Fort Morgan (24 page)

“
Friend?” the surgeon
asked.

“
Her husband had a bone
marrow transplant,” Jill said.

“
I’ve heard,” the surgeon
said.

“
I’m Jill,” she
said.

The surgeon nodded but didn’t introduce
himself. He came around the side of the bed to look at the machines
tracking Heather’s vitals.

“
She came through well,”
the surgeon said. “It was touch and go for a while.”

The surgeon nodded his head but didn’t look
at Jill.

“
She may have a bad scar,”
the surgeon said. “That’s, if she. . .”

Rather than finish his statement, the
surgeon left Heather’s bedside. Jill grimaced at his back. The
curtain moved, and another nurse stood in the gap between the
sides. She was middle-aged and plump. The smile on the nurse’s face
was bright and kind.

“
He can be a little
abrupt,” this nurse said. “I’m Linda. I’m Heather’s Recovery
nurse.”

“
Jill,” she
said.

“
Nice to meet you,” the
nurse said.

“
Her
husband. . .”

“
Yes,” the nurse said. “I
was just on his ward to pass along how Heather was
doing.”

Jill nodded and looked at Heather.

“
She looks worse than she
is,” Linda said. “Her vitals are good, and the operation was a
success.”

Jill nodded but didn’t look at the
nurse.

“
The bullet missed her
spine,” the nurse said. “In fact, she was very lucky to not have a
spinal injury. The nurses were saying that she seemed to rally back
on the table.”

The nurse looked at Jill.

“
Is there anything you
want to know?” the nurse asked.

“
Will she survive this?”
Jill asked. “Is her mind okay? Why did they shoot her?”

“
I don’t think anyone
knows the answer to any of those questions,” Linda, the nurse,
said. “I’m sorry. You just have to love her.”

Jill’s head jerked up with surprise.

“
What did I say?” Linda,
the nurse, said.

“
You just have to love
her,” Jill said. “My friend Delphie said that before she left for
New York.”

“
The psychic?” Linda, the
nurse, asked. “You’re a friend of hers?”

Jill nodded.

“
She’s amazing,” Linda,
the nurse, said. “If Delphie told you to love, that’s exactly what
will work.”

The nurse smiled at Jill.

“
If you’re a friend of
Delphie’s, you’re a friend of mine,” the nurse said. “Now, sit
right down there. “

The nurse pointed to a chair wedged between
the bed and the wall. Jill sat down and set her purse under her
chair.

“
Can I take her hand?”
Jill asked as she sloughed off her heavy jacket.

“
You sure can,” the nurse
said. “Here, I’ll move this.”

The nurse unclipped the heart rate monitor
from Heather’s right hand. She re-clipped it to the left. Jill took
Heather’s hand with hers.

“
How ‘bout some water?”
Linda, the nurse, said.

“‘
I’d love that,” Jill
said with a smile.

“
Delphie always says that
hard times deserve clean water,” Linda, the nurse, said. “I’ll
bring a bottle.”

“
Sounds perfect,” Jill
said.

The nurse gave her another nod and left the
bed. Jill put her hand on Heather’s chest. She felt Heather’s
strong pulse of power. The nurse returned with a bottle of water.
She gave it to Jill and left the area. Jill put the bottle of water
between her arms and held Heather’s hand again.

“
Heather,” she
whispered.

She felt her own healing power rise and
begin to flow into Heather’s hands. She was just starting her
breathing when she felt as she’d jumped feet first into a deep
pool. She closed her eyes to clear her head. When she opened her
eyes, she was standing in a golden hall. The man Heather had called
Zeus was sitting on a throne with Hera at his side. Dressed to the
nines, Tanesha and Fin were standing in the middle of the giant
golden hall. As if to protect her, Perses, Jill’s father, stood
near Tanesha.

“
No,” Zeus
said.

As if she was about to be hit, Tanesha’s
shoulders pressed back, her feet set in the ground, and her spine
lengthened. She opened her mouth.

“
And who are you?” Zeus’s
words cut off Tanesha.

Jill noticed for the first time that the
court was full of people and creatures when they gasped in unison.
Zeus pulled his hand back and threw a lightning bolt in her
direction. Jill raised her hand and knocked it aside. She took a
step forward only to realize that, like Tanesha, she was now
wearing a floor-length velvet gown. Her gown was royal blue.
Tanesha grinned at Jill as she walked toward her.

“
That is my daughter,”
Perses growled at Zeus.

“
How was I to know?” Zeus
asked. He shrugged. “She’s an intruder to my court.”

“
She’s my daughter,”
Perses said.

“
Sorry,” Zeus shrugged.
“Any idea why that didn’t work?”

“
You’ve been healed by
her,” Perses said. “You cannot kill the one who heals
you.”

“
When was I healed by
that. . .” Zeus started. “Why, she’s human! You have a
human wife?”

Zeus shook his head.

“
I love human-titan
weddings,” Zeus said. “So much ceremony. So much cake. Was I
invited?”

“
You were.”

“
Why didn’t I go?” Zeus
asked.

Perses’ eyes shot daggers at Hera. She
caught his look and sighed.

“
Husband?” Hera
asked.

Zeus turned to look at her.

“
We should talk,” Hera
said.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning — 5:35 a.m.
New York City, New York

“
Daddy?” Noelle
asked.

Her voice was filled with panic.

“
I’m here,” Aden
said.

He clicked on the bedside lamp. She had been
in a drugged sleep when he got in so he’d lay down on top of her
covers. She rolled onto her side. Her arms went around his
waist.

“
You’re here,” Noelle
said.

“
We were locked in,” Aden
said. “We left Denver the moment we were able to get
out.”

“
And Mommy?” Noelle
asked.

The word “Mommy” always confused Aden. He
opened his mouth to respond that Noelle’s mom was in prison before
his brain kicked in to remind him that Sandy was Noelle’s
“Mom.”

“
She’s with Sissy,” Aden
said. “Delphie too.”

“
And how
is. . .” Tears fell down Noelle’s face. “I dreamed she
was dead.”

“
She just got out of
emergency surgery,” Aden said.

“
She’s not dead?” Noelle
asked.

“
It was touch and go,”
Aden said. He and Sandy had agreed to be honest with Noelle. “But
you know Sissy.”

“
She’s really stubborn,”
Noelle said.

“
I was going to say
‘tough,’” Aden said.

“
That, too,” Noelle
said.

Her head nodded against Aden’s waist, and he
looked down at her. MJ and Bestat had taken Noelle to see Sissy
last night. Noelle had gotten so upset that the doctor had sedated
her.

“
Do you remember seeing
her last night?” Aden asked.

He felt Noelle’s head nod against him.

“
She seemed
so. . .” Noelle stopped talking.

“
Well, according to Sandy,
she’s in recovery,” Aden said. “The doctor is hopeful that they’ve
found all the places she was leaking.”

“
Why did she leak so
much?” Noelle asked.

Her voice was sleepy, but her arms held on
tight to his middle. He closed his eyes before thinking of a way to
respond.

“
The bullets hit her
ribs,” Aden looked down at Noelle and she nodded. “The little
pieces of bone went everywhere.”

“
I guess that makes
sense,” Noelle said.

“
They said what we’d
expect them to say,” Aden said.

“
Sissy is healthy and
strong,” Noelle said.

“
She’s in excellent
health,” Aden said.

“
They said that crap when
we were there,” Noelle said.

“
Crap?” Aden
asked.

“
Sorry,” Noelle said with
a sigh. “Artists swear a lot.”

“
Does Noelle Norsen swear
a lot?” Aden asked.

“
Sometimes,” Noelle said
with a snot-filled laugh.

Aden held her tighter. He felt his shirt
getting wet from Noelle’s tears. Knowing his daughter, he didn’t
speak. He held on tight until she came up for air.

““
I don’t like that
ballerina.” Noelle’s voice was bitter.

“
What ballerina?” Aden
asked. He stroked her sleep-rumpled hair.

“
That one Ivan was going
to screw,” Noelle said.

Aden leaned back to look at Noelle. Her left
eyeball looked up at him, and she shrugged.

“
Sorry, Daddy,” Noelle
said. “I’m too upset to use polite words.”

Aden had to look away to keep from
grinning.

“
He was going to screw
her!” Noelle said.

“
I’m sure that’s true,”
Aden said.

Noelle snorted.

“
According to Sandy, Ivan
is quite popular with the ladies,” Aden said.

“
I’m sure he is!” Noelle
said.

Noelle became quiet. After a few minutes,
Aden looked down to see if she was asleep. She was staring straight
ahead.

“
What’s going on?” Aden
asked.

“
When everything awful
happened, you know, on the sidewalk?” Noelle asked.

Aden waited for her to continue.

“
The ballerina screamed at
the top of her lungs. The guy shot at Ivan and Sissy and then
me.
Bang-bang!
and
spssh
.
The bullets sprayed pieces of rock all over Ivan. And the ballerina
screamed, you know. And then,
bang-bang
and Sissy went ‘gagagah’
and fell down. And the ballerina was screaming, screaming at the
top of her lungs! Then
bang-bang
. But MJ turned me around,
and the bullets went into his clothes.
Thump, thump!
. And the ballerina was
screaming. And the guards came out and ran after the guy who shot
us. And the ballerina kept screaming. And MJ dropped me down so he
could help Sissy. I held Sissy’s head, you know?”

“
And the ballerina kept
screaming?” Aden asked.

“
Yeah,” Noelle said. “From
like way over there.”

“
She wasn’t in any
danger,” Aden said. He held onto her shoulder.

“
Uh-huh,” Noelle
said.

Noelle fell silent again.

“
What is it?” Aden finally
asked.

“
Why did Ivan say he was
Sissy’s husband?” Noelle asked.

Awakening the
dragon

“
Um,” Aden
said.

“
I mean, he planned on
screwing the stupid ballerina,” Noelle said. “Did you know she
didn’t stop screaming until MJ told her to knock it off? Ms. Behur
joked that she was glad she and Ivan didn’t. . . you
know. . .”

“
Screw?” Aden asked with a
grin.

“
Right,” Noelle said. “Why
did she say that?”

“
She probably thought the
ballerina would be loud,” Aden said.

“
Oh,” Noelle said. Aden
glanced at his daughter. As was typical, Noelle was so focused on
her own puzzle that she ignored the whole loud thing. “So after
Sissy died, and the paramedics gave her shocks, and Ivan said he
was Sissy’s husband, and Ivan got in the ambulance with Sissy, and
the ambulance took off.
Whirrrr!
”

Noelle imitated the noise the ambulance
made.

“
She was still screaming?”
Aden asked.

“
Yeah,” Noelle said. “MJ
slapped her and told her to stop screaming. And you know what she
did?”

“
She got mad?” Aden
asked.

“
How’d you know?” Noelle
asked. Aden shrugged. “She started yelling about Ivan being Sissy’s
husband and MJ being a jerk and the guards not saving her and
everything. MJ was mad. He grabbed her elbow and pushed her into
the limo. When the door closed, everybody — you know like people
watching on the street and the guards and stuff — they
applauded.”

Noelle shook her head.

“
Sounds like it’s good
that she didn’t stay,” Aden said.

“
I guess,” Noelle said.
“If everything awful didn’t happen, she’d be here now.”

“
There’s a thought,” Aden
said.

“
Makes me sad,” Noelle
said. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Sissy and
me. . . She was going to stay in here last night so we
could watch cartoons before she had to practice. We figured Ivan
wouldn’t get up so super early. Ms. Behur’s housekeeper brings us
breakfast in bed. Sissy gets to eat waffles and eggs and bacon on
Saturdays. We were going to eat and watch cartoons
and. . .”