Fort Morgan (46 page)

“
You made it,” Sissy
said.

He smiled at her and looked back at Delphie
and Sandy.

“
I had meeting,” Ivan said
and realized he was speaking in pidgin English. He
swallowed.

“
We heard,” Sandy said.
“It sounded like a real brawl.”

“
How. . .?” Ivan
started.

“
Bestat called a minute
ago,” Sandy said. “Plus, Nadia’s been by.”

“
How did it turn out?”
Sissy asked.

“
Nothing,” Ivan said. “All
this worry and fuss and. . .”

Ivan shrugged his shoulders.

“
I should be grateful,
but. . .”

Sissy held her hand out, and he took it. He
smiled at her beaming face.

“
How are you?” Ivan
asked.

“
High,” she said with a
snort. “I can see why Charlie got addicted to this stuff. It’s
pretty awesome.”

“
Do you think you will
be. . .” Ivan started.

She shook her head.

“
It’s just for the trip,”
Sandy said.

She gestured to Delphie, and they started to
leave the room.

“
You have the call
button?” Sandy asked Sissy. She held it up. Looking at Ivan, Sandy
added, “Just in case she needs something.”

Sandy hugged Ivan and kissed his cheek.

“
What. . .?” he
asked.

“
Welcome to the family,”
Sandy said. “We’re hopping a ride back to Denver with some friends.
We need to go find them to tell them we’re ready to go.”

Delphie gave Ivan a broad grin, and they
disappeared. He stared after them.

“
Are you all right?” Sissy
asked.

“
I. . .” Ivan
turned back to her. “That woman unnerves me every time.”

“
Sandy?” Sissy
asked.

“
The Oracle,” Ivan said.
He shook himself. “She always looks like she’s. . . I
don’t know.”

“
I think she looks like
the Cheshire Cat,” Sissy said.

“
From
Alice in Wonderland
?” Ivan
asked.

Sissy smiled, and Ivan knelt down to her.
They shared an awkward moment before he leaned forward to kiss her.
Like last night, Sissy felt as if every cell in her body was
singing out loud. Her heart raced. She had to pull back to take a
breath.

“
Do you think that will
change?” Sissy asked.

“
God, I hope not,” Ivan
said.

He grinned, and she returned his smile. For
a moment, they looked at each other. Sissy lifted a shoulder to
shrug, and clutched her side in pain.

“
Feels kind of weird,” she
said.

“
It’s different,” he
nodded. “We’re different.”

“
Feels kind of awesome,”
she said.

Her hand hadn’t left her side. His fingers
brushed her arm.

“
Are you in pain?” Ivan
asked.

“
Yes,” Sissy said, with a
slight nod. “But, as you know, I am accustomed to pain.”

“
Every dancer’s best
friend and worst enemy,” he said.

She smiled at his oft-repeated saying. He
blushed.

“
I cannot go with you,”
Ivan said. “Not today. I will be in Denver — Tuesday, Wednesday,
this week — then back to New York. Every week is
different.”

“
We’ll just play it by
ear,” Sissy said. “The plane trip and getting settled will be a lot
for me. I’ll probably sleep until Tuesday anyway.”

Her voice was positive and strong. He knew
her face well enough to know that she was scared and sad. He gave
her a partial smile and she nodded.

“
I feel
very. . .” Sissy started. She took a breath and then
nodded. “. . . young, I guess, today. Are you sure
you. . .?”

“
Yes,” Ivan said. “That
is, if you. . .”

“
Oh, yes,” she said. “Of
course.”

“
I’m glad,” he said, and
she smiled. “I brought with me. . . I don’t know, I guess
it’s silly, but. . .”

“
What?” Sissy
asked.

“
I wanted to give you
something personal of mine, something important,” Ivan said. “I
want you to have something to remind you that I am rooting for
you.”

He swallowed hard and nodded.

“
That I love you,” he
said. “It’s not very. . .”

“
What is it?” Sissy
asked.

“
My mother’s wedding
ring,” Ivan said. “It’s a ring from the time of communism, so it’s
not very special or fancy. It’s certainly not a big American ring,
with many diamonds and beautiful things you deserve. But it was
hers. Just a band, really, and. . .”

Sissy held her hand out. His hand slipped
into the front pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a thin band, and
he placed it. She smiled.

“
It’s perfect,” she said.
“Which finger, do you think?”

“
In Russia, we would use
the right for marriage,” he said.

“
It’s the opposite here,”
Sissy said.

He nodded. She slipped the ring onto her
right hand. Much to her surprise, it fit perfectly. He smiled.

“
It’s perfect,” Sissy
said. “I will cherish it. Thank you.”

“
Belongs there,
obviously,” Ivan said.

“
I got. . .”
Sissy looked up at him. “I guess I was thinking the same
thing.”

“
You were?” Ivan’s face
flushed.

“
Sandy gave me Dad’s
ring,” Sissy said. “Not his wedding ring, because that’s most
likely a biohazard and would kill you outright. She gave me the
ring that Dad bought when he adopted Sandy. He called it his
commitment ring. He wore it to show his commitment to Sandy and,
later, Charlie and me.”

“
It sounds very special,”
Ivan said. “Are you sure you would like me to have it?”

“
Sandy agreed, too, and
Charlie doesn’t care,” Sissy nodded. “We thought it might show my
commitment to you, or really
our
commitment, because I’ll need Sandy’s help
and. . .”

Ivan’s face flushed red and his eyes welled
with tears. She took the ring off her watch band and set it in his
hand. He looked at the ring for a moment. It looked as if it were
the same material as his mother’s wedding ring. He glanced at Sissy
and put the ring on his left finger.

“
You don’t want to do your
right?” Sissy asked.

“
I’ve been wedded to you
since the moment we met,” Ivan said.

The ring was big on his thin finger, so he
put it on his middle. He glanced at Sissy, and she beamed at him.
He gave her a peck on her lips.

“
So it
is
true,” a woman’s voice came from
the door.

“
Kate,” Sissy said in a
whisper.

Ivan glanced at Sissy and started to turn
around.

“
No!
” Sissy screamed.

Ivan was in the process of turning toward
her when Kate plunged a sharp-pointed steak knife into his back.
The knife landed near his shoulder blade with the tip pointed down.
Screaming as loud as her injured lungs would allow, Sissy mashed on
her nurse-call button. Ivan’s body slumped forward onto Sissy’s
lap. His face planted in her skirt, between her legs.

“
That’s what you did to
me!” Kate said. Her hands were still on the knife handle. “Stabbed
me in the back. And now you’ve ruined my life,
and. . .”

Sandy rounded the edge of the door. She
jumped onto Kate’s back with all that she had, but Kate was taller,
stronger, and furious. Kate easily sloughed off Sandy, who fell to
the ground. Kate reached for the knife to seal Ivan’s fate by
pulling the knife out.

“
No
!” Sissy screamed.

Sandy set her stance and attacked again. She
raised her left foot and smashed her sneaker into Kate’s knee. Kate
stumbled, and her hand pushed the knife further in. The knife
jammed against his ribs. Sandy smashed her knee into Kate’s face.
Gathering her strength, Sissy wrenched her wheelchair, and Ivan,
away from Kate’s reach.

Sandy’s face was calm and her moves
calculated. She stepped over Kate’s shoulders. Sandy squeezed her
knees together to cut off Kate’s air supply. Kate scratched at
Sandy’s knees. Running footsteps moved in the hallway outside the
room. Kate had almost passed out when MJ lifted her away from Kate.
Sandy screamed with rage as he swung her away from Kate. Colin
Hargreaves’s massive foot pinned Kate to the ground.

“
Help! MJ! Help!” Sissy
yelled.

She had placed her hands around the knife
blade to stem the flow of blood from Ivan’s back. Her breath was
ragged, and her bandages had bled through. She began to cough up
blood.

“
Help
!” Sissy’s final help came out in a fluid filled
mumble.

Her head slumped forward.

“
Sissy?” Ivan whispered.
“Please, God.”

He passed out.

Sorrow and
friendship

Friday afternoon — 4:13 p.m. ET

New York City, New York

Abi had been crying so hard that Fin heard
her sorrow seventeen hundred miles away. He slipped out of class
and transported himself to her side. He found her curled up in a
ball in the middle of a bed in one of the bedrooms in Bestat
Behur’s apartment. He got in bed beside her and put her head on his
lap. She wrapped her arms around his legs. He’d only been there a
moment when the door opened and one of Ms. Behur’s security guards
looked in on them.

“
Prince Finegal,” the
security officer said with a slight bow. “Welcome. Pardon my
intrusion.”

Fin smiled and nodded. He waited for the
door to close to shake his head. He’d much rather have the nosey,
clueless intrusions of humans than these all-knowing dragon’s
priest-guards. He shivered a bit before turning his whole attention
to Abi.

“
What is it, my love?” he
whispered.

“
S-s-s-issy,” Abi said
through her tears. “And her b-b-beloved.”

Unlike most women, fairies included, Abi
lacked any sense of sentimentality. She was a high-ranking General
in the Fairy Corps. She rarely cried.

“
What has happened?” Fin
whispered.

“
That horrible Katia
stabbed Ivan and Sissy. . .” Abi began sobbing. He opened
his mouth to say something, but she continued. “I was so focused on
making sure Ivan wasn’t badly injured and didn’t die that I
neglected to do a thing for the poor girl, and she. . .
and she. . .”

Abi started crying so hard that words were
impossible. Fin caressed her hair and held on to her. Closing his
eyes, he sensed her body, mind, and heart. Abi was exhausted,
pregnant, and heartbroken. He leaned down to kiss the top of her
head.

“
I know you did whatever
could be done,” Fin said, with the words that were usually calming
to her.

Today, they had no impact
at all. Abi kept crying. His first inclination was to offer her
sage advice to fix her pain. But after more than two thousand years
of loving this woman, he knew that she did
not
want him to “fix” her. Instead,
he focused his attention on surrounding her with love. After a
while, she began talking again.

“
You should have seen
them,” Abi said. “They were like Romeo and Juliet — so in love, so
fresh in their discovery of each other. It was like us, I guess.
They’d know each other for a lifetime and had only just discovered
their incredible love for each other.”

“
Powerful moment,” Fin
said.

“
And now. . .”
Abi’s words were cut off by her sobs. “I couldn’t do. . .
I couldn’t do anything. . .”

“
The child is dead?” Fin
asked.

“
Not yet,” Abi said. “He
is in surgery, and she waits in the in-between for him to join
her.”

“
They are bound to each
other?” Fin asked.

“
Like us,” Abi’s head
nodded against his leg. “God, poor Sandy. She looked so grim when I
left. I hated to go, but. . .”

Abi gestured to the baby.

“
You’re exhausted,” Fin
said.

Abi nodded against his leg.

“
Is there anything we can
do?” Abi’s voice was so desperate that Fin had to smile. This
precious fairy, now his wife, was capable of such tremendous
love.

“
What have you done?” Fin
asked.

“
Everything I could think
of from straight magic to potions to spells to energy work
to. . .” Abi said. “I even tried to go back in time to
fix it.”

“
And?”

“
I wasn’t blocked from
that moment,” Abi said.

“
So it
was
a fated event,” Fin said. “What
did Delphie say?”

“
That it was fated,” Abi
whispered. “Can’t you. . .?”

“
No more than you,” Fin
said. “We are useless against these types of situations. What of
the healers?”

“
I called Mari at once,”
Abi said. “She rushed her lover here, but
he. . .”

She swallowed hard and shook her head.

“
You cannot save the girl
until her beloved is in the clear,” Fin said.