chapter FORTY-THREE
We drove in silence until I remembered my phone call from Ms. Carmen. I told Vittorio about the map.
“I remember when Samuel tried to buy that map, now that you bring it up. And you say Courtney is missing again?”
I nodded. “Oh shit, you don’t think Samuel has done anything to her, do you?”
“Hours ago, I would have said no. But now, I am not sure what he is capable of. We must find her.”
“But how? If she’s with Samuel, I doubt he’ll let us near her. And she’s not answering her cell phone.”
“We will think of something. Does Ms. Carmen have a copy of this map?”
“I can call her and ask.” A quick phone call told me that she did have a copy, and would slide a duplicate under the door to my office. That was a good thing; she didn’t need to see us in the condition we were in.
More than an hour later, we made it to Dr. Fondazione’s office without incident. It was an old, renovated building in the Central West End, a high rent district of town. He must do well in his practice. When we got inside, tension seeped out of my body. We were safe, for now. That’s when it all hit me. I started crying and Julian wanted to give me a mild sedative, but I refused, insisting he take care of Kevin first.
Vittorio and I waited in another room. Only then did he noticed I still wore the amulet. I had forgotten about it as well.
“I couldn’t bring my power back under control.” I told him what happened when I took the amulet off. “I think it’s safest if I leave it on until I am a bit stronger.”
“I agree, mio amore. You seem to be on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Can you talk to me now?”
“Yes, now that all we have to do is wait for the doctor, I think it’s okay if I lose it.” I told him about the camping incident. “I’ve had a terrible fear of open flames ever since, so when Neal started burning my arm, I couldn’t handle it. Then he unleashed his power on me. If you hadn’t come when you did, I don’t think my mind would have survived. If you hadn’t…” I trailed off, sobbing, scared of the thought.
“You are safe now, mio amore.” He held me while I cried, and his warm, soothing power embraced me.
Kevin cried out in pain.
I ran to his room across the hall. Julian had just set his broken arm. I sighed, relieved it was only that.
“What else did they do to you, Kevin?” Julian asked.
“I don’t know. I’m embarrassed to say that all this,” he motioned to his battered face, “is from Elizabeth. She and Neal used that power crap on me. I don’t know what they did, just that it hurt. A lot. I think I passed out.”
“Kevin, I need to use my power to try to find out what they did to you. We need to know if they did any damage to your mind. Are you okay with this?” Julian asked.
“I guess so.”
“Try to relax. I promise I will not hurt you.”
Julian’s gentle, healing power wrapped itself around Kevin, bleeding off throughout the room. After a few minutes it dissolved into the air. “You will be fine. Your physical injuries are the worst of it. You might have nightmares about your ordeal, but they did no lasting damage.”
“Thank god,” I said. “Kevin, I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”
“It’s not your fault.” He tried to shrug, and groaned.
“Yes, it is. If you weren’t my friend, this wouldn’t have happened to you.”
“I’m not blaming you. I’m gonna go to sleep now. The nice doctor gave me some medicine,” Kevin slurred as he lay down on the examining table, then fell asleep.
“Do you have a blanket to cover him with?” I asked.
Julian retrieved one from a closet. “Alright, let’s go across the hall and have a look at you now, Elena.”
He started by unwrapping the T-shirt from my arm, which had started to dry and stuck to my skin painfully. He soaked it in warm water to loosen it.
Vittorio gasped when he saw the extent of the damage. “Elena, why did you not tell me you were so badly injured?”
“I wanted you to get us here safely. You would have worried too much to focus on driving.” I hissed as Julian pulled the cloth from my arm.
“You have lost a lot of blood, Elena. Do you know your blood type?”
“O negative.”
“I’m going to give you a transfusion after we fix you up. I am surprised you are still walking on your own.” Wide eyes belied the calm in his voice.
“I can be damn stubborn when I need to be.”
He cleaned both my arms, and decided to start with the stitches in the worse one. I gritted my teeth as Julian sewed up my arm, but his needle was nothing compared to what Elizabeth had done to me, and I preferred to deal with the pain over the nausea anesthesia would have caused. When he finished stitching the partial pentagram, he moved to my other arm. Then, he examined the burns. He said they were third degree, put some burn cream on them, and wrapped my arm in gauze. “You’ll have to apply this cream every four hours, and put clean gauze on each time. If the gauze gets soaked in pus, change it more often. It is important you keep the wounds clean.
“Now, I would like to examine your mind, if you agree.”
“Okay.” I was pretty sure my mind was at least partially damaged from Neal’s attentions, and didn’t think he’d be able to tell me anything I didn’t already know.
He rested his hands lightly on either side of my head, and his power embraced me gently. I felt calm and soothed, as if everything was right in the world. I relaxed into that power, let him probe my mind, unconcerned with what he would find. I was sad when he pulled his power back to him.
“It seems you have been mildly traumatized by Neal’s power.”
I again explained the campfire incident.
“That makes sense. If you like, I can work with you over time to erase that fear from your mind.”
“That would be great. It might have to wait, though. We have more important things to worry about right now.”
“Just let me know when you are ready.” Julian left me and Vittorio alone.
“Try to get some sleep, mio amore. I would like to talk to Julian for a while, and you need to rest.”
“But what about you? What did Samuel do to you?”
“I will be fine. I will explain later. But for now, please try to rest. Will you do that for me?”
I nodded.
“Thank you. I am glad you are not more severely injured, though I do regret what they did to you.”
“I’ll be fine, Vittorio.”
“I know. You are very strong, and very brave.” We held onto each other for a long time.
“Rest now, mio amore. I will be down the hall in Julian’s office if you wake and need anything.”