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6
Iknocked quietlyon the door to the hospital room. Rain had started outside and beaded on the window at the end of the hallway. The muffled mumble from inside might have been, “Come in,” but it was hard to imagine Colonel Willard issuing anything but a firm, crisp, and audible-through-a-door command. At least she was awake and able to havevisitors.
When I opened the door, Willard blinked in surprise at me. It was probably weird for her to see me anywhere but our usual meeting spot. It was definitely weird for me to see herhereand out of uniform. She sat propped up in the bed and wore a flimsy hospital gown, green-plaid pajama bottoms, and fuzzy orange cat slippers. Was thatGarfield?
I squinted at her, wondering if this represented secret tastes I hadn’t known about… or a descent into a childlike mentalstate.
No, her dark eyes were coherent as they considered me. They were the only normal thing about her. With her brown skin, she couldn’t exactly be labeled pale, but she didn’t look like herself. Her square face was wan, and as short as her wiry black-and-gray hair was, it managed to seemunkempt.
Forcing a smile, I walked in. My step faltered as I saw flowers in vases all over the place. I should have brought flowers, or somethingnice,not a bottle of no-longer-entirely-chilled coffee that probably wasn’t allowed on whatever special diet they had put her on. At the least, I should have brought a six-pack wrapped in gift paper. Did fancy coffees come in six-packs?
“Val?” Colonel Willard’s southern accent gave my name a longer vowel than usual. “What are you doinghere?”
“I came to find out why a snotty lieutenant met me atyourcoffee shop.” I walked to the side of the bed and plunked the bottle down on a tray full of pill bottles. “And to bring you this. I figured the flowers had already beenhandled.”
“I’ll say. I do appreciate the members of my congregation thinking of me…” She waved to the Bible resting beside her on the bed. “But they could have pooled their funds and spared the lives of a fewflowers.”
“I’m pretty sure those are grown in greenhouses for the explicit purpose of being ruthlessly slain for sickpeople.”
“True.” Willard took the coffee bottle and wrapped both hands around it, gazing down at thelabel.
I wasn’t sure what to make of that reaction. “I hope that’s the right kind. If it costs more than five bucks, it’s possible I stole it. I flustered thewaiter.”
“Did you show him yoursword?”
“No.”
“Yourtiger?”
“Also no. I did almost smack him with my braid when I turnedaround.”
“Itisan intimidating braid.” Willard opened the bottle and inhaled deeply. “Bless you, child. It has been six days since I had a decent cup ofcoffee.”
I eyed the pill bottles. Willard had never tried to bless me before, and I wondered anew if this indicated an altered state of mind. Or, I amended as she took a long swallow, maybe she was just missing herfix.
“Don’t you have a delivery app on your phone? I saw three independent coffee shops on the wayin.”
“I don’t think you can get coffee delivered.” She tilted her head. “That doesn’t seem right, does it? In Seattle of allplaces.”
“I think you just didn’t try hard enough.” I bit my lip and looked her up and down, groping for something tosay.
I didn’t intend toinspecther for signs of magical energy or tampering or anything out of the ordinary, but I realized as I stared toward her lower abdomen, I sensed… something. It wasn’t like when I sensed that someone had elf or dwarf or a hint of some other magical being in their ancestry. This wasn’t something in her blood. It seemed more like one of my charms tucked out of sight under the blanket. A small magicalartifact.
“They’re my niece’s slippers,” Willard said, mistaking my expression and the direction I was looking. “I did enjoy Garfield as a girl. The cartoons in the paper and the little books full of them I got from the library. My mother was always encouraging me to read. She said an education was the best way to get out of the poor town I grew up in. She wasn’t impressed by thecomics.”
“I think he’s still around. Garfield, that is. Uhm, are you wearing any trinkets or anything?” I tapped mine, knowing she knew about my magical charms and weapons. I couldn’t imagine her wearing anything in the vicinity of her lower abdomen—a magical belly button ring?—but she could have something under thecovers.
“No. I wish. Do you have anything forcancer?”
“Uh, this one protects you from fireballs and also the UV radiation of the sun. I don’t suppose it’s a skincancer?”
“No. Ovarian, and it’s spread quickly.” A haunted look entered her dark browneyes.
It was as unfamiliar from her as the Garfield slippers and hospital gown, and I didn’t know how to respond. A hug? A pat on the shoulder? It was hard to imagine the no-nonsense colonel wanting either. The only time I could remember us doing anything like hugging had been on a judo mat, and I’d ended up thrown over her shoulderafterward.
“I’ve had a fever and infection they can’t pin down too,” Willard added, “so they haven’t let me leave the hospital. It’s been a lovely couple ofweeks.”
“Is there a plan? How, uhm?” My gaze drifted to a folder on a tray on the other side of the bed. “Do you have scans of, er,it?”
