Just Believe (17 page)

Lucas smiled. Gaelen would have, too.
She was in overly large sweats and her long chocolate brown hair
hung in sleepy disarray around her shoulders. She looked
delightfully tousled.

He pushed the idea of the sleep-mussed
Annabelle out of his head, and the memory of how she looked when
well-loved. For certain he didn't need to be getting all distracted
now. The fact she was human loomed like a brick wall around
her.

Not likely he could forget that. Much
as he wanted to.

"Lucas," she finally asked. "You said
Gaelen's promise was good as gold. Did you mean that, or were you
being sarcastic?"

Gaelen listened intently.

"Gaelen is the most honorable man I
know. He'll not give his word lightly. If he promised, he'll move
heaven and earth to keep his word."

Lucas's trust wasn't something Gaelen
had consciously tried to earn. To hear it so firmly pledged
surprised him and made him ridiculously proud. But more surprising
was his desire to know he had Annabelle Tinker's trust,
too.

But he wouldn't hear it tonight. For
now, she simply nodded at Lucas and went up the stairs.

Gaelen hovered, realizing her trust
must be earned. And there was only one way to do that. He'd
promised her Erin would be all right. Now it was time to make sure
he kept that promise.

He dashed down to the basement window
and tapped on it to be let out.

Come on, Lucas, open up.

"Okay, okay. I'm comin'," Lucas said as
he came over. "Keep your wings on."

Lucas slid the window open and Gaelen
was on his way, through the screen and out into the dark. He didn't
even wait to see if Lucas followed him.

Chapter Eleven

Linette Duncan prepared another syringe
of phenobarbital and laid it on the table by Erin's bed.

Erin's eyes opened, her head shook
once, twice, then her eyes closed again.

"Poor dear," Linette whispered to the
groggy girl. "'Tis really too bad, isn't it? But you'll be very
happy where you're going, I promise you." She turned to the two
fairy mercenary orderlies.

Allowing herself a moment of
appreciation, Linette enjoyed the way their muscular forearms
bulged the seams of the polyester uniform shirts. Their sinewy
thighs strained the material of the cheap slacks.

"Such lovely lads," she whispered.
Louder she asked, "Did you get the stock?"

"Aye, Doc. We found a grand hunk of
beechwood in the forest by the lake. Just about the right size. A
wee bit o' glamour, and nobody will be able to tell the
difference."

"We've got to hurry before Gaelen comes
around. Can you do it?"

One fairy merc frowned, obviously
insulted. "Madame, we are fairies, after all. We know our
business."

"Saints protect me from sensitive
mercenaries." Linette rolled her eyes and stepped aside, waving at
the bed. "Get to it, then."

The two fairies lay the post of
beechwood on the bed beside Erin, arranging the bedclothes around
it, just so.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

"Look, Doc, if you think you can do
better, we'll step aside."

Linette was really getting irritated.
These stupid fairies didn't know about Gaelen's warning to release
Erin. For all that he was a philandering, womanizing rake, Gaelen
was also a member of the Council of One Hundred, and one of the
most powerful fairy males on this continent. It was unlikely these
two, even from the "old sod" as they were, would get in the way of
her fight with Gaelen.

"The Council wants this girl in
Ireland, and we've got to get her there today. Now..." She waved
her hands wildly. "Do whatever it is you fairies do!"

With a superior sneer, the taller fairy
winked at his comrade and they resumed their business.

"Dr. Duncan," the tinny voice called
over the intercom, "Dr. Duncan. Please come to Room 1115. Dr.
Duncan to Room 1115."

"What now?"

"Isn't 1115 the paranoid-schizo
laddie?" one of the mercs asked, frowning as usual. "We'd better
come with you, Doc."

Linette sighed. "Yes, I suppose you'd
better. You," she said to the other, "you stay here and get that
stock ready to replace her."

"By myself?"

"Of course. You said it would only take
a 'wee bit o' glamour.' Take care of it, and come down to 1115 when
you're done. When we're finished there, we'll come get Miss Tinker
and take her to Ireland. Lucas will follow, and so will Gaelen.
This business has taken too long already."

"Aye, Doc," he said to her back as she
left the room, followed by his fellow merc. To Erin's sleeping
face, he said, "She's a real pip, ain't she, darlin'?"

The merc was actually glad she was
gone. It was not respectable to do magic in front of
outsiders.

He raised his hands over the wood,
passing them once, twice, three times, finally deciding on a
version of the changeling chant, and whispered to the
wood:

"This lass's form shall be your
own,

to mortal eyes no change be
seen.

Her flight from here remain
unknown,

'til from Erin's land she returns
again."

He winced at the bad poetry. His ma had
always told him he should pay more attention to
versification.

"You have a nice sleep darlin'," he
said to Erin. Patting the log, he smiled and went to join the Doc
and Frank in 1115.

Erin strained to open her eyes when the
door slammed. It was so hard to stay awake, even harder to take in
the surroundings. She felt, though, the body in bed next to
her.

Turning her head, she came face-to-face
with...

Herself.

Naturally, she screamed, and fell from
the bed. Groggy and unable to stand, she sat on the
floor.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway,
giving her only a moment's warning to roll under the high-standing
bed. She pulled a sheet down to hide herself.

A nurse came in and stood by the bed,
unaware of Erin hiding underneath.

"Miss Tinker," the nurse called, much
too loudly. "Miss Tinker, are you sleeping?"

Erin, groggy as she was, was amazed by
the stupid question and almost answered.

"What is it?" A second nurse came into
the room. "Shall I call Dr. Duncan?"

"No, she just screamed in her sleep.
Look at her, sleeping like a log. What's this?" the nurse asked.
Erin peeked around the metal frame of the bed and saw the nurse
pick up a syringe. "Very careless of the doctor to leave this lying
around. Here you are, Miss Tinker. You'll be quiet now for another
twelve hours."

The nurse went over to the red-topped
container hanging on the wall and Erin heard the top snap as she
deposited a used syringe.

Had she really given a shot to
that...thing?

The nurses left the room together. Erin
carefully slid out from under the bed and stood up on still shaky
legs. When she looked at the body lying there, they got
shakier.

"What's going on here?" She studied the
form in the bed, even summoning the courage to raise the sheet and
peek underneath. Suddenly, it was all clear to her. "A pod person!
Just like in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I knew it! Aliens.
She's one of them, and those big orderlies, too. I've got to get
out of here."

Digging through all the drawers in the
room and the closet, Erin found her clothes and shoes. She dressed
hurriedly, pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tied it with a
string torn from her hospital gown. With a deep breath, she pulled
the door open just a crack and went out into the hallway, glancing
up and down for the aliens.

Annabelle would love this, Erin thought
with a nervous giggle. What a story for The Weekly Investigator.
"My Sister Escapes Alien Trap," by Annabelle Tinker.

Might even win a Pulitzer.

"Hey, you!" a deep male voice startled
her.

It was one of the orderlies who
followed Dr. Duncan around like poodles. Well, maybe Great Danes
was more accurate.

Erin dashed down the hallway and ducked
into a room marked "Women--Staff Showers."

* * * *

Gaelen, followed closely by Lucas,
arrived in the middle of what looked like a manhunt. Nurses,
orderlies--including Linette's two pet fairies--and doctors, ran
the halls like a pack of white mice in a maze.

"Looks like we've arrived at a good
time," Lucas whispered.

"You go get her. I'll keep watch out
here," Gaelen said.

With a nod, Lucas stepped quickly
around to the door and into the room. Gaelen scoped out an escape
route.

Sliding down the hallway, Gaelen peered
down the nearest flight of stairs and, satisfied it was the safest
way to go, went back to meet Lucas and Erin.

"What the hell? Lucas!" Gaelen
hissed.

Lucas sat on his rump outside the room,
his face a mask of agony.

"We're too late, Gaelen," Lucas
muttered.

"What?" Gaelen shoved Lucas out of the
way and pushed into the room. When he caught sight of the bed, his
heart stopped. "Holy Bridget." He walked up to the side of the bed
and gazed down at a well-hewn stock of beechwood.

He rejoined his brother out in the
hallway, sliding down the wall to sit beside Lucas on the
floor.

"I'm sorry, Lucas. I thought we had
time."

"It's not your fault, Gaelen. It's
mine. It's all my fault." Lucas began to weep, the copious,
out-of-control tears of fairy sorrow.

People passed by, not even noticing
them.

The lack of interest in two
unauthorized persons sitting on the floor outside a patient's door,
one keening like a banshee, piqued Gaelen's curiosity.

"What is going on up here?" he
asked.

"What does it matter?" Lucas answered
between sobs.

"Come on, Lucas, get hold of yourself,
man. Look." He pointed at the tiny figure of Dr. Duncan running
along the hallways, a look of panic on her face. The fairy
orderlies followed behind her, spreading out to comb the floor.
"They're looking for her, Lucas," Gaelen whispered, suddenly
understanding. "They've lost her."

"What?" Lucas said, wiping his sleeve
under his nose and looking in the direction of Gaelen's finger. His
face cleared as understanding dawned on him, too. "They're lookin'
for her," he repeated. "They put a changeling in the bed, but
before they could take Erin, she got away."

"That's it, bucko. Let's go find her
before they do."

* * * *

Erin pulled a shower curtain across the
opening of the stall just as the door opened and one of the
orderlies came in. She shrank against the corner, holding her
breath and praying to become invisible.

"Here, Frank. Quickly, it's Lucas!" Dr.
Duncan's voice blasted through the shower room.

Erin let out her breath as Frank turned
and ran from the room.

"Lucas." Her heart pounded. "He came to
get me." Creeping to the door, she pulled it open just a crack and
peered into the hallway.

The commotion was deafening. Gurneys
rattled, then crashed into the walls. Women squealed as they were
shoved out of the way.

"There." The diminutive Dr. Duncan
pointed with a thin finger. "Behind the potted plant. Get the
net!"

"Net?" Well, it was the psych ward,
after all, but Erin hadn't thought they'd use nets.

She peeked back out. The mesh Frank
dragged along didn’t look like any net she’d ever seen. It made a
metallic swish as it swept across the tiled floor.

"Come, boyo. Let's not make any more
trouble, eh?" Frank said, his friendly words belied by the edge in
his voice.

Frank raised the net and tossed it like
a fisherman. It landed over the large philodendron in a distant
corner, but not before a pinpoint of light flickered and flashed
out of it, dashing down the hall, stopping in front of the door
behind which Erin hid like it had hit a stone wall.

She stared at the pinpoint of light.
She could have sworn it was staring back at her. In an instant, it
reversed direction and flew back down the hall to meet the oncoming
herd of orderlies, all of them now brandishing some sort of
restraining device.

Erin sucked in a breath.

"No," she whispered. "Don't let them
catch you."

The flicker of light came to an
intersecting hall, just as the orderlies were about to reach it.
With an incredible change of direction like she'd seen on those
alien invasion shows, it dashed down one long hallway.

Erin giggled at the comic foot slapping
and sliding of the orderlies trying to follow.

"Erin. Come away from the door,
darling."

She spun, not daring to believe she'd
heard his voice. One of those beautiful moments lingered, where
time stands still, as she and Lucas stared at each other, really,
actually, drinking in each other with their eyes.