‘Grace, you came back!’
I tried to murmur something, but he shushed me. ‘You need to save your strength,’ he told me. He kissed my forehead and picked me up into his arms. ‘I haven’t been able to heal you fully, I’m too weak. But I will take you to the hospital.’
He just about managed to pick me up and carry me to his car. My eyes kept closing but I fought to try and stay conscious. Ben belted me into the passenger seat, started the car and sped across town to the hospital.
‘Grace, stay with me.’ Hearing those words, my body feeling as if it was failing again. ‘Don’t die on me.’ He pleaded.
I felt his hand touch my arm every so often. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to heal me or reassure me that everything was going to be fine. Perhaps it was both? He had bought me back from dying which I was truly grateful for, so it would have been selfish of me if I had chosen to die.
‘We are nearly there, hang on!’
He screeched to a halt outside A and E. As Ben carried me out of the car, I could feel heavy raindrops land upon my limp body. He only just managed to get me inside the building before he, himself, collapsed. I heard him shout for help before I sensed we were falling to the ground.
Chapter 21.
M y dreams were filled with the events of the recent past, repeating over and over. When I woke I saw Gran and my mum sitting beside my hospital bed. An IV was in my arm.
‘She’s awake.’ I heard my mum call out to a nurse hovering nearby.
‘I will get the doctor on duty.’
Mum reached for my hand. It was so nice to see her again. The last time had been just before I moved to my Gran’s. It had felt like forever when I was last at home.
I tried to mumble out the words of what had happened.
‘Shh, sweetheart, just rest for now.’ I heard my mother’s soothing voice.
My eyes were over-sensitive to the bright hospital lighting, the beeping noise from the heart monitor was deafening and the smell of antibacterial spray in the air overwhelming.
Through my squinting eyes, I saw the doctor, he looked really familiar. Then I realised he looked like an older version of Ben.
‘Welcome back, Grace,’ he said, cheerfully.
‘H...’ I tried again, but I was too weak to form what I wanted to say.
‘It’s a good sign that you’re trying to communicate with us but don’t strain yourself. You took a few nasty beatings, especially around your head.’
I must have been looking at him strangely, and no wonder. I was trying to figure out why he looked like Ben. Or was it the other way around?
‘Darling,’ my Grandmother said, with a tone that told me she’d known what I was thinking, ‘The doctor is Ben’s father. He has taken good care of you.’
I managed to form a smile on my face as soon as she mentioned Ben’s name. Then I remembered that he had been badly beaten too. And that he had saved my life.
‘Can I have a few moments alone with Grace?’ The doctor asked my family. They smiled, patted my arm and left the room. I tried to sit up to get a better look at the doctor.
‘Steady now Grace, you’ll be able to move in good time,’ he said.
‘Ben?’ I managed.
‘My son is fine. He has recovered already, just like you will in no time.’
‘What happened?’
‘You’ve been here for two days. You were badly beaten up, from what Ben has told me. You were kidnapped but he found you by tracking down your mobile phone. He said he saved you, but both only just escaped from your captor.’
So, he didn’t know much about his son’s second life as a wolf? Or that I was a spellcaster? Did he never wonder what Ben got up to? Especially as he must have been out all night, watching over me. Sure, he was a doctor and must not have been home a lot, but Ben’s mother? Did she not wonder and worry and speak to his dad about it? Whatever he knew or thought, he was so lovely and charming. I wondered how much Ben had told him about me. And about us.
‘Could you let Ben know I would like to see him. Please?’
‘Of course, I will phone him for you. I’m sure he would be delighted to know you have woken up.’
He shone a small light in my eyes, asking me to look to check my vision. He cleared his throat and then smiled at me.
‘All looks good. I would like to keep you in here for a couple more days. I know the police would like to question you as well, to see if you can remember anything about who kidnapped you. Do you feel up to that?’
I bit my lip. If I told the truth, they would think I made it all up or had hit my head much harder than they thought. I’d be locked up if I said that magic and werewolves truly existed and that one had kidnapped me to try to rape me. The only people I could try tell the truth to would be Natalie and my grandparents. I wondered if Natalie even knew what had happened to me. After everything she’d been through, I felt as if I couldn’t put her through anymore. She’d left for a reason. I needed to speak
