“Can I see her?” Luna asks.
“Sure can.” She pats Luna’s hand. “They took her to get an MRI. I’ll let you know as soon as she is back in the room.”
Space, I mentally correct. A room would imply there are walls, which few ERs have in their exam spaces.
“Can I get you girls anything while you wait?” She rises to a stand.
“Is there a phone we can use?” I ask, hit with the desire to bring Jeanna and James up to date on the Luna front.
“Sure,” she says, sounding not completely confident in her choice of words. She glances over the waiting room. “Come with me.” She gestures for us to follow and we do. She leads us to a small office with a barren desk and one chair. But it has a phone, and that’s what I asked about.
“Do you have some family you can call to be with you?” she asks Luna.
“Not really, no.” She shakes her head and I shoot her a questioning glance.
Mrs. Davis squeezes Luna’s shoulder. “I’ll just be down the hall if you need me.”
We thank her and she returns to work. “Why don’t you want to call your grandparents,” I ask.
“Making the drive back down this way would be a hardship on my mom’s parents,” she says. “And I don’t want to put them to the stress if my mom’s condition is something that she’ll heal from somewhat quickly.”
“And you don’t want to upset your dad’s parents, considering they must still be reeling from yesterday’s service?” I ask.
“No.” She sits on the desk. “I don’t know that I trust them. They were too familiar with the men we later witnessed digging up my dad.” She sighs. “For all I know, my grandparents could be involved with the bokor. They could be the reason my dad got involved with the bokor. The reason he’s now…” Her voice trails off.
I grab her hand and squeeze. “I understand.”
She shivers. Jumps off the desk and paces the small office space. “What are we doing in here? Who are you going to call?”
“I thought it might be beneficial to call for reinforcements.” I pull a crooked smile to my lips. “I’m going to call Jeanna and James, see if they can’t get down here.”
“You’re pulling the coven together for my mom?” She freezes at the edge of the door and ogles me.
“For your mom. For you,” I say.
“What did I do to deserve your friendship?”
“You’ve been yourself, and that’s all I will ever ask of you.” My fingers inch through the air, reach for hers. Our fingertips touch, the sides of our fingers graze.
Luna’s head jerks and swivels toward the hallway. A millisecond later, she jumps deeper into the office. “I think one of my dad’s pallbearers is in the hallway.”
“No way.” I jolt forward, peer around the doorframe. Several people mill about the hallway. The majority of them are dressed in hospital scrubs. But sure enough, among the few civilian types, there is one man who is a sure lookalike for one of the pallbearers… i.e., bokor’s men.
My heart jumps into my throat, and my brain… my brain forgets how to think, problem solve, for all of a full minute. I blink my thoughts straight and ease the door to a silent close.
The bokor’s men are here. Here!
“All the more reason to call for reinforcements,” I say, turning back to the desk, and the phone.
“Definitely.” Luna nods in unhindered agreement.
I hate to do this to James a second time in one week, but I feel only one call need be made, and it should be to Jeanna, given it is her mom that provided us with a phone and a quiet room to make the call. I dial her number and quickly fill her in on the morning’s events.
“Demon disastrous,” she exclaims. “No one person should have to suffer all that poor Luna has endured in one weekend.”
“Can you grab James, fill him in on the deets, and get your bods here ASAP?” I ask. “Meet us in the waiting room, or possibly one of the hospital rooms?”
“No problem. Consider it done.” We say our goodbyes and end the call.
I hang up the phone, confident that both James and Jeanna will be in our company by lunchtime. Lunchtime because they will need time to get ready and get over here. I’m fairly confident that both my coven friends are still in their night clothes, given the hour and the fact that it’s a weekend.
I’m betting they’ll take roughly two hours to get here. I glance at my watch.
Luna checks the hallway for any signs of the bokor’s man, and seeing none, we step out of the small office and Luna grabs my hand. We head back toward the waiting room, our fingers weaved together. Jeanna’s mom steps in front of us.
“I thought you would like to know that the tests have been completed, and they’re now wheeling your mother back down here. You should be able to see her shortly. Also,” she raises a finger to the air, “there is a chance they are going to admit her. If so, she won’t be moved to a room right away, but she should be in a more permanent place by midafternoon.”
“More permanent?” Luna’s head jerks back a smidgen. “Is the hospital moving my mom in as a new resident?”
Mrs. Davis bursts with a micro-laugh. “Of course not. But if speculation proves correct, they will want to keep her for a few days.”
Luna frowns and I can only imagine what thoughts are rolling through her head. Her dad gone, zombie roaming some unknown territory, and her mom being admitted to the hospital for an indefinite time period. What will happen to her, all alone in her family home?
“Don’t worry.” Mrs. Davis presses her hand to Luna’s arm. “It’s merely procedure. No one
