said.

  “Uh, I, well…it’s in the closet still. I couldn’t climb with it.”

  There was a pause and Wyatt held his breath.

  “How could you?” Julia shrieked. Small hands grabbed his collar and dragged him through the open vent and into the room below. Just as he cleared the vent, the hands released him and sent him sprawling, scattering a stack of wooden crates.

  Sharp pain bit at his shoulder and he rolled to his back, wondering if his arm was broken. Julia pressed her heel into his chest and glared down at him, looking like a giant. Instinctively, he squirmed against the hold, but she leaned into it. When she started grinding her heel into his ribs he ceased resisting.

  “Sorry?” he said.

  “You were tasked with one simple thing. And you couldn’t even do that, now could you? I’ll answer for you—no, you couldn’t. And just what did you hope to accomplish without a flashlight in this mire? And for that matter, why and how did you get out of your room? No—don’t answer why. I don’t actually care. And, frankly, I don’t much care how either.”

  She removed her foot and pointed down the unfinished hallway that Wyatt had been yanked into. Plastic sheeting covered most of the walls and a thick layer of dust covered everything else. It danced in the air amid a solitary beam of light, allowed in by some unseen window.

  “Do not make me drag you back to your room, miscreant. Now, right yourself, and get marching.”

  Wyatt winced at the pain in his shoulder as he stood and regarded the diminutive girl that stood as if she were six feet tall. Her expression didn’t waver as she held her gaze on Wyatt and continued pointing away from her.

  “Julia?” he asked slowly, fearing the worst.

  Julia’s scowl deepened. “Don’t tell me you’ve dragged that girl into this haphazard escapade as well. For if you did, by God, I will paint your backside a new color and see to it that you’ll never leave your—”

  “Mrs. Devereux?” he said, recognizing the forceful voice that had lectured him amid a brutal paddling. “Uh, ma'am?” he added, throwing in a shallow bow for good measure.

  Julia’s scowl didn’t lessen, but some of the tension vanished from her body. She gave a terse nod. “So, you can muster a bit of respect. I’m afraid it will do nothing to abolish the charges I shall lay against you, however, so don’t think you can sweet talk yourself out of this.”

  Julia began walking away from him, but stopped when Wyatt didn’t follow. She immediately walked up to him and reached for his ear, presumably to make good on her word to drag Wyatt back to his room. He spun out of the way and held up his hands in a combative stance. He had crawled through a dusty vent that was far too small for his body, driven on by the vague promises of his new ally. It would not be in vain. When Wyatt the Mighty starts a quest, he completes it. No matter the outcome. For a moment, he thought he heard Rozen calling his name, but as Julia lunged for him again, it brought him back to the present.

  “I’m done failing,” he said, dodging a small hand. He darted away from her, threw a phantom kick and crouched. “I don’t want to hurt you, Julia. You’re the only friend I have here. But we have to save the night, whatever that means, and that’s just what we’re going to do.”

  “What did you say?” Julia snarled back. She held her position, but was poised to strike, just as Wyatt was.

  “Julia and I are going to save the night. With or without you.”

  Julia twitched so violently that Wyatt thought she was going to hit the floor, but she maintained her balance, turned sharply, and started walking down the hallway.

  Wyatt stared after her, still ready to fight. Fifty feet away, Julia pulled back a section of plastic, revealing an open doorway. She stepped through, letting the plastic fall back into place behind her.

  Wyatt let his arms fall and glanced around the empty hallway, looking for an answer in the dust and darkness.

  Julia’s head popped back into the hallway a moment later. Cobwebs and dust had turned her hair into a nest of filth, but her smile shone clean. “You coming or what, Dumb-name? We have to hurry.” Then she vanished again.

  Wyatt smiled and hastened to catch up.

  Chapter Twenty

  IT TOOK EVERYTHING Wyatt had to keep up with Julia as she led the way through the abandoned upper floors of Greenwood Hospital. She took a circuitous route through the clutter, sometimes crawling under laden tables, and other times clambering over furniture long forgotten. Each of her steps was sure and faultless, as if she’d taken the same journey a hundred times before.

  It reminded Wyatt of the first time he had ventured into Hagion and had been forced to chase after Rozen in the dark of the Shadow Forest after she had saved him from a fern wolf. Remembering her sternness brought with it memories of her anguish and sorrow as the Regents dragged her away from him as the Temple of the Mother crumbled to dust, along with a large portion of Ouranos—a city that had trusted him. But every time the haunting voices of his failure reared up to taunt him, Julia would call back to him in some nonsensical manner, lighting a smile on his face and sending the regret to the shadows.

  He was thoroughly exhausted and so covered in grime that he worried would never wash off when Julia halted before a metal door at the top of a particularly steep set of stairs. She turned back to him and he flinched, seeing her smile replaced for a frown.

  “This is the most secret of important secrets,” she said.

  He exhaled and nodded. “Well, I’m in the club. You can trust me. Promise.” Athena’s voice shouted in his mind, echoing the words spoken as she had cradled the slain form of Tug.

  Julia grabbed his face between her hands, once again shaking the voices from his head. He looked at her dirty face and let out an involuntary sigh. He had never felt so at peace. He knew it didn’t make a bit of sense, but there was no denying how the unpredictable girl
could make the past vanish with a simple gesture.

  She stared into his eyes for a moment, then nodded. “All right,” she said. “Now, to save the night!”

  She spun and kicked the door open. A blast of cold air assaulted them, chilling the sweat on Wyatt’s face, but forcing a deep breath of renewal. He had been breathing dust for so long he had forgotten how good clean air could taste.

  Julia snared his hand in hers and together they walked out onto the rooftop. The wind was sharp and lashed at them, biting with frosted fangs. They stepped closer to each other.

  A line of industrial air conditioning units hummed softly and were the only things that seemed out of place amid the gray scene. They sat clustered together in a corner, while the rest of the roof was wide open.

  Julia led him to the corner furthest from the air conditioners to where the mechanical mumble couldn’t sour the calm serenity of the night. The edge of Greenwood’s roof was lined with a short wall that climbed into decorative peaks at two opposing ends. From the ground, it had appeared as if the hospital had a pitched roof, but standing on it now, Wyatt saw it to be one of many illusions the hospital fostered.

  The corner Julia led him to had long ago crumbled, a large section of thick stone fallen inward. She danced over to it and pulled aside a stained sheet that hung from the peak of the mound, revealing a crude cave. She turned back with a grin and bid Wyatt follow her into the darkness with a wave of her hand.

  Wyatt had to shuffle in on his knees, and as he did the space exploded with warm light. Julia swung a lantern around the interior, chasing away the shadows and revealing a plethora of treasures.

  Wyatt gasped without shame. “What is all this?”

  Julia set the lantern on a ledge of broken stone. “This is our clubhouse,” she said with obvious pride.

  Wyatt picked up a toy soldier and looked at the rest of the knick-knacks that were piled around them. “Where’d you get all this?”

  Julia shrugged. “Found it. Borrowed it. I don’t know. Are you hungry?”

  “You have food in here, too?”