5
I didn’t have time to relocate my mentor if I was to save India. But there was no way I was going to let Giselle stay in her house with what felt like an early winter coming on, and I didn’t have the funds to put her up in a care home; they were too expensive and the wait to get in was long. Maybe after this job I would move her out to my place; but then I immediately dismissed the thought. Giselle didn’t like to leave her home, never had, even when her mind had been mostly intact. This was about to get difficult.
I wove back through the subdivision to Giselle’s house and parked out front for the second time that day.
Bundling her up in a threadbare lightweight jacket, I tucked her into the passenger seat of the Jeep and cranked the heat up.
Her eyes followed me, a silent question in them, as I walked around to my side of the vehicle.
“We’re going for a ride,” I said, as I put on my seatbelt and pulled away from the curb. She huddled in her seat, lost in her mind’s abyss, somewhere far beyond my reach.
She’d been the one to name me, name my abilities. I was an Immune and a Tracker all bundled up into one. My tracking abilities hadn’t come on line until after Berget went missing. Since then, I could pinpoint anyone I was close with, friends and even strangers, when I worked at it. All I needed was their name and a picture of them, and I was off and running. Could lead you right to them, no matter the distance. More than that, I knew if they were hurt, happy, sad, alive, or dead. With the kids I hunted for, this ability was priceless. It only failed me if the kids weren’t on this side of the veil, which from time to time was the case. If they’d been taken by supernaturals interested in the kid’s powers and abilities, they weren’t kept where I could find them easily. Even if they were dead, I could still track them, to at least give the parents some sense of closure. Unfortunately, that was all too often the case. The only one I’d never been able to find was Berget. I reached for her, even as I thought of this anomaly, finding only an empty spot inside my skull where she should have been. Even if she was dead, I should have been able to find her, to bring her home.
My thoughts flickered as I glanced over at Giselle, sound asleep and snoring lightly, a blush of color on her cheeks. I reached over and brushed my hand over her forehead, letting out a sigh of relief. “No fever.”
I took a left turn and my mind went back to the day I’d been bitten by a large rattlesnake, not long after moving in with Giselle and Milly. We’d been in the backyard, me practicing my tracking on the neighborhood children, pinpointing them for Giselle, while Milly practiced her incantations under her breath. I’d stepped back into a large bush and felt a sharp jab into my left leg. Looking down, a massive diamond shaped head hung off my left calf, venom pumping into my system. Its eyes transfixed me as it worked its teeth deeper into my flesh, trying to get a better grip on my calf.
Giselle shouted, but I was too frozen by shock to move. A large part of me thought it was my time to die; the guilt over losing Berget still sat heavily on me, my inability to track the one child I loved more than any other, the depression it invoked was something I couldn’t escape. However, it wasn’t yet my time to die.
That was the day Giselle told me I was an Immune, something she’d been suspecting, but hadn’t known for sure until I’d been bit. I was Immune not just to the supernatural bites that could turn me furry or sunlight hating, but immune to poisons of all kinds. I was also immune to most, but not all, magic and was invisible to most psychic probing. It was a sweet deal and not a part of my nature many people knew about. It was an ace up my sleeve when hunting for kids. The supernaturals who’d taken them didn’t know I wouldn’t be affected by their spells, bites, and incantations. Yay for genetic throwbacks.
We pulled up to the hospital and I parked on the curb, getting Giselle as close to the door as possible.
“Here we are.” I opened the passenger door.
At first, she looked surprised to see me. Then she smiled and said, “Did you find your blue socks, dear?”
I shook my head. “I was hoping you could help me find them. I think I left them here.” I pointed to the hospital.
She squinted in the direction of my hand. “You think you left them in a hospital?”
I blushed. This would not be a good time for her to be more lucid. When she was angry, she could give O’Shea a run for his money.
“Yes, the hospital. I think that’s where they are. Can you help me?” I hoped to just get her inside.
Giselle followed me in through the sliding front doors and up to the reception desk without a word, lowering herself slowly into one of the padded chairs set out for the infirm. I watched her a moment before turning to the clerk. “I’d like to admit my friend. She’s not competent and I think she may be quite sick. Maybe an infection of some sort. She’s been hanging around the neighbors who just got back from Mexico.” That got the clerk’s attention real fast, what with all the upheaval of the Swine flu coming up from down south. Of course, it wasn’t true, but I didn’t want them pissing around with whether or not to admit her and for how long. Just the possibility of Swine flu was an automatic admittance for someone Giselle’s age, and a minimum of a one-week observation around here.
Within moments, they had Giselle under quarantine, settled into a private room, on fluids and a heavy dose of sedatives to keep her quiet.
I stood by her side, mask over my nose and mouth, holding her bare hands with my gloved ones. “I’ll be back as quick as I can,” I whispered, knowing she couldn’t hear me anyway. The week of warmth and good food would help her more than anything else, and having her in the hospital would keep me from worrying when I should be focusing on India.
Leaning in, I gave her a kiss on the cheek through the paper mask, then started out the door.
“Milly will come back, Rylee.”
I spun back toward her. “What?” But her eyes were closed and her breathing was even, her body slumped with sleep. There was nothing more, and again I headed out the door. Maybe I was hearing things, or maybe I was just hearing things I wanted to hear.