Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“Dom!” she heard Harvey bellow, before he was scooping her up off the floor.
She hung in his arms for a moment, hating to admit it wasn’t a bad place to hang, if hanging was what you were into. He was strong and warm, his chest broad and muscled, and listen, it wasn’t the worst place to catch your breath.
Whatever that had been, it had knocked the wind right out of her. But then she remembered she was angry with Harvey and his stupid hammer. Her grandfather was in danger and all because the “universe” deemed she was the one to protect the world.
Pushing her way out of his arms, Dom dropped to the ground.
Make no mistake, she really dropped to the ground, her legs like a bucket of marmalade. But when Harvey tried to help her rise, she pushed him away and shook her head.
“Nope. I don’t need any more help from you, pal. I think you and your little friend have done enough.”
He backed away, holding his hands up in surrender. “Okay. I get it, but are you alright?”
She grabbed onto the handrails along the wall and pulled herself upward, fighting a screech of pain as she did. “I’m as good as one gets when they’ve been mowed down by a…whatever that was. I don’t know…it was like running into a building at full speed.”
“Dom!” Marty called to her, as the three women walked with quick steps toward her, with Susan and some of the night staff behind them.
Round and cheerful, her eyes scrunching up in her face when she grinned, Susan cocked her head in question.
Reaching out, she grabbed Susan’s hand, her soft skin a balm of comfort. “Are you all right?”
Then she bit the inside of her cheek. Susan looked perfectly fine. So how was she going to explain why she was asking if the woman was all right, why she was here so late, and what she’d encountered moments ago? Did she ask her if she’d seen any giants lately?
Susan stopped all movement when she got a gander at Harvey. She held up a finger in Dom’s direction. “Hold that thought, Shuggy. Now, who are you? Is this your new beau?” she asked in her light southern accent.
Dom shook her head as her cheeks went hot. “Just a friend, Susan.”
Harvey grinned, holding out his hand. “Harvey Larsen. Pleasure to meet you.”
She scanned Harvey’s vast length before she took his hand and gave it a hearty pump. “Well, ain’t you the size of a redwood? Phew, what did your mama feed you? They don’t grow ’em like you often, do they?”
Harvey’s response was a hearty chuckle.
“Susan, are you all right?” Dom pressed, diverting her attention. Though, she couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t as though Harvey was the sort who didn’t make you stop and take notice.
Susan pulled her into a hug scented with lemon and sage. “Well, I’m fine, sweet girl. Just fine. Your pretty friends here tell me you didn’t get a call from your papa tonight and you were worried.”
Her dulcet tone and unbothered demeanor gave Dom pause, until Wanda sent her a signal with her eyes—a signal she didn’t entirely understand but was sure partly meant don’t scare the nice nurse with talk of giants.
Dom slapped a smile on her face and nodded, squeezing Susan’s arm affectionately. “Yep. I got a little worried and decided to pop in, I admit, I probably overreacted, but you know how I am when it comes to my papa.”
Susan winked a cheerful eye, cupping Dom’s chin with pudgy fingers, giving it a light shake.
“I surely do. You’re a good girl, Dom. The best. But as I’m sure you saw, Stavros is fine.
He was a little firecracker earlier, though,” she said on a bubbly chuckle.
“Caught him and Sheffrey trying to sneak some Rice Krispie treats from the pantry. Between the two of ’em, they ate four apiece. ”
Still not understanding what was happening, or what had happened before she got here, Dom went along with the idea everything was A-okay. “You know how papa likes his sweets. I’ll make sure I order more for them. Promise.”
“Bah,” Susan said pleasantly, her plump cheeks dotted red. “A little extra won’t bring him any harm, but he sure is a sneaky one. Anyway, I have to get back to rounds. You feel better now?”
Dom nodded, giving Susan a quick hug. “I do. Thanks, Susan. I hope you know how much I appreciate you.”
Susan leaned back, twisting the gold necklace she always wore before smiling at her.
“Not as much as I appreciate you. You saved my job, Sweet Pea. Now, go on with you, and take your friends along, too. Never seen so many pretty people all in one place.” She gave a wave to the ladies.
“Nice meetin’ you, girls. Hope you’ll pop in again soon and tell me how you know our girl here.
The old coots ’round these parts would sure appreciate a gander at all this pretty.
” Then she chortled. “Does that make me a…whaddya call it? Misogynist? Can I be one of those, bein’ a woman?
” Waving a dismissive hand, she shook her head.
“Can’t keep up these days. I just know the patients would appreciate ya.
” With a final warm smile, she waved again. “Bye now!”
Susan scurried off down the hall to tend to her nightly duties as the rest of the staff scattered to do the same.
Looking to the three women, a question in her eyes, Dom cocked her head.
Nina pointed to her grandfather’s door. “Let’s do this somewhere else.”
Reentering her grandfather’s room, they found Darnell had pulled up a chair and was showing her papa something on his phone. They smiled and spoke softly, their foreheads almost touching, as MC remained seated in his lap.
Dom’s heart twinged at the sight, her chest flooding with warmth. These people were all so kind, with what appeared no motivation. They didn’t have to be so nice to her grandfather—or her, for that matter.
Yet here they were, late at night, diving feet first into a problem that wasn’t theirs.
Gathering her thoughts, Dom looked to the women. “What happened? Where did you find Susan and the staff?”
“In the fucking basement,” Nina crowed. “All just standing there like a bunch of sheep, herded into a corner.”
Marty put a calming hand on Dom’s shoulder. “They were in some kind of trance, we think. It smelled like magic. Either way, they were completely unaware about what was going on. We led them upstairs and the moment we hit the reception area, they came alive.”
What in all of David Copperfield? “Hold on. Let me get my head around this. You can ‘smell’ magic? Magic exists?”
Nina nudged her in the ribs. “You have a fucking talking hammer, Thor Junior. Yeah, magic exists.”
Right. Right, right, right. Duh, Dom.
“So they don’t remember what happened? Who put them in a trance?”
Wanda popped her lips and shook her head.
“Nope. They don’t even know they were in a trance.
It was as if they lost no time between landing in the basement and us bringing them back upstairs, and that’s good.
What’s not so good? Someone put them in a trancelike state, and we need to find out who and why. ”
That explained why Susan didn’t appear to understand Dom showing up so late, but she was grateful they didn’t remember. This was all too much to explain.
Blowing out a breath, her ribs still sore from hitting the floor, she absorbed this information.
“So, I guess I have to believe whatever knocked me down in the hallway was who put them in a trance. Was that a giant? Because I’m telling you, whatever it was, and I didn’t get a good look—I didn’t get any look—it was massive.
I mean, it felt big. Really big. I realize that sounds like my vocabulary is limited at best, but it’s the only way to describe what I ran into.
Also, there was that smell Wanda described so perfectly. ”
Harvey ran a hand over his chin before he rubbed his eyes. “It was definitely a giant. I got a quick glimpse of him before he disappeared.”
How heartwarming. “So why was it here? How did it know to summon me under the guise of my grandfather’s voice—because I know what I heard.”
“To trick you into bringing me here,” MC explained. “They want you to hand me over to them and they’ll use whatever—and whomever—they have to in order to get their hands on me.”
Nina held up a finger. “But hold the fuck on, how can they get their hands on you if she’s the only person who can pick you up because her heart’s the purest in all the land, or whateverthehell the reason was for her being chosen by the universe?”
Dom also held up a finger. “He, it, whatever, did say, ‘Hand over Mjolnir, or you’ll suffer the consequences.’ Like Nina said, how can they pick up the hammer if they’re not worthy? I mean, are people who want to end the world worthy of picking you up?”
Harvey answered for MC, and he didn’t sound pleased when he did.
“Magic. Unlike in the Marvel movies, there’s ancient magic they can use, and if they find a way to get their hands on that magic…
today was nothing more than a warning threat.
I’m sure they know MC’s in the hands of a novice, someone they’ll consider vulnerable and weak.
They used your grandfather as a pawn, as a reminder of the lengths they’ll go to in order to get their hands on MC, and I can assure you, they’ll be back for more. ”
Dom gulped hard, sweat forming on her brow. Ominous…
But wait one second. Weak. They thought her weak? The notion incited her, made her veins flame. “I am not weak. I might not know what the hell I’m doing, yet, but I’ll learn if it means protecting my grandfather.”
Nina winked at her, nudging her ribs again. “Attagirl, Thor Junior. Balls for days.”
Harvey gripped her shoulders, forcing her to face him full on. “I don’t think you’re weak. They do, but in the sense of whether you can handle the power MC wields…as of now, you’re vulnerable. Untrained and exposed.”
Her eyes flashed hot when she looked up at Harvey’s worried eyes. “And the reason they want MC is because of Fraggle Rock, isn’t it?”
“Ragnarok,” everyone shouted at her.
“Whatever! The meaning is still the same. They want to get their filthy paws on MC to end the world as we know it, correct?”
Harvey nodded, his lips a thin, grim line. “Correct.”
Dom sucked in her cheeks. “But I thought you said everything was quiet? There were no foreseeable threats, blah-blah-blah. Ending the world is a pretty big threat, Harvey.”
The very idea that all of this, in just a matter of a day, was turning her life inside out, felt surreal. But then, was anyone ever prepared for the apocalypse? Did it ever give you warning signs this blatant?
Harvey let her shoulders go, but his eyes remained fixed on her.
“It was quiet. It was very quiet. Maybe too quiet. Maybe we took that peace for granted. The giants didn’t even know where MC was, as far as I can tell.
But now that they’ve found him, they’ll go to any lengths to get him, and that includes finding ancient magic. ”
Darnell, who’d been pretty quiet, stood up from where he sat next to her grandfather and placed a beefy paw on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
“Then you need to learn how to protect the world, don’tcha?
I’ll stay here with your grandpa. I’ll protect him and everyone else here.
You don’t hafta worry ‘bout none of ’em.
Promise. You go learn to be a badass.” Then he grinned and winked. “I got faith in ya.”
Faith.
I’ll take What Does Dom Need? for one hundred, please, Alex.
But there was nothing on this planet more important to her than her grandfather, and the people here at Remember Me, and there was zero chance she wouldn’t fight like an uncaged honey badger to protect them.
Zero chance.