“Where is the Triplex?” His words are dripping with contempt. He frees up my tongue, lips, and jaw. My voice cracks with fear.
“I don’t know.” He holds out his hand again and he somehow “tells” my right pinky to stretch back until it snaps. My pinky complies. It bends back until I hear it snap. The pain is unbelievable. Tears run down my face but I am silent as he has put my lips back under his control.
“Now let’s try that again. Where is the Triplex?” He frees up my mouth gain.
“I’m telling you, I don’t know!” I scream at him. “Please, stop! Please!”
He raises his hand once again, this time giving orders to my ring and middle finger. They follow directions. I scream so loudly inside my skull, I’m sure I’m going to explode. I can’t take the pain. My body is being made to break itself.
“I’ll do you a favor. I’ll kill you right here. It’ll be quick and painless. That way you won’t have to go before Lucy, deal?” He frees my mouth gain.
“Go to hell!” I cry out. Who the heck said that? I realize it’s me. I guess I’m more than in pain, I’m fighting mad. Well, verbally at least.
Agony shrugs his shoulders and says, “Okay, we’ll do it the hard way and take you to her. But before we go….”
He raises his hand a final time and snaps my index finger, thumb and wrist in one swift motion. I don’t call out. Not even in my head. The pain is so severe my body doesn’t know how to process it. My mind shuts down. I see a wave of darkness headed towards me. I greet it eagerly, close my eyes and pass out.
*
I see blurry shapes as I open my eyes. They move closer. I hear voices but they sound like they’re underwater. I try to move my mouth but can’t. I feel as if a ton of weight has been placed on top of me. There is no way I can move. I watch the blurry shapes mingle with each other. I think someone is calling my name, but I can’t be sure. Even if I were, I am unable to answer. The only thing I can do is let the weight pull me under. Just as I slip out of consciousness, I hear a voice whispering in my ear. It sounds soft, pained and lovely. It keeps repeating the same phrase over and over again. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“She’s gonna be a bit hazy when she wakes up. She has to take the pain medication I prescribed every four hours.”
“But she’s okay?”
“Please tell her to be more careful. She took a very bad spill. It’s lucky she only broke her hand.”
“Thank you so much Doctor.”
I can tell by my mom’s voice that she’s worried. I want to tell her I’m okay, but my tongue feels heavy. I slowly open my eyes. Thankfully the shapes are coming in to focus. It’s my mom and the doctor; he looks to be in his fifties, wears glasses and has a rosy face. He smiles at me. “How are you feeling, Ms. Baxter?” I blink a few times to get him into focus. He pushes a button on the side of my bed. The bed slowly rises, allowing me to be in a slightly elevated position. My mom pours me a glass of water. I drink it gratefully.
“I’m okay,” I say, when I’ve swallowed. My mom isn’t satisfied. She wants a point-by-point bulletin on how I’m feeling. How’s my hand? How’s my head? Did I want more water? I let her fuss because I know it’s the only way she can get the worry out of her system. She’s finally a bit calmer when the doctor informs her that I can be released as early as tomorrow.
She goes out into the hallway to call my uncle Max and tell him everything is okay. Uncle Max is my favorite and only uncle. He lives in Connecticut and comes down to see us for birthdays, and we go up to him for holidays.
He is the complete opposite of my mom: he’s reliable and practical. But we get along great. He and his wife, Tracy, always go out of their way to make sure we’re having a good time when we come over. They can’t have kids, so when I was little, they’d encourage me to tear up the house and make all the noise I wanted. They complained the house was always too quiet without kids in it.
My right hand isn’t in as much pain as it was before, but a dull throbbing ache radiates through my hand. I would ask for more pills, but I don’t want to feel foggy. I think that’s the trade off: no pain, but you feel like you live in a cloud. The door opens and I think it’s gonna be my mom but it’s not. It’s Miku and the others.
“How are you feeling?” Rio asks.
I smile weakly. “Isn’t it your job to know?”
“Yeah, but it sounds rude if I don’t ask,” Rio reasons.
“I know you hate all the attention I’m getting, but this is going too far,” Jay jokes.
“It’s what a girl has to do to get some attention when she’s surrounded by the good looking elite!”
Miku is closest to me. She holds my hand the whole time. I don’t need Rio to tell me that she’s feeling guilty. “I’m fine, Miku. It’s no big deal.”
“No, it’s my job to look after you and I failed. I’m so sorry,” she replies.
“Stop it. It’s okay. I’m fine.”
Ameana X-rays me. “He broke all your fingers and your wrist. That’s not fine. You don’t have to act brave. It’s our job to look after you, and we didn’t. It won’t happen again.”
What she says sounds sincere, but for some reason I feel uncomfortable hearing it. It feels like I’m a project. Like I’m a pet she left out for the night that got into trouble. I can take care of myself. I mean, maybe not against an Akon named Agony, but I’m not helpless.
Reese looks at me gravely. “How long do you plan to lie in that bed? I saw this really hot nurse and well….”
Jay picks up on his cue. “How could she see you when she’s busy looking at me?”
I zone out on their childish banter and focus on Marcus. I realize now that he’s been staring at me the whole time. He leans against the wall farthest from my bed, like he’s afraid I’ve got something he doesn’t want to catch. But his face doesn’t look repulsed at the notion of being next to me. In fact, it looks like he’s working hard to keeping himself away. But that doesn’t make sense. He has an expression on his face that I can’t read.
The conversation in the room is light. I think they are trying to keep my spirits up. Then Marcus speaks and the room goes completely quiet. His tone is dead serious.
“I told you not to go anywhere alone. You could have been killed.”
“I just needed some time to myself.”
“You don’t get time to yourself. You get security 24 hours a day. That’s it.”
“You don’t run my life. I will do what I want, when I want,” I say evenly.
“This isn’t about you. This is about the billions of people who will die if you don’t stop acting like a selfish brat!”
“Marcus,” Ameana scolds. He turns to her; she speaks with certainty and calmness. “We should let her rest.”
He looks over at me with daggers in his eyes. “I won’t have this conversation with you again.”
He storms out, and Ameana follows. Miku strokes my hair.
“He’s just tense because of the whole end-of-the-world thing,” Miku explains.
“I was almost killed by a demon and he’s yelling at me?”
“You’re the only lead we have, and more importantly, he doesn’t want anything to happen to you,” Reese says.
“Yeah, I’m the clue and he’d hate to lose the only lead he has. Got it,” I say cynically.
Rio was about to say something, but a quick glance from Miku told him not to.
“Why’d you take off?” Jay asks.
“I just wanted some time to myself that’s all.”
“Rio said you were upset. What happened?” Jay asks.
“Well I don’t know if you heard, but I’m being hunted down by Atourum.”
“That’s the only thing that drove you to want to be by yourself?” Reese asks.
“Yeah,” I lie. I don’t know if they buy it. I know Rio doesn’t. He sees right through me. I’m sure I am radiating jealousy and misery. I wait for him to say something but he doesn’t.
“Can you guys tell me what happened? Why I’m not dead right now?” I ask, in a hurry to change the topic.
While holding my hand, Miku recounts the story.
“Agony was waiting for you to be alone. He sent out Runners to keep an eye on you. I couldn’t sing because of the large crowd in the lunch room, but Jay was able to take out two Runners before they had a chance to even draw their weapons. None of the kids had any idea anything was going on. Rio had to hold out his shield and stand in front of the cafeteria. Ameana and Marcus were following a lead, and by the time they got back, we had taken care of the Runners.”
“When we got to you, Agony was already dragging your body out the window. Ameana lifted him in the air and slammed him against the wall. You fell to the ground, and I went to make sure you were okay. Agony held out his hand and made Ameana choke herself. Before he could do more serious damage, Marcus ran in and threw him on the floor with such force the building shook. Agony’s body left an imprint. Ameana dropped a desk on his hand so he wouldn’t be able to use it.