The guys had to come get her. And find a saw, plus some clothing. It was the only way. She cracked the door, looking for a phone she saw on the wall. A call to them would set that in motion, but they might see her doing it. She wasn’t sure where her room was, near a nurse’s station or farther away. Anna sighed. She was tiring of this whole thing. The likelihood of getting caught and arrested made her want to just walk out of there and not even bother trying to get away.
Footsteps sounded in the hall and she shrank back as a man and woman began arguing.
“Miss, you can’t go in there.” A guard. The room was guarded, after all.
“Oh, I’ll just be a minute. I wanted to see what the rooms are like.” The woman’s steps came closer.
“This one is off limits. You’ll have to–”
“I’ll just be a minute.”
More footsteps, this time from both, getting nearer. They had entered the room.
“Miss. Miss!”
“Does this one have a decent view? I so dislike not being able to see out.”
“Okay, look, you’ve seen the–”
“Sleep.”
The sound of a body hitting the floor made Anna’s eyes widen. Had the woman just cast a spell on the guard? The woman’s steps moved away and the room door closed with only a faint sound, but the lock turning made a louder click. Anna backed up as the woman’s footsteps approached the bathroom door. There was nowhere to hide if it opened, but the steps stopped just outside it, a shadow visible under the door.
“Anna,” said a woman’s voice, “it’s Eriana.”
Relief washed over Anna, and she peeked out to see her smiling savior holding a white plastic bag. An unconscious police officer lay on the floor. She let out a big breath and laughed. “I am so glad to see you right now,” she said emphatically.
“The feeling is mutual. Let’s get you on the bed and out of that stuff. The officer will be fine and should wake soon, but we’ll need to be gone, of course.” She helped Anna wobble over to and onto the hospital bed.
“Do you know how to use that thing?” Anna asked on seeing the cast saw in Eriana’s purse. She had never felt so happy to see one.
“Sort of. I’ve been watching videos.”
Anna smiled, not reassured by that. “Well, I do. This is the hospital where I work, which means I really need a disguise to get out of here without being recognized.”
“I have a hat and sunglasses for you, too.”
“Okay.”
They slowly cut through the cast on her arm first, and then Anna took over doing the upper part of one leg cast and teaching Eriana how to do the lower part. It took uncomfortably long to get them all off, at which point Anna changed into the undergarments, jeans, and t-shirt. She put her hair in a ponytail and pulled it through a baseball cap, impressed with Eriana’s thoughtfulness. Then she donned the glasses she didn’t really need and exited the room, which she now learned was toward the end of a hall, making it easier to be undisturbed. The officer was the only one here right now. They went down a stairway just a few steps away.
“You’re a real lifesaver,” Anna said, her voice full of gratitude, a feeling that was becoming common. That she needed a lot of help wasn’t something she was accustomed to, but the devastating nature of her problems blew past any pride she might have felt about going it alone. Self-reliance was great, but she didn’t care anymore. Let the help come by the truckloads. She was entirely happy to rely on others and eager to show her appreciation, which made her wonder how to do so for the woman she was so often impersonating now. What was an appropriate thank you gift for healing your paralysis, or knocking out a police officer, or rescuing you from impending jail time? Was a fruit basket not enough? She laughed a little, needing some comic relief even if she had to provide it herself.
Eriana smiled. “That’s been the literal truth in my past.”
“How did you know I arrived?”
“Hidden camera with motion detection,” she said, slipping something tiny into her purse. “They have guarded the room since you disappeared, but I was able to flirt my way inside and plant one. I’ve been hanging out nearby or in the cafeteria or other waiting rooms since then.”
They soon left the hospital by a side door and walked across the parking lot to Eriana’s white BMW rental car. As the car started and they buckled up, they saw officers running into the hospital.
“I guess they’ve seen the guy you put to sleep. Or the casts. Maybe we should’ve hidden those.”
“Maybe.” The priestess handed her a red phone. “Why don’t you call the others.”
“Right.” Anna called Eric first, filling him in, then asking her driver, as they headed down the road, “Where are we going?”
“Back to Jack’s apartment, as quickly as we dare. I don’t want you disappearing from a moving car again.”
Anna had no argument against that. Along the way, they discussed the Corethian Amulet, which Eriana had in her purse. She asked Anna to take it out. She did, a weird feeling coming over her at the familiar sight of it. So far, they never saw something on Earth that they had seen on a quest. Though she had just been wearing a copy, seeing it on Earth brought a dose of reality to her. She shuddered,
