Queen of the Dead

“What?”

“Nothing,” I said. So, either Mina and John were going to attempt to hijack her somewhere between her room and physical therapy…or the orderly was in on it. I remembered suddenly Lucy saying the hospital chaplain was involved. He, of all people, would probably know the hospital personnel well enough to find a true believer or someone willing to look the other way for a little extra green.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked again. “You just seem…out of sorts.” She offered me a kind smile, so similar to Lily’s, and patted the bed. “You want to sit down and tell me about it?”

I swallowed a hysterical laugh I could feel bubbling in the back of my throat. Well, you see Mrs. Turner, your daughter is not actually your daughter, at least not right now.

I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’m okay.”

“You’re welcome to wait here for her, if you want. But I don’t know what kind of shape she’ll be in when she gets back.”

You could say that again.

“I know things have been tough,” she continued, “but your friendship means the world to her. You should have seen the way she lit up earlier when you walked in.” Mrs. Turner gave me a significant look.

Alona. My chest ached with the need to find her. If I didn’t find and stop them in time, and she was…boxed, then our last conversation would be the one we had this morning. No, I couldn’t let that happen.

“I know things have been tough between the two of you, but I hope you can figure it out.”

Me, too. “Mrs. Turner, do you remember anything about the orderly that picked up…Lily?”

She frowned at me. “Why?”

Oh, good question, one for which I didn’t have an answer. I thought quickly, trying to come up with something that would seem legit without causing a panic. The last thing I wanted was the entire hospital in an uproar. That might cause Mina to try to hurry, or worse yet, take Alona and Lily out of here, assuming they were here to begin with. “I was just wondering if it was the same guy I saw on the elevator this morning with a patient,” I lied. “He’s a diner regular, I think.”

“Oh.” She looked faintly confused. “I don’t know. He was tall with dreadlocks. But I didn’t catch his name.”

Crap.

She brightened. “His scrubs were adorable. They were dark blue with balloons and teddy bears in party hats on them.”

Yeah. That was helpful. Then I realized she was waiting for a response. “Oh, yeah, that sounds like him,” I said quickly. “Nice guy.”

She nodded again, still seeming baffled by the turn of our conversation.

“I’m just going to go walk around a little, stretch my legs, check things out, while I’m waiting for Lily.” Like I hadn’t already spent way too much time in this hospital. But right now, the only solid lead I had was the priest. I could probably track down his office easily enough, assuming he was there and not with Mina and John. He’d been the one to call them in, so I had a hard time imagining him sitting idly by, doing paperwork or something, while they worked to remove this — what had Lucy called it? — manifestation.

“Okay,” Mrs. Turner said, “but don’t get in the way or bother people while they’re supposed to be working.” She pointed a finger at me.

“Got it.” I spun on my heel and started back the way I’d come. I didn’t know the priest’s name, but I bet someone at the nurses’ station could direct me to the chaplain’s office. If I had to, I’d page him and make him come to me. From there, I’d have to figure out what to say, another lie, but at least I’d be headed in the right direction.

At the nurses’ station, a mother with three children clinging to her legs had the attention of both nurses as she expressed displeasure about something to do with a fourth kid and a lack of Jell-O on his lunch tray yesterday.

Come on, come on.

“Can I help you?” One of the nurses finally turned her attention to me. It was the same one who’d looked at me disapprovingly when I’d burst in from the stairs, and she didn’t seem any happier with me now.

“I’m looking for the—” A flash of color, red on a dark blue background, passed by at the edge of my vision.

I turned quickly to see a tall man with short dreadlocks moving down the opposite branch of the hall, pushing agurney ahead of him. His scrub shirt was dark blue withteddy bears in party hats and red balloons printed all overthem.

Yes! My heart picked up an extra beat in the rush of adrenaline. This had to be him, right? The orderly who’d taken Alona to wherever she was.

“Young man?” the nurse asked, her mouth pursed tightly.

“Never mind,” I said quickly, and chased after the orderly. “Hey, wait, stop.”

He froze and then turned to give me a wary look over his shoulder.

Yeah, this was the guy.

“Listen.” I moved a little closer. “I got separated from the others, but I’m supposed to be helping.”

He shook his head, his eyes still watchful. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I got to get back to work, though, so—”

“The situation with room 512 and the Order,” I said in a voice just above a whisper. If I was wrong, and he had no idea what I was talking about, I was going to resemble a serious brand of crazy.

But recognition flashed over his expression. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.” He leaned toward me. “They’re downstairs.”

I felt a huge rush of relief. They were still in the hospital. “Where?” I asked, trying not to sound desperate and like I was ready to shake him for the information.

I must have only partially succeeded, though, because he pulled back slightly to frown at me.

“I’m going to be in so much trouble for being late. I’m supposed to be training, but I screwed up the time, and then I couldn’t find my notes on where we were supposed to meet, and you know how the Order is about punctuality.” I could hear myself rambling, saying too much, anything I thought might open the door to the information he held that I needed.

“It’s all right,” he said, his hands out as if to calm me. “We’ll get you there. Just take the elevator to the basement. Turn right into the hall, and then left down the first hall. First door with no windows.”

Yeah, that didn’t sound ominous at all. “Thanks, man, I really appreciate it.” The relief in my voice, at least, was genuine.

“You better hurry, though,” he said. “Father Hayes said it wouldn’t take very long. And I gotta be down there in a little while to pick her up and bring her back.”

I couldn’t help but wonder how much he knew, what he would think when he went to pick up Lily from that windowless space and found her an empty shell once more. Was he expecting it? Or would it give him second thoughts about his involvement in something he probably didn’t completely understand?

Either way, I didn’t want to wait around to find out.

I nodded my thanks at him and took off for the elevator.

16 Alona

Father Hayes looked alarmed. “Someone will hear her screaming, even down here.”

Good. I took another deep breath and continued at the top of my lungs, even though my voice had already faded into something less of a scream and more of an annoying screech.

Mina seemed flustered, caught between keeping the disruptor aimed at me and moving faster to get the boxes laid out. “Just help me,” she ordered the priest. “Put the boxes on the floor and—”