Page 14 of Monsters in the Museum

“I didn’t know you encountered such attractive men in your line of work. Sexy professor isn’t my type, but do you happen to know if he has a brother?”

While Nora couldn’t exactly dispute the sexy professor comment—she wasn’t immune to the charms of a tweed blazer and vintage-looking glasses—she still mustered up the most withering glare she could in her current state. While she was sure the oxygen tubing in her nose detracted from her ferocity, Odelle backed off.

“All right, I’ll save the questions for when you’re feeling better. Do you want to talk to him?”

Nora flopped her head from side to side as best she could. “No. Sleep.”

Odelle chuckled. “It’s okay. Get some rest. I’m not going anywhere.” Odelle settled back into a chair at her bedside and squeezed her hand again as Nora drifted back into unconsciousness.

The next time Nora woke, she opened her eyes to find Adam seated at her bedside, his nose buried in a book. He hadn’t noticed her eyes opening yet, and she took the moment to observe that he still wore his charred blazer, albeit extremely rumpled. Somebody must have dug a pair of scrub pants up for him, though, so he could change out of his bloodstained ones. They were too small for him and clung to his thighs. Nora tried not to stare.

“Nora,” he whispered, noticing that her eyes were open. He put his book to the side and put his hand on her arm, causing her to wince as he jostled her IV. Everything still hurt, but it had settled into a dull ache instead of the agony of the first time she woke.

“Adam,” she whispered, her voice like sandpaper in her dry throat. “I’m sorry about your tie.”

He let out an incredulous laugh.

“Of course. You almost die, and the first thing you think of is how my tie must have been ruined.”

Nora furrowed her brow.

“I almost died?” she asked, still fuzzy on the details of what had happened. She remembered Drew saying something about a car crash and a concussion, but not much else.

Adam cocked his head to the side. “Well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but you weren’t exactly thriving. You had gone into shock from blood loss by the time I carried you here. They had to take you straight to surgery to sew it up, and you received several blood transfusions. You are lucky that the cut wasn’t just an inch to the side, or it would have hit a major artery. The good news is that you’re going to have a rather impressive scar.”

“I’ve always wanted a cool scar,” she murmured, the blanks in her memory filling back in. They had been at the museum when she got hurt, and he had taken her to the hospital. “Wait, you carried me here?” Her mind performed some sluggish calculations. “That has to be, like, two miles! Do you have something against ambulances?”

Adam looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. “I was worried about you; I kind of forgot. And I have to be honest with you. I didn’t cradle you the whole way. I switched you to a fireman carry after you lost consciousness. Much easier on the arms.”

Nora gaped. “You forgot about calling 911?” Her brain managed to put together a few more pieces of what was going on, but she was still missing essential parts of the puzzle. “Wait—Drew said that I was in a car accident, but we weren’t in a car. We were at the museum.”

Adam’s face contorted in discomfort, and Nora’s stomach plunged. She attempted to sit upright but found that she couldn’t and settled for an agitated jerk instead.

“Oh my gosh!” Nora gasped, “You touched an artifact with your bare hands, and… and swung it around like a crazy person! That didn’t really happen—I hit my head too hard and got confused, right?” Nora practically pleaded with Adam, but he only offered her an apologetic grimace.

“I must say, I’m surprised the first thing you’re asking me about in that whole scene was whether or not I touched an artifact without proper precautions,” Adam deflected, shifting uncomfortably in the plastic chair.

“We left them on the floor!” Nora raged, “Forget about my promotion, this will lose me my entire job.”

Adam held up his palms placatingly.

“I went back to the museum while you were in surgery and cleaned everything up. I don’t think the weapons are what you need to be worrying about right now.”

“You’re an English professor,” Nora snapped, “You can’t possibly know the proper methods for cleaning weaponry.”

Adam raised a brow, “You know, they don’t teach you how to fight with weapons without teaching you to take care of them too.”

“That’s another thing! How did you know how to fight like that? And what were those—oh…” Nora trailed off as she remembered the Shadow creatures in the museum, and Adam’s comment that she had bigger things to be worrying about made more sense. While her heart still raced at the idea of an improperly cleaned sword, the thought faded in the face of memories of all-consuming darkness. The image of a creature clawing its way up her leg forced itself into her memory. Nora shuddered in revulsion.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’re gone, and they are not going to hurt you,” Adam soothed. He reached his hand out as if to stroke her arm in reassurance, but Nora jerked away.

“It’s okay? How in Hell is it okay? What were those things? And how are you some sort of master swordsman?” Nora demanded.

Adam shot Nora a pained look before glancing furtively towards the hallway. “Nora, I want to explain everything, I do. But not right now. Not while you’re in the hospital.”

“I almost died, and you aren’t going to tell me what the things that nearly killed me were?” Nora fumed.

“I said that you almost dying was a slight exaggeration—”