“Really? How do you figure that?”
“How would he know? He’s been locked up in there for decades. Okay, minus the three-day vacation when he met my mom.”
Ember snorted.
“I think it’s more like L’zar knew that I knew, and he was just trying to dig up the pieces so I could see it all clearly and ignore everything else. Which is totally weird when I think about it like that.”
“No kidding. Estranged prisoner dad knowing your head better than you do? Yeah, Cheyenne, I bet that’s pretty creepy.”
The halfling munched on more fries. “But it worked. And we found the assholes who took those kids. Got ‘em all out of there safely, and they’ll be back home by the end of the night.” They better be.
“There’s one thing I don’t get, though,” Ember said, then drained the last of her tea.
“What, I didn’t give you enough of a detailed play-by-play?” Cheyenne smirked.
“No, that part was great. Super efficient. But the half-drow I know wouldn’t walk away from a bunch of terrified kids freshly pulled out of a kidnapper mansion.” The fae frowned with a small, confused smile. “Why the hell did you come to see me instead of going with those kids?”
With a groan, Cheyenne slumped against the back of the armchair, grimacing at the dull ache in her forearms. “We had a little help in that house. From a Nightstalker friend.”
“For real?”
“Who’s apparently really pissed that I took off this stupid necklace to save all those kids. And nobody knows about him.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah, so my options were to give up the one person I know who knows L’zar Verdys or be on my merry way. I’ve been kicked out of the FRoE compound for now.”
Ember snorted. “Their loss.”
“Yeah. And Corian’s pissed at me. I’m not going over to his place tonight after his little lecture on not being a halfling idiot. I thought about checking out the Borderland forums and at least letting the families know their kids are safe, but the guy’s one of the admins on there too. Guess I’m just not feeling the whole, ‘Let’s pretend he didn’t call me an idiot so we can act like nothing happened’ part.”
“He’ll cool off.” Ember ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. “You need him. He knows it. And it sounds like he’s got a lot invested in your drow trials, or whatever.”
“Don’t remind me.” Cheyenne laughed. “It’s still weird. I have a Nightstalker professor showing me the ropes of not going apeshit whenever I’m pissed, and now I have a Nightstalker mentor who knows more about these stupid trials than I do. Because he knows L’zar.”
“And he found you at that mansion.” Ember wrinkled her nose. “That’s creepy. Really puts the stalker in Nightstalker.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s been watching me for a long time. Waiting for me to be ready. Jesus, I’m so tired of people telling me I have to wait ‘til I’m ready.”
With a small laugh, Ember sat back against the elevated hospital bed and fluffed the limp pillow behind her back. “You’re the only person who gets to decide when you’re ready, Cheyenne. And everybody knows it.”
The halfling studied the long gashes in her arms and let out another heavy sigh. “And yet, everybody’s trying to hold the halfling back.”
“Trying and failing. They’ll get it through their thick heads eventually.”
The fae’s grin was infectious, and Cheyenne found herself laughing with her friend. “Thanks, Em. I’m glad I’m not the only person who gets it.”
“That’s what I’m here for, right? Your sidekick holed up in a—”
A knock came at the door, and without waiting for a reply, Dr. Andrews stepped into the room with a stack of papers in his hand. He paused when he caught sight of the Goth chick looking like she’d just been dragged through a demolition site, then closed the door behind him. “I see your mysterious friend’s come back for another visit.”
“Hey, Doc.” Cheyenne gave him a tight smile. “How’s it goin’?”
“Well, I can say with complete confidence that my night’s been a lot less exciting than yours.”
The halfling shrugged and shared a knowing glance with her friend. “If you say so.”
“But I do have some exciting news for you, Ms. Gaderow. Should I assume you’d like your friend here with you to hear it?”
“That’s a pretty safe assumption, yeah.” Ember grinned as Dr. Andrews approached the foot of her hospital bed, her eyes trained on the paperwork in his hands.
“Okay, then. We’ve got everything set up to get you discharged and out of here tomorrow, Ember. At this point, there’s not much more we can do for you here at the hospital, so you get to go home. If you’re ready for it, I’ve got a referral to get you started with physical therapy on Monday.”
“Seriously?” Ember’s face lit up, and she turned toward Cheyenne to flash her friend a goofy, open-mouthed expression of surprise. “I’m getting out!”
“Tomorrow, yes.” Dr. Andrews glanced at the friends and readjusted his glasses. “You’ll need someone to help you get home and settled into a slightly different routine.”
Cheyenne snorted. “I’ve met doctors with zero bedside manner. You’re not one of them.”
“If that’s a compliment, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“These are your discharge instructions.” Dr. Andrews stepped around the other side of the bed to hand the papers to Ember. “You’ll sign everything else tomorrow, and then you’re on to the next step.”
“Awesome.” Ember scanned the papers, flipping through them quickly and shaking her head in disbelief. “Thought this was gonna take a lot longer. Hey, Cheyenne, I know you have a lot going on right now, but—”
“I gotcha.” With a wry laugh, the halfling patted her friend’s leg and nodded. “Whatever you need, Em, I’m here. All the other stuff I’ve got going on can wait.”
Ember tried to bring her grin back under control and failed. “I’m one seriously lucky chick in a hospital bed.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“Then make sure you two go over the discharge
