Simon went to the hospital ward even though he was tired. When he’d arrived at the Underground, Booth had sent for him at once. The children’s mother, Emily, hadn’t been in good shape. He wanted to know if events had conspired to make orphans of the girl and her brother.
A few minutes later, he’d found his way through the tunnels to the med center.
A pretty woman, Simon thought her name was Kaye, stood in lavender scrubs at the triage center. She looked up at his approach.
“Cross, isn’t it?” Her voice was open and honest. She looked tired.
“Yes.” Simon stood at the desk. “I brought in a woman and—”
“—and two children.” Kaye smiled. “Quite outgoing children actually.”
“I wanted to find out how they were doing.”
“The kids are fine. The mother is going to need a bit of recovery. Apparently she’s a diabetic and had run out of medication. She’d lapsed into a coma. If you hadn’t found her when you did, she would have been dead within a matter of hours.”
“But she’s going to be all right?”
“She is. She’s resting naturally now.”
Simon breathed a sigh of relief. After everything the night had turned into, that was a welcome bit of news.
“Would you like to see them?”
Simon shook his head. The last thing he needed was for Booth to find out he’d stopped by the infirmary to check on the people he wasn’t supposed to have saved. “No. I’ve got to—”
Kaye smiled and looked over Simon’s shoulder. “Too late.”
Turning, Simon discovered the boy and girl were in a doorway behind him. Both of them had on new clothing and a few bandages. They stared at him shyly. The boy kept dropping his eyes and looking away.
“Are they all right?” Simon asked.
“Other than a few bumps and bruises, they’re fine.” Kaye walked around the desk and over to the children. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
“I really don’t think—”
“They’ve been waiting on you. They’ve been begging me to send for you, actually.”
Reluctantly, Simon followed Kaye. The young woman kneeled down by the kids.
“This is Emma,” Kaye said, “and this is Stephen.”
Emma stuck her hand out, then elbowed the boy to get him to do the same.
“Hi.” Simon shifted his helm which he carried under his arm, and pulled the glove from his right hand. He shook hands briefly.
“You’re the one who saved us,” the little girl said.
Simon didn’t know what to say to that.
“Yes,” Kaye said. “He is.” She looked at Simon. “From what I hear, what he did was a very brave thing.”
Feeling embarrassed and uneasy, Simon wanted more than anything to escape the encounter. Nothing good could come of this if Booth heard about it. He started to make his departure.
“Thanks for saving my mom,” the little girl said. “I was really scared that the monsters were going to find us before Daddy came home.”
Simon was surprised at how strongly emotion moved within him. After learning of his father’s death, after seeing how many deaths had happened in London, the child’s simple thank-you touched him more than anything had in a long time.
“You’re welcome,” Simon said. “But it wasn’t just me. There were others.”
“I know. But you’re the one who came in after us.”
Simon smiled. “I couldn’t leave you.”
“You could have,” Emma said. “Others did. When Mom got sick and we couldn’t wake her up, I went to some of the neighbors that lived around us and tried to get them to help us. No one wanted to come out of their houses.”
Thinking about the little girl running through the streets knocking on doors, easy prey for the demons, almost made Simon sick.
“Well then,” Simon said, “I’m glad you asked me.” He squatted down to look her in the eye. “You did a very brave thing coming out to stop me.”
The little girl smiled a little bigger. “I knew you would save us. You had to. You’re a knight in shining armor.”
Simon knew his armor didn’t shine. It was covered in soot and debris from the battle. Blood: his own and that of demons and other Templar. “I’m not—”
“You are,” Kaye interrupted, smiling, too. “We’ve all got to have something to believe in these days, don’t we?”
“Do you know King Arthur?” Stephen asked. “Have you gotten to meet him?”
“No.”
“Oh.” The little boy seemed disappointed. “Mom reads King Arthur to us a lot. King Arthur is my favorite hero. The legends say that Arthur will return when Britain needs him most.”
Simon grinned, remembering the times his father had read some of the classics to him when he was small. It had been apparent that his father had loved those stories, and even seen what the Templar were doing as noble and heroic. Simon had never bought into that, but he’d never before felt the way he did now.
“I always liked Sir Gawain,” Simon said.
Emma took a strip of blue cloth from her pocket. Without a word, she approached Simon and wrapped the strip around the armor at his biceps. She tied it into a bow and stepped back.
“It’s a favor,” Emma said.
Touched, Simon nodded. “I know.”
“I hope it brings you luck.”
“Thank you.”
“All right then,” Kaye said, standing again. “I think we’d better let Simon go rest. He’s been up for a long time.”
The children said a final good-bye and returned to their mother’s room.
“I’ve put cots in there for them,” Kaye said.
“If they need anything,” Simon said.
“We’ll take care of them. Don’t you worry about that. But you do need to rest. You look as though you’re ready to keel over.”
Simon felt like it, too. He’d been on his guard around Booth, but the fatigue was kicking in again. He told her thanks and good-bye, then headed back to the barracks.
The barracks were quiet when Simon returned. Only a few Templar were there, telling him without looking that it was daylight. The Underground tried to maintain a day/night rotation that matched the outside world. Even with the chaos that had consumed London, evidently the effort was still being made.
He
