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The Academy
The Scarab Beetle Series
Tempest
Written by C. L. Stone
Published by
Arcato Publishing
Glow
A hospital room is a horrible place to sleep. There’s always a light on and nurses come to check on you at odd hours.
I stared at the popcorn ceiling panels, anticipating another nurse coming in to check the IV bag, again. A floor light cast an eerie glow that reflected against the shiny tile, and there was another light somewhere behind my hospital bed. The IV needle itched in my arm, and the stupid plastic get-up they made me wear, I just wanted to rip off and go naked.
Corey was asleep in a chair next to the bed. His head was tilted back, mouth open in an O shape as he breathed. He wore a dark sweater and jeans, his arms across his broad, strong chest. How could he sleep in here? I hadn’t really slept, except for short naps, in days.
Maybe it was the medication I was on, but I was wired and antsy.
I was restless.
I wanted out.
I felt fine, but my uterus wanted to bleed all the time, which was annoying. I wanted to tell them to go ahead and take it out.
Yet I didn’t. As annoyed as I was, I stayed in the hospital, hoping they could fix it.
Hoping this wasn’t the cancer that killed my mother that they just somehow hadn’t detected yet.
I watched Corey sleeping, the rise and fall of his chest. He’d been here the most, but I was pretty sure it was because he managed to keep me reined in when I was ready to leave often. I didn’t think I needed to be here, I wasn’t so sick to need supervision.
Part of me was sure they did it to keep me safe. They claimed the hospital was the safest spot in Charleston.
I didn’t want to be ungrateful, but a week in a hospital, staring at the same four walls, and having nurses bark at me to take medication on time was getting to be too much for me.
The sound of soft-soled shoes scooting along linoleum out in the hallway directed my attention to the door, anticipating another nurse.
The door opened.
A tall figure with wide shoulders loomed, looking in.
I couldn’t tell exactly which one, as his face was in shadow, backlit by the lights in the hallway, but I was sure it was one of the guys.
He came in and touched Corey on the shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “Awake?”
Axel. Still in shadow, but now I could at least recognize the shape, the way his shoulder-length hair was tied back on his head at the base of his neck, and the jacket he wore bulked out his shoulders.
Corey sat up quickly and rubbed at his face. “Did I miss something?” he said in a groggy voice.
“No,” Axel said. “Just wanted to give you a chance to go home.”
“I can stay,” he said, stretching and yawning, sitting up. He looked at me. “How are you?”
“Perfect,” I said, letting the sarcasm drip heavily. “If you don’t want to go, want to change places?”
He stood up and came to the bed to stand next to it. He towered over it since he was so tall. “Need anything?”
“Steak,” I said, picturing a sirloin in my brain, my mouth watering already. “Proper steak. Not the chopped mush they serve here.”
Corey glanced at Axel. “If I go find her something...”
“I’ll stay with her,” Axel said. He turned and a reflection of light glinted off the glasses he wore. The lines of his face deepened with dark shadows, making his face a little eerie.
Corey nodded to him and then leaned over, kissing my forehead. “I’ll sneak you in something.”
“Two steaks,” I said. “And apple pie.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He shuffled to the door, closing it behind him.
It darkened, but when my eyes adjusted, I watched Axel.
He stood at the foot of the bed. He reached over, grasping my ankle. “How are you?”
“I wish people would stop asking me that,” I said, and sat up completely, pulling my leg from his hold. I swung my body over to sit on the edge of the bed. I stood up, stretching as much as the IV line would allow.
He put his hands back into the pockets of his jacket. He was quiet for a long while, like he was waiting for me to answer him truthfully.
“Do I have to stay here?” I asked.
“Do you want to get out of here for a while?” he said at the same time as I did.
I opened my eyes wide, and pushed my hand to the center of my chest, between my breasts. “Can I go?”
“Not officially,” he said, but he nodded to the door. “But if you want a break, I could sneak you out for a while.”
Hell yes.
I found some clothes, a pair of sweatpants one of the guys left behind. Axel took off his jacket and passed it to me, leaving him in a T-shirt.
He was wearing sweatpants as well, an odd look for him. Had he just put on whatever to come by and break me out of here?
I was ready except for being barefoot, but he peeked out into the hallway and then motioned for me to follow him. “Keep your head down,” he whispered.
I followed close behind him, becoming his shadow, keeping my face to his back.
We walked through dim hallways and some areas where I was sure it was supposed to be doctors only.
Eventually we were downstairs and going through a hall of doctors’ offices.
At the end of the hallway stood Dr. Green, a familiar face to me now as he had stopped by often, usually to check in and drop off a piece of candy. I liked him a lot.
However, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t allow me to leave the hospital.
He had his back to an exit door and then looked at Axel and me.
I braced myself to be told I should go back to my room. At least I had gotten to walk around the hospital a bit.
Axel approached him, and as he did, Dr. Green pushed his back against the door, opening it to the outside.
“I’ll have her back before sunrise,” Axel said as he hurried past to the sidewalk outside.
“I never saw a thing,” Dr. Green said, sharing a conspiratorial wink with me as I walked past.
He was letting me go! I really liked him now.
Axel’s red Jeep Cherokee was parked out along the sidewalk.
“You planned this,” I said as we approached the vehicle. I stepped carefully since I was barefoot. “You got him involved.”
“You could have said no,” he said, and then opened the passenger door for me.
I got in quickly, and stopped caring if I got caught at all. I breathed fresh air, so different from bleach and the cleaners used in the hospital. I nestled into the seat and even put my seatbelt on.
Axel got in, buckled up, and drove out of downtown.
I thought he was just going to drive around downtown, but he eventually got on the interstate and headed toward Folly Beach.
I had my head back, eyes out the windshield, not talking, just curious. He seemed to have a destination in mind and since he wasn’t talking either, I was letting him surprise me. I didn’t even care what it was, I was just so glad to be free.
Most everything was lit by a bright moon as we traveled. A bluish light lit up some buildings and trees along the way. He drove to the south end of Folly, to an expanse of flat, green grasses, and a parking lot placed close to a small sand dune. A wooden bridge was built over the dune, giving access to the beach beyond it.
I jumped out of the car the moment he parked, taking in the cool air. I listened for waves but everything was quiet here.
Axel came around the Jeep and took my hand, guiding me toward the steps. “I hope we’re on time,” he said.
“For what?”
He said nothing, but urged me on.
I followed behind, glad to be barefoot and to feel the sand under my feet. The beach here, once beyond the dune, was ve
ry flat, and the waves were barely cresting white. There was the smallest breeze to make it a little chilly.
There was no one around that I could see. We had the beach to ourselves. There was one lone lifeguard tower nearby, but it was dark.
There was something odd in the water as well, some sort of whiteness just below the surface.
He brought me to the edge of the water and then motioned to my feet. “Roll up your pants. It’ll be a little cold.”
It was November. Or was it December already? I wasn’t sure, but I was more than sure it would be freezing. “Are you nuts?” I asked.
“You won’t want to miss it.” He bent over, rolling up his own pants.
I did, too. Was the water exceptionally warm for some reason? Some sort of strange tide?
I rolled my pants up to my mid-thighs, tight so they wouldn’t fall back down.
He let me go in first, urging me out.
The whiteness in the water started to follow my feet, and as the first splash of a gentle wave rolled over my ankles, it became a blue, luminous glow.
Sea Sparkle.
I stood in the water up to my mid-calf, letting it wash over my legs again and again as the waves rolled round me. With each wave, very, very tiny marine life reacted, glowing around me.
I tugged off the jacket, not caring that I was half naked now. Maybe I should have kept the hospital gown on anyway but no one was around, so it didn’t matter. I wanted to reach my hands in and make the glowing continue.
Axel took the jacket from me, and I bent over, sticking my hands into the water.
The more vigorously I shook my hands, the more shimmery, the blue illumination glowed around me.
“It’s the dinoflagellates,” Axel said quietly. “There was a lot floating this way. It’ll be gone tomorrow. I knew you wouldn’t want to miss it.”
I stood up, looking at him, feeling only a little odd that I was standing with my pant legs rolled up so high, my bare breasts exposed under the light of the moon, and glowing little organisms crashing around me with the waves.
