Nanna had somehow switched doctors, without her family—who held her power of attorney—being notified. Her new doctors had whisked her away to the Casselton Regional Hospital, where they were decidedly less than forthcoming.
In spite of this, and to Jason’s surprise, Erika had apparently managed to extract Nanna’s medical state from who he strongly suspected to be the Network’s people. Jason’s takeaway was that Nanna was lucid, lacking in almost any memory of the last few years and very spotty about the few before that.
Between Jason and Emi’s visit to Nanna, Jason’s mention of the Starlight Angel that cured people and his ongoing mysteriousness, Erika was putting together things that added up to impossible answers. Her inability to reach Jason had led to each message exuding more frustration and rage than the last.
He sighed. He knew that curing his nanna would cause trouble. All he could do was step in and sort it out as best he could. His immediate thought was that Erika would push Emi for information, but he immediately dismissed the notion. Erika would never put too much pressure on her daughter. Even so, he did want to intervene before she started asking her daughter about their visit with Grand Nanna. His intention had never been to cause friction between mother and daughter.
“Shade,” he said. “Remind me to give you my phone when I go into the spirit vault. You can tell me if I get any important messages.”
He made his way into the bar lounge, where Hiro was working on a laptop with headphones on while Taika was on another laptop, talking with his mum over a video chat. Like her son, she was basically a chocolate wall with a friendly expression. Jason walked up behind Taika and gave his mum a wave.
“Hello, Mrs Davison.”
“Oh, hello, Jason. When are you going to bring my boy back to Sydney so I can meet you in person?”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll have business there soon enough. Hiro needs to go back into Sydney soon and I’ll probably go along.”
“He’s been showing me around your houseboat, if you can even call it that. It’s more like a palace.”
“Oh, the palace comes in a few years. If I can get the parts. You know, you could come to us. The weather’s very nice here, even in winter.”
“Bro,” Taika complained.
Jason chuckled.
“I have to go see my nanna, Mrs Davison. You have yourself a lovely day.”
“I will, sweetie.”
Jason tapped Hiro on the shoulder, gesturing for him to follow. Hiro took off his headphones and they went out on the deck.
“You heard about your grandmother?” Hiro asked.
“Yeah.”
“You know, trying to explain to your sister that you’re unavailable because you’re meditating inside a magic archway is not easy.”
“Sorry about that,” Jason said. “I need to bring her in sooner rather than later. I’d like to do it today, after things are sorted out at the hospital.”
“I would have gone to the hospital, but I figured I’d wait for you. Are you responsible for what happened?”
“You make it sound like a bad thing,” Jason said. “I’m going now, if you want to join me.”
“I will, yeah.”
Jason opened a portal arch.
“Not by car, then?” Hiro asked, looking at the portal warily.
“This is quicker,” Jason said.
“Not that much quicker.”
“Come on, Uncle Hiro.”
Moments later, Jason was looking at a wide-eyed man in one of the men’s toilets at the Greater Casselton Regional Hospital in Castle Reach.
“What?” Jason asked him as the portal sank into the floor and Hiro rushed into one of the stalls. “You’ve never seen two grown men emerge from a magic portal before?”
The man scrambled to escape the bathroom as Hiro emerged, taking some paper hand towels to wet and wipe his face over the sink.
“I hope he washed his hands,” Jason said. “It’s a hospital.”
Hiro gave him a sideways look. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
“You’re right,” Jason said. “They have those disinfectant dispensers all over the place. I’m sure it’s fine.”
“Aren’t you worried about that guy telling people?”
“About the two men who appeared in a men’s room through a magic portal? Not especially. Would you believe it?”
“What if those men in black guys hear about it? You said they’re here, right?”
“The Network? Well, my portal is one of my trump cards, but Craig knows, which means his group knows, which means it isn’t really a secret anymore. Plus, I’m pretty sure that’s a very valuable ability. It’ll show what I have to offer when I sit down to negotiate with the Network. What they’ll bring to the table are things like health care for Nanna that’s better than money can buy.”
“Still,” Hiro said. “I have to imagine that discretion is a good idea.”
“I can assure you, Mr Asano,” Shade said from Jason’s shadow, “it is an idea that has been put to him on several occasions. He seems to hold little affection for it.”
“Says the guy who turns into a giant black mid-life crisis,” Jason said.
“Through your ability,” Shade pointed out.
31
THE COLD EYES OF A STRANGER
Erika, Ian and Kaito were gathered in a waiting room with Jason’s mother, Cheryl, and her brother, Robert. Emi had been left with Amy and her children. Erika was coming to regret that choice, though, given her increasing suspicions surrounding Jason and the visit Emi had paid to her Grand Nanna the previous evening.
Jason arrived in the waiting room at a stride, Hiro trailing behind. The shocked expressions of his mother and maternal uncle made them look like they’d just been slapped.
“G’day, all,” Jason said. “That’s a nice pantsuit, Mum. Uncle Robbo, it’s been a while. Doctors still giving you the run around? I’ll go see if I can’t give them a kick in the bum.”
Erika, Ian and Kaito had all turned to Cheryl who was still looking at Jason like she’d seen a ghost. Jason started marching off again, then stopped and snapped his fingers like he’d just remembered something.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, turning and absently pointing a finger at his mother. “Not dead. Obviously. Forgot to say. We can talk in a couple of days; I’m a bit busy at the moment. You know how it is.”
He then resumed marching away from his startled family, with Hiro staying behind but Erika quickly trailing after him.
“This is how you let Mum know?”
“Apparently,” Jason said. “She’s hard to pin down.”
“This is because of how she treated you after, you know.”
“I’m not unaware of my own motivations, Erika.”
“That’s another mess I’ll no doubt be left to clean up. Do you ever leave your phone on?”
“I was meditating in an alternate dimension, Eri. The Telstra network doesn’t cover that.”
“I am not going to let you distract me with your lunacy.”
“You say that,” Jason said, “but we’ll see.”
He spotted the ward reception and went over.
“I need to see the doctors for Glenda Pottsworth,” he demanded of the nurse there.
“You’ll need to wait,” he said. “As I told the rather assertive young lady beside you, the doctors will make themselves available when they can.”