Forged by Greed (41 page)

Logan looked sharply at her, taken aback by her words. “What?”

Erik cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t think
Jatred is dating anyone right now.”

“I saw them together, and they didn’t exactly look like two buddies.”

“What?” Logan asked again.

“Oh, stop saying
‘what’
.
It gets on my nerves.” She shook her head at Logan, annoyed, and then turned to
face Erik. “I know what I saw. And
you
weren’t there.”

Erik opened his mouth to say something, but the floor under their
feet swayed. The crowd around them burst into shrieks and wails. The three of
them huddled together on the floor by the wall.

“Aftershock!” Penelope cried, pressing into Erik’s strong,
protective body.

Logan crawled toward the nearest door, managed to stand up, and
opened it. Savannah was on her knees by the bed, holding onto her mother. He
couldn’t see past the screen, but he heard a man screaming, and a few other
people attempting to calm him down.

“Logan,” Savannah gasped, tears streaming down her cheeks.

He walked cautiously to her. As soon as he crouched down by Savannah,
the shaking ceased.

“What was that? Another earthquake? Again?” She wiped her tears with
the back of her hand.

“An aftershock. Fortunately not strong.”
 
Logan looked her mother, who was fully awake
now. She looked around in confusion.

Erik and Penelope threw the door open. A tense expression on their faces
relaxed when they spotted Logan.

“Hey,” Erik said in the general direction of Logan, Savannah, and
her mother.

Savannah’s mom looked from Penelope to Erik, and then at her
daughter and Logan.

“Mom. We gotta get you out of here.” Savannah grasped her hand. “What
if there is another aftershock, much stronger?”

“Calm down, honey. I’m fine.” The woman touched Savannah’s cheek and
asked, her voice filled with concern, “Is everyone okay?” She slowly sat up,
wincing. “Penelope, what are you doing here? Where are your folks?”

“I can’t reach them. The cell phones aren’t working now. But Mom
managed to call me right after the earthquake… I mean, the first earthquake
today, and they were fine.”

“There should be a pay-phone somewhere at the hospital,” Savannah’s
mother advised. “Logan, where are
your
parents?

“They’re okay, Mrs.
Robinson
. Dad said you were hurt and Savannah
brought you here, so I…” He shot Savannah an uncertain look.

“I’ll try to call my mom again.” Penelope pulled out her cell phone.

There was a commotion in the room. The young nurse, who brought the
medication in before, walked hurriedly past them. A doctor followed close
behind, his shoulders hunched. A name tag on his white coat read, “Ronald
Harris, MD”. There were hollows under his cheekbones and deep creases around
his mouth and eyes.

A moment later another young nurse, hurried in, her face flushed.
She pushed a medical cart with resuscitation equipment. Savannah’s mother and
the teens around her watched in silence the rushed parade of the medical
personnel.

“It looks like someone had a heart attack,” Mrs. Robinson said
quietly. Her eyes were large with fear. “This is Doctor Harris. I’ve known him
for years.”

“Mom, do you think you can leave the hospital? It’s so good to see
you… back to normal. How are you feeling?” Savannah tried to sound composed,
but her voice came out squeaky.

“We can go. We probably should let them know at the nurses’ station.
And one of the doctors might need to recheck my condition.” The woman winced
and gingerly swung her legs off the bed, sitting at the edge of the mattress.

CHAPTER 46

Human World, November 18, early
evening.

Jasmira looked around.
He really
didn’t remember me. And he was so furious. But why?
 
I’ve never seen him that angry before. What
did Crystal do to him?
She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and
dialed Penelope’s number. “Darn, no service.” She looked at the little screen
and sighed.

“Jasmira.” Doctor Bigbee walked up to her. She was still sitting on
the floor. He peered into her face, placing one hand on her shoulder. “Your
grandma will be fine. We are taking her out of the room to get her hip in the
cast.”

“She’ll complain throughout the procedure. You’ll see.” She smiled
and stood up.

He made a noise between a grunt and a short laugh. The floor under
their feet rolled. Screams of surprise and horror echoed around them.

“Aftershock.” The doctor grabbed Jasmira’s arm and pulled her down to
the floor. “Stay down.”

A nurse was hurriedly stowing two elderly patients under a sturdy
desk. She squeezed herself in too. A few feet away on the floor, a young mother
huddled three small children to her chest. An older man, most likely the kids’
grandfather, knelt next to them, wrapping his bony arms around the mother and
the children. Sensing the adults’ panic, the kids started to wail.

Some patients stood plastered to the frames of the opened doors,
looking around in horror. A frail elderly woman knelt on the floor by the wall.
She had a dark-brown rosary woven through her fingers and her skinny, veined
hands were clasped together. The woman’s eyes were squeezed shut, her lips
feverishly moving.

Jasmira, lying on the floor, watched the old lady in awe.
Maybe I should pray to my Goddess too? Yeah,
right.

“You may, if you think she can spare some resources to help us,” Doctor
Bigbee said with his mind. “Sorry, you were practically shouting that thought.”

“Oh,” Jasmira said. Her eyes didn’t leave the old woman’s wrinkled
face.

“Don’t worry, the hospital building is under both Goddesses’
protection. That’s why we didn’t evacuate after the main earthquake,” the
doctor murmured.

Jasmira gasped, looking at him. “Crystal’s protection? Am I safe
here?”

“Not to worry. This is considered a neutral territory. Anyone can be
a patient—any Shifter or human.”

“How come humans don’t question the fact that just in this building
alone there is not much evidence of the earthquake? Look outside; it’s a war
zone out there.” Her thoughts went back to her broken house, the destruction of
the structure, and the worst of it—her grandmother’s injury.
Why didn’t Amber protect us? We could have
died. Doesn’t she care about me, the Race’s future Queen? And Grannie! She’s
still the acting Queen since Dad’s death. The plane crash… Amber did that. And
now she didn’t protect us. But why? Doesn’t she need me for her sick, twisted
strategy?”
This time Jasmira kept a protective wall around her thoughts.

“I don’t know what the humans think. Let’s not worry about that
now,” Doctor Bigbee answered.

The shaking stopped as quickly as it started. Everyone, as if on
cue, looked at each.

“It’s over,” Jasmira whispered. She heard a few people repeating the
same words.

Doctor Bigbee nodded slowly and asked Jasmira if she was okay. He
told her to sit by the wall and wait a few moments while he checked on the
others. The nurses were helping the patients and the visitors, trying to calm
everyone down. Two other doctors in white coats hurried down the hall. They
disappeared into rooms opposite one another. Each of them emerged a couple of minutes
later after checking on the patients, and went on to the next rooms.

Jasmira scrambled off the floor and pressed her back to the wall. She
squealed in horror, when someone grabbed her arm from the side. Her heart
leaped up to her throat.

“Are you okay?” Jatred’s sapphire eyes bore into hers. He let go of
her arm.

“J,” she whispered. Her stomach did a flip, and she instantly forgot
about what had happened between them earlier. “You… you came back?”

He blew a frustrated breath and slowly blinked. “Look, I really
don’t know what’s going on with me. It’s true that I can’t remember you, but I
don’t want to be a jerk. I feel so angry all the time, like there is something
inside me that makes me this way. The earthquake came so suddenly, and I
thought that you might be hurt.”

Jasmira didn’t comment on Jatred’s declaration. She was afraid to
say or do anything, in case it would upset him again.

Jatred swore quietly and looked to the side. He chewed on his lip,
and a deep frown settled between his brows. Jasmira kept watching him in
silence, unsure of how to act. He turned his head to peek back at her. He
lifted his hand and took a ringlet of her shiny, jet-black hair between his
fingers, as if inspecting it. One corner of his mouth slightly lifted, his eyes
transfixed on the strand of hair.

She glanced between his hand and his face.

Long curly hair dancing in
the wind; soft black coils bouncing, mimicking a rhythm of a running horse
.
No, not a horse… a running
girl. Laughing and running from me; turning to look if I’m chasing her. Where
did I see that?
Jatred dug the heels of his hands into his eyes and grunted
in frustration.
Who…
but who?

“What it is?” she sounded anxious.

“Damn.” He hissed, exasperated.

“J… Jatred, what did you see? What did you remember?”

He shook his head and gritted his teeth. “Are you okay? You didn’t
get hurt in the earthquake, right?”

“No. I’m fine. Doctor Bigbee is taking me back to Grandma. But…” She
stopped herself, not wanting to upset him further. Her mind was racing, trying
to come up with something to make him stay, to make him remember.

“Good. I need to go and check on my uncle.” Jatred turned and
hurried away.

CHAPTER 47

Human World, November 18, early
evening.

Penelope’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and looked
at the screen. There was a text from Jasmira: “Don’t know when u get this if
ever but I’m tryin. Saw J he can’t remember me. Where r u?”

“The cell towers must be working again!” Penelope shouted. She
quickly typed a response, which informed Jasmira that she would try to call
right away.

“Your phone’s working?” Erik sounded incredulous. He pulled his cell
phone out as well and dialed Jatred’s number. “Hey,” he said excitedly, when he
heard his friend’s voice. “You okay? Where are you, bro?”

Penelope was already talking with Jasmira, shooting glances at Erik,
whose voice drowned out all the other sounds around. She slapped him on the
arm, pointing to her phone.

“What?” he mouthed silently.

“I think Erik’s on the phone with Jatred,” she said to the phone,
her eyes on her boyfriend. “I don’t know. I will ask him later. Where are you?
Quickly, before we lose the connection.”

Speaking frantically, Jasmira told her friend about Jousenne’s hip
injury, the damage her house endured in the earthquake, and her encounter with
Jatred.
 
At the same time, Erik heard Jatred’s
recount of his climbing experience that morning, visiting badly-hurt Estelle at
the hospital, and running into Jasmira. Jatred didn’t go into as many details
as Jasmira did. He only related the happenings of the day in a bullet point
report style.

Penelope waved madly to Erik. She covered the receiver with her hand
and said, “Get him in here, before we leave the hospital. Now.” She said a few
more words to Jasmira and ended the call.

Erik grimaced but obeyed and asked Jatred to meet them by the front
entrance to the hospital.

“Penelope,” Savannah called out. She walked out of the hospital, supporting
her mother. Logan held the older woman on the other side.

“You’re leaving. Where are you going? Home?” Penelope asked.

“We need to check on our house. I hope it’s not too broken,”
Savannah said. “I got my mom’s car just around the corner. Do you guys need a
ride?”

“I don’t think we all can fit in.” Penelope shook her head. “It’s
okay. We’re waiting for someone here anyway.”

“Sure. You guys take care.” Savannah nodded to Penelope and Erik.

“Call me if you need anything,” Logan said to them.

“Sure, man. Same here.” Erik bumped fists with Logan.

Large, fluffy snowflakes were peacefully dancing down from the dark
sky. The temperature outside started to drop, and soon even the Winter Shifters
noticed how much colder it became. The falling snow became denser, covering the
broken city in a thick white blanket. Most of the lights were out due to the
earthquake. St. Andrew’s hospital was equipped within several powerful
generators, which also fueled some of the street lanterns. The city was fully
awake, though; the repair crews, police patrols, emergency vehicles, and large
groups of civilians added to the peculiar scenery of destruction.