The Hour of Dust and Ashes

be okay?” she said, looking at the array of monitors, the thick neck bandage, and the oxygen mask covering Amanda’s nose and mouth.

“She’ll be fine,” Titus spoke up, sliding down his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. “The restraints are for her protection.”

I turned to Marti. “I’m going to talk to the officer. I’ll be right back.”

I could’ve asked them what happened, but I didn’t want to put Marti through telling the tale. I closed the door behind me and walked a few steps away, motioning for the officer to follow. Then I turned and waited for an explanation.

“It all happened so fast,” he said, guilt eating through his voice. “We did everything we could think of … got rid of every razor and knife, took all the doorknobs off the doors. She was never alone. Marti even sat in the bathroom while Amanda showered. And then this morning …” He rubbed a hand down his face. “She shoved a plastic protractor from her book bag into her jugular.”

“Christ,” I said on a faint breath of shock.

He rubbed a shaky hand down his tired face.

“There’s no way you could’ve known,” I told him. There was only one way to stop something like this from happening again. I walked away from the officer and hit the chief’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Chief, it’s Charlie.”

“You at the hospital?”

“Yeah. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That an eight-by-ten holding cell looks pretty good right about now.”

“So let’s round them up, get them all into the station. Whatever strings you have to pull, whatever lies you have to tell them, just get them into a goddamn cell, like now.”

“Already working on it. We’ve alerted the guards we have out there as to what’s happened, and have personally made contact with the ash victims. Most of them are coming in on their own after this latest … attempt. I’ll handcuff and drag the others if I have to. They can sue us later.”

“And Bryn? Have you talked to Bryn?”

“She’s on her way in.”

Oh, thank God. “Thanks, Chief. And will you send a fresh officer to the hospital? Amanda’s guard is here now and the guy could use a break.”

“Will do. Is Titus there yet? If we had a cure for ash, our problems would be solved …”

“I know.” Without ash in their systems, they’d be strong enough to force out an unwelcome spirit. “He’s here, I’ll talk to him.”

And then I proceeded to fill the chief in on the sylphs. He was just as thrilled with the idea as Rex, but he also knew the stakes. And he believed in me. “Christ Almighty,” he breathed through the phone.

“If Titus doesn’t come up with a cure soon and we can’t get an exorcist here … this is the only option we have to identify the ones in danger.” Not to mention an option that I had to see to the very end. The process had already been started. Neither Alessandra nor Nivian had stated the facts and then let me decide beforehand. I was underwater, drowning, before I accepted the first gift, not even knowing what that really entailed, not knowing the elements would kill me if I didn’t complete the process. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t back out now. Even if a cure was found, I still had to complete the sylphs’ ritual.

“For God’s sake, just be careful. The warlocks are bringing Bryn in now. So just focus on the job at hand, all right?”

“I will.”

After I hung up, I headed back to the officer. “Thanks,” he said, and I knew he meant the request for relief. I hadn’t exactly been whispering on the phone.

“Sure. Why don’t you go get a coffee or something? I’ll stay until you get back.”

He gave me a nod and walked off. The guilt pouring off that guy was pretty heavy. I had no doubt he’d done the best he could … I just wished we’d corralled everyone sooner.

Titus stepped quietly from Amanda’s room, his shoulders slumped, his look weary. He removed his wire- framed glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose again, and then slipped them back on. His brown hair was a mess as usual and he needed a shave and a cut.

Titus’s rise to fame and fortune as the genius who’d discovered “heaven” and “he” had come in his late twenties. The guy was in his early forties now and was still going strong, still making new discoveries, modifying his inventions, and growing his scientific and research empire.

“How close are you close to finding a cure?” I asked him, my voice as tired as he looked.

“Close. We’ve been testing a type of Elysian seaweed. It looks promising. So far it’s breaking down the Bleeding Soul extract found in ash. That extract is the active ingredient in the drug. It’s quite remarkable. Once it’s introduced into the system, it bonds to the neural pathways in the brain. Once there, it begins to fade, to break down all on its own, but it starts breaking down the brain, too. Which, as you know, is why we have to keep giving the victims ash in small, regulated doses. But if the Bleeding Soul is neutralized or made to turn on itself, destroy itself without destroying anything else, then … then maybe they’ll be free.”

“And this seaweed does that? Breaks down the Bleeding Soul without harming anything else?”

“In a petri dish, sure. I have yet to move my tests to live subjects.”

“We’re running out of time, Doc. If you can cure them of the ash addiction, they’ll be strong enough to fight off what’s inside of them.”

“I know, Charlie.” He let out a weary sigh. “I know.”

As we stepped back in the room, I saw that Em had taken up Titus’s earlier position on the other side of Amanda’s bed.

“Can I stay here for a while?” she asked as soon as she saw me. “I don’t have school.”

“I can drive her home later,” Marti offered. “I’ll have to go home and change at some point anyway.”

I met my daughter’s eyes. They were hopeful, soft, worried … “Sure. You can stay.” I turned to Marti. “Rex should be home, but have Emma call him when you’re on the way. I don’t want her home alone.”

Marti nodded, and my chest ached for her. I knew what it was like, to fear for your child’s life, for your hands to be tied, and there was nothing you could do but wait. Mentally and emotionally, it was the toughest thing I’d ever had to deal with.

Emma crossed the room and gave me a tight hug, which I returned wholeheartedly. She gave me strength and she didn’t even know it. “You’re wearing all your amulets, right?” She nodded. “Good. I’ll see you after work, then. Call me if you need to.”

I paused in front of Marti, unsure. Wanting to give her some words of comfort, some support; but I froze up. I didn’t know what to say to make her feel better. First Amanda had almost died from ingesting ash, then her husband had been involved with the drug—using one of Titus’s labs to manufacture it into an easily ingestible form—then he’d fled the country, leaving his wife and daughter. Now this …

“She’s a strong kid. She’ll be okay,” I said, feeling my words were so inadequate, but needing to say them anyway. She gave me a grateful nod.

On my way out, I stopped at the nurses’ station, flashed my badge, and told them to keep Amanda in the restraints. She wasn’t to get out of that bed, not even to use the bathroom. It was catheters and bedpans until we figured this thing out.

Amanda might be the one in restraints, I thought as I walked out of the hospital, but it sure as hell felt like it was my hands that were tied. I paused just outside of the main doors, glancing up at the rolling darkness above me. My mood was gray like the sky.

How do I fix this?

Ash had only been on the market for a few weeks before we’d gotten it taken off the streets, but in that short time it had long-lasting, devastating effects. All because of some stupid flower—the Bleeding Soul, Sangurne N’ashu, an extremely rare, bioluminescent flower from Charbydon.