Standing a few feet behind the nurse, the bokor’s man. And he has his sights set one hundred percent on Luna.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The nurse is all smiles, and the bokor’s henchman standing at her back is black ink and vinegar. He gives us the two-finger symbol for ‘watching you’ and walks away. Luna and I both shiver.
I steal a glance at Miri, but Phillip and she have their heads turned away, collecting their jackets from the back of their chairs.
“What was that?” Jeanna asks.
“Tell you later,” I say and follow Luna and the nurse toward Mrs. Flores.
“Is this everyone?” the nurse asks and glances over our group. Her hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail, but several rebellious strands have broken free from the confinement. “This is a lot of people. How about everyone who isn’t family meet Luna and her mom at the room?”
“Oh, yeah. We can do that,” James says, taking a step back. He yanks Jeanna to his side.
“I’ll tell you what,” Miri says, turning to me. “If you don’t need us right now, Phillip and I are going to take off. Just call when you are ready to be picked up.” She turns her gaze to Phillip, and he approves with a slight nod.
“That’s fine.” A weight evaporates off my chest. No longer will I need to watch my words around Phillip but am able to speak freely with my coven cronies.
“It’s settled then.” She links her arm with Phillip’s. “If I don’t hear from you by say…” She looks at her watch. “Three, I’m sending Mike to hunt you down.”
“Four,” I counter. She agrees.
“Are we good?” the nurse asks.
“Yes. I’m ready to see my mom.” Luna steps forward.
The nurse informs the group of our destination, room number and floor, and turns toward the active ward. Miri and Phillip make their exit, and Luna grabs my hand, drags me at her side.
“Um. Okay,” James says. “I see how you are. Meetcha at the room.”
With a quick wave to my friends, I follow Luna and the nurse to Mrs. Flores’ location. She is laid out on a mobile hospital bed, asleep. The nurse hands us off to another, who pushes the rolling bed out of the ward, down the hall, and to the elevator. Up and out, we trail behind the rolling bed all the way to Mrs. Flores’ new hospital room. A visibly clean space harboring the heavy scent of camouflaged body fluids.
I wrinkle my nose.
The assistant locks the bed wheels, tells us someone will be in shortly to make sure Luna’s mom is settled, and heads out. Sweeps past the incoming arrival of James and Jeanna.
“This was easy enough to find.” James plops down into the only available seat.
“We’re going to need a few more chairs,” Jeanna says.
“We’ll make do.” I lean against the wall, watch Luna as she leans over and studies her mom.
“She looks peaceful. At least there is that,” she says.
A nurse bustles into the room, greets everyone, and checks all of Mrs. Flores’ connections. She moves bags of fluid to nearby machines. Clips things and switches others. A soft beep starts to measure time. “Just pull this string if you need anything.” She pulls a string to the side of the bed. It is attached to a red lever set in the wall behind the bed. “The doctor will be by to take a look at her chart.”
With that, the nurse is gone.
Jeanna glances into the hall. “We’re alone,” she says, partially closing the door and swinging back into the room. “Tell us what’s going on.”
“Yeah,” James blurts. “I’m starving over here. I must be fed. Feed me the knowledge.” He waves his hands inward, as if calling the information forth.
Luna straightens her mom’s hair and kisses her forehead, then moves beside James and props herself in the windowsill. I lean against the foot of the bed, and Jeanna jumps onto the stuffed armchair, crowding James.
“A lot has happened since I had to move back in with my grandma, temporarily,” I say and then proceed to fill James and Jeanna in on everything, jumping around the timeline. I cover the supposed death of Luna’s dad and his resurrection in the cemetery last night. Luna’s mom’s confrontation with the bokor and her health condition that developed afterwards. The sighting of one of the bokor’s henchmen down in the emergency room and his promise to be watching us. I then back up to the spell we cast to help my mom and its unexpected results. Wrap my long speech by telling them that the man who tried to kill my family a few years back is still alive and somehow controlling or possessing my mom.
“Holy flying Frankenstein!” James collapses into the chair, his eyes as wide as full moons.
“I don’t even know what to say to all that,” Jeanna says and bites her nail. “We are so over our heads we’re likely already drowning in the blood of those who came before us.”
“Morbid much?” My chin jerks back.
“Sorry.” She sighs. “Your family, will they help?” she asks.
“Nah.” I shake my head and glance at Luna. Her fingers are fidgety, and her gaze is glued to her feet. “Miri has sworn off magick, and my grandma refuses to get involved with any business concerning the bokor. In fact, she might skin me if she found out I was even talking about this with you all.”
“That’s a bummer,” James says. “If the rumor about your family are true, you could probably kick that bokor’s butt if you worked together.”
“I’d like to think so,” I add.
“But working together,” Jeanna says. “Combining our power and energy, there’s something to that. If we can recruit enough people to stand against the guy, we might have a chance at besting him.”
James and I exchange looks and nod. It is a possibility. But just how many would we need to pull our strength greater than his?
“His power comes from some place dark.” Luna raises her gaze.
