Courtney frowned and said softly, “I don’t know. But his powers are greater than all of them. He’s definitely part of the equation, but I can’t figure out how. All I’ve got are a bunch of theories. I’m short on real answers.”
They walked a bit more in silence, then Courtney said, “Do you remember what I said to you at the hospital right after the accident?”
“Every word,” Mark answered. “You said you were done hiding and feeling sorry for yourself. The exact thing you said was: Mark, I want that bastard.”
“He’s here, Mark,” Courtney said. “Saint Dane is on Second Earth. I don’t know why he came after me, but I think he’s starting to work whatever evil he’s got planned for our home. We’ve been worried about this from the beginning, and now it’s happening.”
“I was kind of hoping that by saving First Earth, the Travelers had saved Second and Third Earths, too,” Mark said.
“You’re dreaming,” Courtney said, scoffing. “We always knew the battle would come here. There are only ten territories. The turning point for six of them has already passed. Saint Dane is running out of options.”
Courtney saw that Mark was rubbing his palms on the legs of his pants. She knew why. Her palms were sweating too.
“So what do we do?” Mark asked. “Tell Bobby?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Courtney said. “And I want you to know something. What I said before, I meant. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I want to hurt Saint Dane the way he hurt me.”
“Be careful,” Mark said. “Don’t let your emotions get you. Look what it did to Spader.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Courtney said. “I’m mad, but I’m using it. With every exercise I do, every time I feel the burn, I focus on him. He doesn’t know it, but he’s helping me get better. Mentally and physically. He may have wanted to kill me to get me out of the way, but he only made me more focused. I’m coming back, Mark. And when Bobby comes home, we’re going to beat him… together.”
Mark nodded, though Courtney thought he looked a little green.
Seven weeks to the day after the accident, Courtney was released from the hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Chetwynde were there for the occasion, of course. Mark drove up with them. He told Courtney he wanted to see her leave the hospital in person. He said he hoped that Saint Dane would be there too, somewhere, just so he could see how badly he had failed and how strong they were. There was a little party thrown by the nurses. They brought in a cake, and they all kidded Courtney by saying how they were going to lose touch with their favorite soap operas because they wouldn’t have Courtney to fill them in anymore. Courtney laughed. She didn’t think it was funny, but she laughed to be polite.
Many of the doctors who treated her were there too. They all told Courtney how proud they were of her, and how she deserved all the credit for her recovery. Courtney appreciated their kind words. She was going to miss the doctors. They had saved her life. But as tearful as the occasion was, she wanted out of there. She wanted to go home.
When the party was over, everyone stood outside the front entrance of the small hospital. A long walkway led from the door to the street. Mr. Chetwynde pulled their Volvo station wagon to the bottom of the walkway, ready to bring his daughter home. He and Mrs. Chetwynde stood by the car and looked up at the two rows of nurses, doctors, and hospital staff that lined either side of the walk, waiting for her. The glass doors opened. Mark pushed Courtney outside in a wheelchair. Immediately the two rows of people applauded and cheered. But they hadn’t seen anything yet.
Courtney smiled and stood up. Mark handed her the metal walker that she had relied on for the past few weeks of therapy. He had attached a small horn with a black bulb on the end that blared out “Aooooga!” when Courtney squeezed it. He told her she needed it so she wouldn’t run anybody over. Courtney grasped the walker, moved it around in front of her, looked up at the cheering crowd, smiled… and tossed the walker away. The doctors and nurses went nuts. Mrs. Chetwynde let out a small worried gasp and moved toward Courtney, but Mr. Chetwynde stopped her. “Let her do it,” he said.
Courtney was tentative, and stiff, but for the first time in seven weeks, she walked on her own. She walked stiffly past the cheering nurses, most of whom were crying happy tears for her. Even some of the doctors sniffled. Mark walked behind her, ready to jump in if she faltered.
She didn’t. Not even a little. Courtney Chetwynde had her wheels back.
Mark whispered, “You okay?”
Courtney gritted her teeth in a smile and whispered back, “I’m dyin’, but it feels great.” “You look great,” Mark said.
Courtney made it all the way to the car, where her father helped her into the front seat. Mark and Mrs. Chetwynde hopped in back. With a final wave to the hospital staff, Courtney left Derby Falls, headed for home.
The ride was a very long three hours. Courtney wasn’t used to sitting up for so long, let alone on the hard seat of a car. Their Volvo was many years old, and to Courtney the seat felt like it was carved out of rock. She didn’t complain though. She was too happy to be going home. They arrived back in Stony Brook before dinnertime. Mrs. Chetwynde asked Mark if he’d like to stay and eat.
“C’mon,” Courtney said. “Let’s keep the party going.”
Mark called his mom to say he wouldn’t be home for dinner, and helped bring Courtney’s luggage into the house. The first thing Courtney did when she got inside was call out, “Winston! C’mon, Winnie.”
Instantly Courtney’s cat came running. Winston was a short-haired tortoiseshell, and in Courtney’s opinion, more dog than cat. Winston jumped into Courtney’s arms, purring like a lawn mower. Courtney buried her face in the kitty’s belly.
“Hmmm, I missed you, purr-face!” Courtney said.
She walked slowly through the house, looking around like she hadn’t been there in months. Which she hadn’t.
“Hasn’t changed a bit” she declared. “Same furniture, same smells, same crummy old computer that we all have to fight over.” She said this last while pointing to an old monitor that was on a table in the living room. Mark noted that it looked to be about five years old, which in computer years is ten lifetimes.
“You know, Dad,” Courtney said. “If I’m going to be home-schooled for a couple of months, I’m not going to be able to sit on that hard chair down here, in front of that archaic old bucket of bolts you call a computer. I think we’re going to have to-“
Courtney stopped short when she saw that her father had lifted up a cardboard box from behind the couch that, by the look of the markings on it, contained a brand-new laptop.
“Wow,” Mark said. “That just came out!”
Mr. Chetwynde said, “And if Mark is impressed, I think you better be too, young lady.”
Courtney broke out in a smile and hugged her dad.
“I love you, Daddy,” she said.
“Welcome home, baby,” Mr. Chetwynde said.
It was at that exact moment, the moment when everything felt right again… that Mark’s ring began to twitch. He quickly clasped his hand over it and ran around behind Mr. Chetwynde so Courtney could see him.
“Uhh,” Mark said. “C–Courtney? Wh-Where’s the bathroom?”
Courtney said, “Same place it’s always been. Over by the-” She stopped short held up his ring so Courtney could see that the gray stone had gone crystal and was starting to fire out light.
“Use mine upstairs,” she said quickly. “Bring my bags up with you, okay?”
“Y-Yeah, no problem,” Mark stammered. He ran for the entryway to the house, nearly tripping over Courtney’s bags. He grabbed one and stumbled for the stairs. He was about to turn up, when Mrs. Chetwynde appeared from around the other side of the stairs. Mark instantly turned his back to her, shielding the glowing ring.
“Need some help?” she asked sweetly.
“N-No, I got it!” Mark said quickly as he tripped up the stairs.
Mrs. Chetwynde shrugged and turned back toward the kitchen to start dinner. Mark made it up the stairs, hurried down the hallway to the last door on the left, which he knew was Courtney’s room, and dove inside. He had long ago gotten over the rush of actually stepping into a girl’s bedroom. Life had gone way beyond that. He dropped Courtney’s bag on the floor, closed the door, took off the ring, and put it on the floor. The ring had already begun to
