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I turned to Kyle. “I’m going to take a quick walk to get some air. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” As I headed toward the door, a bright flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the clouds with its fiery hot blue forks. I paused near the automatic doors, waiting and counting. One-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand?—
Boom. The room shook with the ferocity of the thunder. I backed away from the doors as a massive gust of wind streaked through, attacking the shrubbery that surrounded the hospital as it tore limbs off, sending the boughs skittering along the road.
“Maybe on second thought, I’ll just stretch,” I said as the clouds opened and a maelstrom of hail began to pound against the concrete.
“I wouldn’t go out there right now,” Milo said, speaking under his breath. But I caught it and turned to him, smiling.
“No, I don’t think I shall.” I turned the other way and began to quick-step down the hallway toward the bathrooms.
The bathroom was empty—it wasn’t a multi-use one, but an individual room, with room for a wheelchair and an attendant. I locked the door and did my business, then washed my hands as I stared in the mirror. I looked tired. If I was honest with myself, I was tired and feeling discouraged. I found some eyedrops in my purse and cautiously squeezed several soothing drops into my eyes, trying to avoid wetting my eye makeup. The bloodshot veins began to fade.
“You look like you’ve been through the ringer,” I said to myself. “That’s because you have,” I added. Then, splashing some cool water on my cheeks and blotting it off, I took a deep breath and returned to the hallway.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but at least we had the thrill of watching a live-action downpour. The lightning continued, and I hoped to hell that I’d remembered to turn off my computer. I decided to make the rounds and get a little exercise in, so I powerwalked my way three times around the circular ward. The nurses’ station was in the center, and all they did was give me a quick once-over, decide I was mostly harmless, and go back to their work.
Finally, I found a water dispenser with ice and, feeling awake again, I returned to the waiting room. Kyle and Bree were still there, and they were talking to a man in a white doctor’s coat. I hurried over, recognizing the man as one of Faron’s physicians.
“Doctor, how are things going?” I knew I was interrupting, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Elphyra, good to see you. I was about to fill Kyle in on where we’re at with his brother.”
Dr. Obran knew me by name. He was another one of Faron’s team of doctors, although he wasn’t a surgeon. He had done some important research on the brain anatomy of shifters that had won several major awards. I wasn’t sure what it was all about, but he was an expert without the accompanying arrogance that often went hand-in-hand, in the medical field.
I slid onto the banquette, between Kyle and Bree, waiting.
“We’re about two-thirds of the way through the operation. We found the bleeders and repaired them. Then, Dr. Sorbitz went ahead with the experimental procedure. He’s just finishing up the last of it now, and then we can finish clean up and stitch him back up. He’ll be on high levels of intravenous antibiotics for at least a week or two, in order to prevent any infection.”
“What’s this procedure supposed to do?” Bree asked.
“We’re trying to rewire some of his neural pathways around the damaged areas in his brain, through implanting electrodes in several sections of the brain. We’re hoping that this will take the pressure off the area of his brain that’s working overtime trying to heal. The hyperactivity has caused inflammation to such a degree that it could kill him if left alone.” The doctor looked ready to discuss this at length, and while I wanted to know what they were doing, I didn’t have the heart to listen to clinical descriptions. It made everything feel too alien and uncaring.
“Thank you,” I said. “We know you’re doing everything you can.”
“What surprises me is that he’s managed to fight his way through till now. We’ve had a number of cases who took far less damage than he did, who just faded and—” He stopped at the look on my face. “I’m sorry, I know this is a difficult time.”
“Yes, it is,” Kyle said. “But as long as my brother’s in your hands, I have faith.”
“We’ll be done in about thirty minutes, I estimate.” Dr. Obran gave us a friendly nod and, tucking his pen in his pocket and Faron’s file under his arm, he headed toward the restricted section of the hospital, vanishing through the double doors.
I shivered. “I can’t believe the damage Evan did to him.”
Evan Taylor, a high school acquaintance of Bree’s and mine, had been stalking Bree for awhile. During a stakeout, Faron and I ran into him face-to-face. Or rather, he ran into us and knocked us both out cold. I managed to come to with nothing more than a light concussion. But Faron hadn’t been so lucky. Evan had hit him over the head so hard that Faron had sustained substantial brain injuries. Hence, the induced coma in an attempt to let his brain rest. But it was now October, and this had happened two months ago, and Faron still wasn’t getting better.
Kyle gently slid an arm around my shoulders—in a brotherly sort of way—and I let out a long sigh. “Thank you for being here today.”
“I can’t imagine not joining you. I can’t imagine just waiting at home for the news. I guess they won’t know for awhile, though, right?” I gave him a pleading look, though I knew nothing he said or did could help matters.
“I imagine you’re right. We’ll just have to see how matters play out.” Kyle stretched, yawning. “I need coffee. Any other takers?”
I shook my head. “I’m still a little wired from all the coffee I had this morning. Not to mention the mess in my shop.”
“What mess?” Kyle asked.
I realized that I hadn’t told him what I’d woken up to. I quickly outlined everything that had happened to my shop. Kyle’s eyes narrowed and he furrowed his brow.
“Do you need help? I can send over some guards. My brother would, and you know he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Kyle pulled out his phone.
“You don’t have to?—”
