“I’ve watched you three spar lots of times, but it still makes me stare in amazement to see you do what you can do when, just to look at you, no one would suspect you were so tough,” Cole awkwardly complimented.
I looked up at him, and realized, not for the first time, that he was a pretty tall guy who probably outweighed me by fifty pounds. I raised my brow at him mischievously.
“Um…what I mean is, that you’re a girl; a feminine and fragile-looking girl. So when you switch into meta-mode it’s just…”
I giggled to myself, completely forgetting about Creed and being stood up; basking instead in Cole’s adorable glow of admiration.
“Dude, you passed awkward a while back and are fast approaching sappy,” Alik teased.
“Oh, be quiet, Ali,” I said protectively. “I think Cole’s observations are sweet.” I hugged his arm gently while we waited for the elevator to take us back up to the seventh floor.
The elevator was already pretty full of people who were sure to be stopping at every floor between here and the seventh floor when I felt a burst of adrenaline fueled by terror.
“Oh, my God! Mom!” I whipped around toward my brothers relaying the urgency with my eyes as I felt more terror gushing toward me.
16 Eyes Wide Open
Evan grabbed the elevator doors and pushed them back open for us to run out. Alik was ahead of me and Evan was beside me. We ran, full-speed toward the exit sign above the doors leading to the hospital’s stairwell. We took the stairs two and three at a time, nearly flying, till we arrived at the seventh floor doors and slapped them open. We didn’t stop running until we got to mom’s hospital room door.
Two nurses were standing, stunned and confused in the hallway, as though they knew something just happened, but hadn’t had time to register what.
I heard a soft whimper coming from inside—her door left slightly ajar. Alik kicked it open with his foot. Evan and I were at his heels, ready for battle. There was mom, eyes wide with fear, tears spilling down. She was sitting up in her hospital bed, pointing to the corner of the room. My eyes scanned the room quickly to determine what she was so upset about when I saw it. There was a silver mound of fur in the corner of the room, half under a chair. It was Maze. He was panting softly, but otherwise not moving.
Alik and Evan rushed to mom checking her for any injuries, blood—anything to have explained what was happening. I rushed to my best friend’s side and gently held his face in my hands. He was fighting to keep his eyes open and let out a whimper just for me. It was all I could do to keep from screaming in pain and fury at whatever it was that hurt my Maze.
Even as I ran my hands over his fur gently, searching for a wound, blood or something, I was silently screaming at myself for having left mom and Maze alone. Damn it! If Maze is hurt, it is my fault. I’m such a hot-headed idiot! What the hell was I thinking, leaving him alone to protect mom? Damn it! I should know better!
Feeling and seeing nothing unusual on Maze’s right side, I slipped my hands under him to gently roll him over so I could examine the other side. My hands felt something immediately and upon me jarring the object, Maze whimpered painfully. Completing the roll, I could now see his left flank and there, right in the shoulder, was a syringe-like object still stuck in his muscle. I yanked it out and set it on the table beside me thinking I may need to have it studied to figure out what it was, but I was hoping it was just a tranquilizer.
Just! Just? Are you freakin’ kidding me? If Maze was shot by anything, Williams’ is in on it. If Williams is behind this, then mom probably stared into the face of death moments ago. He’s not letting up. Williams is ready to finish what he started, Meg.
“Mom, are you okay? What happened?” My voice cracked with emotion. I felt torn between fear and fury.
My mother’s eyes were streaming tears as she slowly shook her head. The boys stood on either side of her protectively. Both of them looked like they were ready to rip the head off the person or persons responsible for hurting our family. I was right there with them. The seething anger I felt boiling deep inside me was literally making me see red.
“That’s it. We’re leaving…now!” Alik’s voice was icy and absolute.
I nodded in agreement, afraid if I opened my mouth to speak, I’d burst into flames of rage. Instead, I turned to the small closet in mom’s hospital room and grabbed her suitcase. My hands began grabbing her things and throwing them in automatically. A ringing that existed only in my head muffled the voices in the room. Alik was taking charge, and I was eternally grateful to him for doing that. I couldn’t think straight through my rage. Mom was almost killed and Maze was hurt trying to defend her while I was unfocused and girly-stupid over some dork who...I shook my head hard. Stop it. Focus, Meg. Get mom to safety first then berate yourself over your stupidity.
“Evan, call the ER and get Dr. Andrews and Cole up here,” Alik said coolly.
“Where are we going, Alik?” Evan asked logically.