11. Chapter 11
11
“ I f you don’t have some good news for us, things are gonna get a whole lot worse from here.”
Rebecca pulled her gaze away from the heartbreaking sight of Nyx lying in an infirmary bed again, still looking just as beat-up despite having been safely returned to Shade headquarters and the healer’s care. When she looked up to meet that healer’s beady black gaze, Zida’s wrinkled lips puckered in a smirk from the other side of Nyx’s bed.
“Ha! You wanna hear good news, do ya? And you came here for that?”
If this was the old woman’s way of trying to lighten the mood, she was already failing.
The air of concern and wary hope in the room remained as strong now as when Rebecca and Maxwell had finally brought Nyx home. Now, she had a feeling the general tension in the air would linger even longer than it took for Nyx to recover.
Zida narrowed her eyes as she looked back and forth between Rebecca and Maxwell, then she scratched the side of her face. “Huh. Tough crowd. Fine, then. Tell me this. Do you know what was done to her?”
Rebecca shook her head. “Harkennr said he didn’t do anything to her.”
Maxwell scoffed and shot her an exasperated look. “I don’t believe a word out of that son of a bitch’s mouth.”
“Probably a good place to start,” Zida murmured. Then she shifted her weight and gestured toward Nyx again. “Listen. I’ve run a few preliminary tests, and from what I can see, everything looks totally normal with this one. Ignoring the fact that she was stolen right out from under my care and held somewhere else for almost twenty-four hours. Not to mention that being a pretty major detriment to her recovery, but that’s a given. Everything else makes me wanna say she’s just fine.”
“But that’s not what you’re saying, is it?” Maxwell asked.
“That’s not what I’m not saying either, Hannigan,” Zida quipped. “I’m saying I want to watch her a little longer. Wait till she comes to. Keep an eye on her for a few extra days longer than most get, because I don’t know what the hell else I’m supposed to be looking for. If there even is anything else there.”
“I’m sure Nyx will be grateful to you for that,” Rebecca said.
Zida’s scowl settled on Rebecca before the healer shook a clawed finger at her. “You bet your ass she will be. To you too, as a matter of fact. Both of you. How you walked right into a gods-be-damned nightmare like that and made it out again without a scratch, I’ll never understand.”
“Even if I told you exactly how?” Rebecca asked.
“Sure, kid. Yeah. Probably even then.”
Rebecca forced back a chuckle. It didn’t feel right in the infirmary, given the circumstances. “Well, everyone can make up their own minds about that later. Once we—”
The infirmary door burst open before banging against the adjacent wall, then Leonard barreled into the room, skittering forward and losing his balance when he barely stopped himself from ramming full speed ahead into the side of Nyx’s recovery bed.
His eyes were wild and lined with dark circles, his hair disheveled, and his sweatsuit even more stained than it was earlier this morning. When he stopped beside the bed and it fully hit him that Nyx was lying in it again—in the flesh, alive and safe—the mage almost collapsed onto the mattress with her.
“Oh thank god…” His hand hovered above Nyx’s forehead for a moment before he seemed to think better of touching her and gazed up at Rebecca and Maxwell instead. “You got her back. Jesus, you actually got her back. Thank you.”
“A few more days here for observation,” Maxwell said with a nod. “She’ll be all right. Nyx is strong. She’ll come out the other side of this.”
“Of course she will.” Tears shimmered in Leonard’s brown eyes as he regarded his Roth-Da’al and Head of Security, still unwilling to disturb Nyx with a touch. Then he went to the next best thing and settled a hand down protectively on the mattress instead. “How did you guys do it? Just the two of you? I mean, after everything you said about the compound and the army this asshole’s got working for him, what the hell did you have to do to get her out of there? How is that even possible?”
“Pain and suffering,” Maxwell muttered. “ Lots of pain and suffering. Trust me, you don’t want to know the details.”
Rebecca snorted, but when she looked up at him, she realized Maxwell wasn’t joking at all. For him, the hour they’d spent at the Old Joliet Prison very well could have been torture. It had been bad enough for her.
“Seriously?” Leonard looked back and forth between them, his expression wavering between concern for his superiors and overflowing relief and gratitude. “Are you guys okay?”
Rebecca raised an eyebrow. “Yep.”
“I mean, did Zida take a look at you too?” Leonard blurted. “Listen, I know you two wouldn’t exactly say anything about it if you got hurt, but maybe you should still let her—”
“No lasting damage was done,” Maxwell said, shaking his head. “Not anything the healer could help with, anyway.”
Zida scoffed and folded her arms as she leaned away from him with a dubious glare.
Leonard looked even more terrified until Rebecca flashed him a reassuring smile and set a hand on his shoulder. “We’re fine, Leonard. I mean it. What matters is we got her back in one piece, and she’ll pull through this. Just watch.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” he murmured, gazing down at Nyx’s sleeping face with so much tenderness, Rebecca was only that much more convinced of something existing between these two. Something which, by the looks of it, she might not ever understand or experience herself.
And that was fine. Nyx’s and Leonard’s business was theirs.
“On one condition,” Zida added, thrusting a crooked finger in the air. “I don’t wanna hear a damn peep out of you while I’m working unless she stops breathing or wakes up. You understand?”
“If that’s how I stay here with her? Easiest thing in the world.” Leonard grabbed the closest chair, set it beside the bed, and sank into it as he picked up one of Nyx’s limp hands to hold it in his own. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Puffing out a sigh, Zida returned her attention to Rebecca and Maxwell. “Anything else while you’re here? I’ve got work to do.”
“Nothing that needs your immediate attention,” Rebecca said. “How long do you think you’ll need to make sure she’s good to go with a little rest?”
“A little ? Huh. Not likely. If she’ll let me, I’ll keep her here for a week. But apparently , long periods of observation don’t go over very well in this place these days…” The healer’s eyes narrowed at Rebecca, filled with condemnation.
Rebecca wasn’t going to live down manufacturing her own early release from the infirmary either, was she?
“But that wasn’t your question,” Zida snapped. “This one? I’d say give me an hour, ninety minutes tops, and I’ll have a better idea where things stand. Honestly, I don’t think I’m gonna find much, but I’ll look anyway.”
“Great. Thank you.” Rebecca caught Maxwell’s eye next and subtly nodded toward the door as an invitation for him to join her outside the infirmary. “When you’re finished with Nyx, Zida, I’ll be upstairs. There are a few things I want run by you before anything else.”
“Yeah, yeah. The Roth-Da’al beckons, and we all come crawling forward. Ain’t that the way of it? I’ll be there. Now get out of here before I start throwing things. This room was built for people in beds , not standing around all crammed together like sardines in a can. You know where the door is.”
Despite the healer’s curtness—beyond rude by anyone’s standards except Shade’s—a knowing smile still bloomed at the corners of Zida’s wrinkled, puckered lips when she caught Rebecca’s gaze. Then it disappeared, and the old woman bustled around her infirmary to prepare for more tests on Nyx while Leonard sat beside the bed, holding the katari’s hand and smiling like he’d just won the lottery.
“Now what?” Maxwell asked as they both headed for the door.
“Get word to everybody who sat in on the briefing this morning. It’s no fun for anyone, I know, but I think another meeting is best for now.”
“Hmm.” Maxwell looked her up and down, then leaned toward her so close, his body heat washed over her with another wave of that tingling pressure, which seemed to have returned again from nowhere and all at once.
Rebecca knew it had been there all along, but now that more pressing issues had been dealt with, she once again lacked the necessary distractions to tune it out.
The renewed sensation locked her in place. She still didn’t know what the hell to do with it and could only stand there, gazing up into his silver eyes, until Maxwell dipped his head so close to her ear that the heat of his breath against her cheek sent a rippling shudder down the side of her neck and goosebumps prickling up and down her arms.
“For once, Roth-Da’al,” he murmured, “you and I are completely in agreement.”
Some smartass remark bubbled at the tip of her tongue, but by the time it formed, Maxwell had already stepped past her, pushed through the infirmary door, and disappeared down the hall.
Leaving her standing there alone, alone and breathless, her knees on the verge of buckling, until the unexplained pull of everything that made Maxwell Hannigan reaching out to Rebecca’s core diminished into a manageable intensity once again.
Now that this thing between them had seized her full attention again, it was even more of a miracle that she and Maxwell had maintained control of themselves as well as they had for as long as they had in Harkennr’s private basement.
“Knox?”
She turned around.
Leonard cleared his throat and offered a sheepish smile, his neck twisted awkwardly so he could keep holding Nyx’s hand in his chair while also looking over his shoulder at the Roth-Da’al. “I know I was in the last meeting and everything, but if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll sit this one out. I’m staying right here with Nyx.”
“I totally understand. She needs you too. I’ll make sure someone fills you in on what you missed, so you won’t have to miss any of this .” She nodded toward Nyx, who now stirred beneath the sheets with a small, croaking moan.
The katari’s good eyelid fluttered open, the other still too bruised and swollen to move, before a glimmer of violet light shone from beneath.
“Oh shit.” The mage shifted in his chair to get as close as possible without climbing up into the bed with her. “Nyx. Hey. I got you.”
“Leonard?” she asked groggily. Her split lip cracked open again when she gifted him with the widest beaming smile possible in her condition.
“Yeah, I’m here. And everything’s gonna be okay. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m…so happy to see you—” When Nyx’s voice broke and Leonard dipped his head to hide what little emotion hadn’t yet bullied itself to the surface, Rebecca felt it was a good time to make her exit.
“Zida?” she said, reaching for the doorknob.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” the healer grumbled from the far side of the room, rummaging through tools and medicinal supplies in her drawers before dismissing Rebecca with a flippant wave. “I know exactly what applies to me, kid. I’ll be there.”
“Just as long as you don’t make us wait forever,” Rebecca reminded her. “You said ninety minutes tops.”
“Don’t quote me at myself, elf. Now get out of here before I kick you out.”
N ow that Rebecca had officially called for another meeting so soon after Nyx’s safe return, she found herself mulling over what felt like too many things at once as she made her way across the compound.
She did want the others’ opinions as to how Shade ought to respond to Nyx’s abduction and to Harkennr’s terrifying goals he’d finally made a reality with his experiments, not to mention the fact that they still had another unknown player in the game—whoever had ambushed Nyx’s convoy and taken the rest of her team that night.
With the new knowledge she’d gained of what Harkennr was up to, the next steps should have been easy. In reality, they were anything but.
Every response she considered came with its own concerning risks and a far smaller likelihood of success than she could accept when sending her operatives into battle. No matter what Shade did next, every option still came with unavoidable cost.
Mainly that, no matter what they did, there was no easy way out of this. They would make more enemies than friends, but that was worth it to stop someone like Harkennr, wasn’t it? To shut him down and keep his monstrous technology from hitting the streets. To keep the magicals of Chicago and probably even its humans safe from whatever the warlock set his sights on next.
And everyone expected the Roth-Da’al to know what to do, to choose for them, no matter where it led.
It felt impossible, and that only made her more confident that the combined wisdom and experience of the individuals she’d asked to join her in these meetings would clear a few things up for her, if not everything. This was getting too big for Rebecca to make all the decisions on her own while knowing they were the right ones.
She was so caught up in the dizzyingly endless list of possibilities, she didn’t hear her name being called from down the hall until it came again from right behind her.
“Rebecca! Hello? Hey, is the Roth-Da’al even in? Because I sure would like a little chat.”
She whirled around and pushed back the immediate flare of disappointment and frustration when she realized it was Rowan hurrying after her.
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said absently and picked up her pace. “What’s up?”
“How’s the girl?” Rowan fell in step beside her.
“Nyx? She’s fine, as far as we know. More than a little confused, probably, but she’s safe. She’ll pull through this.”
“So you and the big bad wolfie actually stole her back, huh? What kinda tricks did you have to pull to get that done?”
“No tricks, Rowan. It was all above board.”
“Really? Well isn’t that a happy ending. Listen, I wanted to ask you—”
“Knox!”
Rebecca paused again to look behind her one more time as Whit emerged from the closest intersecting hallway and raised a hand to catch her attention.
By the Blood, could she not get even two seconds of peace?