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“Have you been in to see him?” I wasn’t good with bedside visits, but Chase was our friend and I didn’t like just sitting around.
“Mallen hasn’t let us go in yet. He’s…” Delilah broke off as Mallen entered the room. Elfin, he looked young, but probably was older than any of us except for the dragons. Mallen was well into his prime. He’d managed to settle into working with Sharah. He was making a home for himself Earthside.
“You can see him now. I haven’t let Sharah go back yet. I was hoping, if you can sense anything…I’m at a loss for what’s happening.” He worried his lip, then added, “His body is fine—he’s fit and healthy. But the seizures did take a toll on him, although I think he can recover. As far as the coma…that’s our problem.”
We stood and followed him. Sharah was in one of the rooms we passed, attending to a young Fae woman, who looked like she was ill. She glanced up at us and nodded, but said nothing as we passed.
Chase was tucked away in a private room near the end of the hallway.
I’d been through far too much to find hospitals depressing, but when we saw him, lying there, his eyes closed as his chest rose and fell with his steady, even breath, I felt cold and alone and angry. Chase hadn’t asked for what had happened to him, and here he was, a pawn in a desperate game. Or maybe it was random chance. But I was getting sick of random chance. The universe had one hell of a nasty sense of humor.
“Oh, Chase…” Delilah slowly moved to his left side and took one hand, while Camille took the other. It felt wrong for Sharah not to be here, but I understood Mallen’s reasoning. We had to protect her, at least until we knew what we were dealing with. I glanced over at Shade. “Is there any way you can figure out what happened to him?”
Shade motioned for my sisters to move out of his way. He stood by Chase’s head and motioned to me. “Turn off the lights, please. I need shadow in which to work.”
Making sure all I was turning off were lights, I flipped the switch. The room dimmed, with only the blinking of the machines monitoring his blood pressure and heart rate to light our way.
Shade placed both hands on the detective’s head and closed his eyes. It was hard to see what was going on, but a light began to flow between his fingers—pale violet, the color of the Netherworld, the color of death magic, the color of shades and shadows and ghosts.
I moved a step closer to Delilah, and she reached out for me. I took her hand and felt the trembling fear flow off her. Morio and Camille had joined hands and were watching intently. We stood, silent, waiting, as Shade began to fade into the thin layer of smoke that began to rise around him. It was as if his body were breaking apart into minuscule dots.
Beam me up, Scotty. The thought appeared unbidden, and I would have laughed if we hadn’t been facing a crisis. Delilah gasped and clutched my hand tightly. The smoke that Shade had vanished into was infiltrating Chase’s body, filtering in through his nose.
“Shade’s going in search of Chase’s consciousness,” Camille whispered.
She looked up, silver scarring the violet of her eyes. Morio’s eyes were also gleaming. Shade’s magic was affecting them, bringing them in tune with what he was doing. Delilah began to waver, and her hand fell away from mine. One moment she was there, and the next, a large, sleek, black panther with a jeweled collar stood beside me. Quickly padding over to the bed, she rose up, front feet planted on the bottom of the sheets. I stepped forward, ready to grab her back if needed, but she just watched.
Camille and Morio began to whisper a soft chant, so soft I could barely hear it. Mallen stood back, watching and waiting. I forced myself to relax.
In through the shadows, in through the shade,
Slide through the inroads we’ve made.
Enter the psyche, open the door,
Your secrets will be secrets no more.
As I watched, a slow shimmer of silver light appeared from their breaths, flowing over Chase like a wave, rolling out to cover him fully, to settle in swirling clouds around and over his body.
After a moment, a faint voice cried out from the mist.
“I’m lost…help me…”
It was Chase, and he sounded frightened and alone. Delilah, still in panther form, leaned closer, surrounded by the swirling mist as well. Instinct made me step forward, take hold of her collar, and gently pull her away.
“You can’t help right now, Kitten. Let them work. Let Morio and Camille and Shade do what they can.” I knelt by her and wrapped my arms around the big fuzzy neck and crooned in her ear. She seemed anxious—hell, I knew she was anxious—but she listened to me and lay down. I patted her back, stroking her fur and scratching her between the ears. I knew better than just about anyone what Delilah liked when she was in cat form, and it wasn’t all that much different when she shifted into her panther form.
She rumbled a broken purr, then licked me on the face. I wiped the slobber off and kissed her on the nose. “It will be all right. We’ll find him. Just give them time and space.”
With a slight hiccup, she rested her head on her paws and waited. I turned back to the others. Morio and Camille were now by Chase’s side, their hands pressed on his heart and his forehead. Shade was still nowhere in sight.
“It’s waiting for me, I can’t get past it…” Again, the faint sound of Chase’s voice, echoing through the room, but it did not come from his lips.
I glanced around. Where the hell was he and how come we were hearing him? And what was the it he was talking about? Vanzir and I had munched the creepshow that was after him last night.
But…but…it wasn’t the thing that had hurt him. What I’d seen—and Vanzir had destroyed—was after him over on the Dream-Time, but it hadn’t touched him yet. I’d seen to that. No, something else actually got to him. And whatever that something was, it still had hold of him.
And then, I saw it—a motion, a whisper of something being forced out of Chase’s nose. He began to breathe hard, and I motioned for Delilah to stay where she was as I took a closer look. Whatever it was, it was wispy and wraithlike, and I knew it wasn’t Shade.
