When Luca told Dawn about it, she was spitting mad, knowing full well Carla and Ice had moved the girl. Dawn had held the unicorn several times after that, hoping for some kind of vision or flash of insight, but nothing had come to her.
Frustrated, she wondered if her so-called gift was a curse at times. Or if it was only good for stupid shit like keeping tabs on the cops when she was hanging out with Ice. She told Luca as much, and he tried to reassure her.
He said they were getting close, and the reason the gang had moved Mandy was because they were nervous. Luca also hoped they would not harm the little girl and were most likely keeping her hidden as they tried to decide what to do.
He figured a ransom demand would be forthcoming, but why hadn’t they received one already? Dawn prayed she was okay. Otherwise, she would never forgive herself for not having the guts to rescue Mandy when she had the chance. Gun or no gun.
Dawn had stopped off at Goddess Fashions and bought the walking cane to give to her grandmother when she visited her. Stepping off the elevator, Dawn made her way to Annette’s room and was shocked to discover another woman in her bed. Rushing to the nurse’s station, she frantically got the attention of the nurse on duty. “Where is my grandmother? Annette Forest?”
“She was taken to the sixth floor, rehab. She’ll be staying there for the next week while we get her back on her feet. They’ll be teaching her some exercises she can do at home. You can go up there to see her. Check in at the nurse’s station first.”
“Thank you!” Relieved, Dawn made her way up to the sixth floor. She found Annette sitting up in a chair, knitting. “Grandma, you gave me quite the scare. Why didn’t you text me that they moved you?”
“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry.” Annette laid her knitting aside on the small side table next to her. “Everything happened so fast. They came in this morning and told me it was time to get to work and then they wheeled me up here. They had me walk up and down the hallway and then they gave me a nice massage. I feel almost as good as new! Of course, the painkiller they gave me afterward didn’t hurt any.” She winked.
Dawn laughed. “Grandma, that’s wonderful. Do you know how long you’ll be here?”
“Well, at least a few more days. They’re going to be showing me some exercises I can do at home. Now tell me, how was your day?”
Dawn filled Annette in on the usual mishaps at work with frantic students calling up and asking for help for their software woes. “Honestly, I think I could design a better system. I know all the glitches and how to fix them. But the engineers don’t want to even listen to my suggestions. They think just because I didn’t go to MIT that I have no business telling them how to do their job.”
“Honey, it just goes to show you how smart and talented you are. In time, you can look for another job, one better suited to your abilities.”
Dawn pondered that for a few moments. The pay was pretty good, but it was a starting salary, and given all the extra work her manager threw at her, she wished she were in a position to either ask for more money or start looking somewhere else. But she had only been there a couple of months.
“I’ll think about it, Gran. Oh, by the way, I have something to give you.”
“Oh, more gifts? I don’t have any more room,” Annette said with a chuckle. “The orderlies had to make two trips to get all the presents and flowers in my room and bring them here.”
“Well, you’ll have to make room for one more.” Dawn reached under her jacket and pulled out the cane in three pieces. Fitting them together, she handed the practical work of art to her grandmother.
“Oh my. Now if that isn’t a pretty cane, I don’t know what is.”
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. I’ll be able to scoot up and down the hallways in no time with this.” Annette waved the cane around like a wand. “And look at how beautifully it’s carved. All these birds. What craftsmanship. It looks like it cost a fortune.”
“I got it with our lottery winnings.” Dawn grinned. “And I have a penny left over.”
Annette’s eyes widened in delight. “Now, whoever said the women in our family were unlucky must have been mistaken.”
Dawn stayed with Annette through dinner and helped her back into bed after a brief walk so she could get some rest. Annette used her new cane, greeting all the nurses and orderlies and showing off her gift, eliciting oohs and aahs from all of them.
After giving her sleepy-eyed grandmother a kiss on the cheek, Dawn left, hopped on the subway, and made it home before Luca arrived.
She had some time before she expected him, so she decided to try to channel Mandy once more. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she held the unicorn and began to breathe deeply as Minerva had instructed her to do.
Breathe in…
Breathe out…
Dawn found herself sitting in a cage. A large, sprawling cage. Looking around, she spotted a worn sign on the brown patchy grass just outside the cage. GREEN PARK ZOO. She kept breathing in and out, staying focused in the cage even though she felt scared and cold from being outside. She saw a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and heard a siren in the distance, and then Luca’s voice floated in the wind.
“She’s in the lion’s cage.” She heard yelling, and then she saw Luca topple to the ground near the abandoned sign. Blood poured from his head. Fighting nausea and dizziness, Dawn kept breathing deeply in and out as she opened her eyes. “Oh my God.”
* * *
I can’t wait to see her.
