A Shade of Vampire 26: A World of New (7 page)

I
drew
him out of the water and placed him again at the edge of the waves, where at least he could enjoy the view. We spent almost an hour on Sun Beach, breathing in the fresh air. I did some more water tricks for him and he even attempted to push his wheelchair across the sand. That was definitely too strenuous for him. That was hard work for anyone.

Then I supposed we ought to return. I pushed him all the way back to the hospital, and as we returned to his floor, I was surprised to see Shayla and Safi outside his room, talking in hushed tones.

On noticing our approach, they turned to face us.

“You’re back,” Shayla said, giving us a broad smile. She was holding a thin glass vial, containing a light transparent liquid. “Safi has brought this already.”

“Oh, awesome.” I’d been expecting to have to wait until tomorrow.

Shayla walked over to Josh and unscrewed the lid. “You ought to take half of this now, to prep your system, and then the other half in three hours, after which the cure should complete. Open your mouth, please.”

He acquiesced even as he eyed the vial curiously, allowing her to tip the half of the liquid into his mouth. He swallowed, grimacing.

“Now you should lie down,” Shayla said.

Safi took her leave—evaporating from the spot—while Shayla and I returned Josh to his room and helped him back into bed. I re-bundled him with blankets.

And then we had nothing to do but wait. I thought that he might rest his eyelids again, but he appeared to be too tense, too full of anticipation to sleep. I couldn’t concentrate on much else either.

Although I had packed some books in my bag, and had even pulled one out to read, I couldn’t concentrate on the words.

Josh glanced at me. “What are you reading?” he asked.

The fact that I had to check the cover to answer his question showed how much I’d been paying attention to the book.

“Uh…
Oliver Twist
,” I replied with a grin. This was technically my English literature homework.

I showed him the cover.

“Would you read to me?” he asked. “It would make the three hours pass more easily.”

“Oh, sure!” I hadn’t been expecting him to ask, but I was more than happy to oblige. I cleared my throat before turning to the first page. It was a strange feeling to be reading aloud to someone. I could hardly remember the last time I’d done it. Maybe it had been to Benedict, when he was around six years old. Rapunzel, I thought it had been. He’d always loved those fairy tales—I was sure my cousin was a closet romantic… One day, when I got my chance, I would out him.

I did my best to make the reading for Josh entertaining—more of a performance than a reading—although I came across quite a lot of words that I didn’t understand. I’d made a fair bit of headway through the novel by the time Shayla knocked on the door with the second dose.

“Do you feel any different at all?” I asked Josh.

He shook his head.

“Well, Safi said that the cure doesn’t take place until he’s had this second dose—within another three hours,” Shayla said. She fed Josh the last of the liquid, then stepped back from the bed.

She smiled as she glanced at the book in my hands. “Safi also said that Josh should go to sleep as soon as he’s taken it.”

“Oh, okay…” I felt surprisingly disappointed to pause the reading. I realized just how much I’d been enjoying it. I could have sworn that disappointment crossed Josh’s face, too.

“Well, see you later,” I said to him, before turning and heading out of the room with Shayla.

“See you later, too,” he replied.

I realized as I shut the door that that was the first time he had said goodbye to me.

* * *

I
knew
that this wait would be agonizing. But now that I was released from caring for Josh for the next three hours, I decided to go and pay Victoria a visit. I found her in her home, poring over a pile of history books. Apparently she had home study leave.

“If you’re busy I can come back later this evening,” I offered.

“Nah, take a seat,” she said, pulling me down to take a seat in her bedroom.

The last time we’d had a proper conversation was when we had been sharing a bunk in
Nightshade
, while waiting in the Philippine jungle. That seemed like an age away now.

As she sat down on her bed, she confessed to me what I had suspected about her and Bastien. That they’d developed an attraction, and even shared a kiss, before everything had spiraled downhill.

She gave me a pained smile. “Don’t mean to drag your spirits down, though,” she said. “I had a talk with Saira. I’m feeling a bit better now.”

“Glad to hear that,” I said, squeezing her hand. I was not used to Victoria being sad. She wasn’t one to mope or wallow. I didn’t even think I had seen her cry before. I gave her a long, tight hug, before glancing up at the clock.

Oh, my God.
Where had the time gone? I’d totally lost track of it. We’d spent over three hours chatting.

Our conversation had drawn to a natural close, anyway, so I said, “Well, I’ll leave you to your work. I’ve got to get back to Josh.”

“Oh, good luck with him.”

We hugged and kissed each other’s cheeks before I hurried out of her apartment and raced back to Meadow Hospital. As a supernatural, I could run fairly swiftly. Not as swiftly as a vampire, werewolf or a full fae, of course, but still fast by most standards.

My heart was pounding as I reached the top floor of the hospital. I skidded to a stop outside Josh’s room. As voices drifted through the door, I was too anxious to even knock. I just burst inside. My eyes shot to Josh’s bed, where he was sitting upright, surrounded by Safi and Shayla.

And my heart catapulted to the bottom of my stomach.

From the jinn’s and witch’s heavy, disappointed expressions, I already knew that Safi’s solution had been unsuccessful. And Josh… he looked shattered.

“What’s happening?” I asked, hurrying to Josh’s side. I instinctively reached out to hold his hand.

“Nothing worked,” he croaked.

“Why not?” I asked, staring at Safi.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she replied, her dark, sculpted brows knotted. “We can cure mundane, human illnesses without difficulty. Human ailments, both physical and mental, are very responsive to our brand of magic… so I can only think that those hunters’ methods were not quite mundane.”

Oh, no.

Whatever life I had seen returned to Josh after our trip to Sun Beach had drained out of him, and he looked worn and faded as the day we brought him here. He looked crushed.

I had been so sure that the jinn would be able to help him. This news came as an utter shock to my system. If the jinni’s cure had failed, I couldn’t imagine that there was anything that Corrine, Ibrahim or Mona could bring to the table. Jinn’s magic was always the final resort. Their powers were overall stronger than the witches’.

“So what now?” I asked.

Shayla ran her tongue along her lower lip. Concern shone in her eyes as she glanced at Josh. “I’m not sure, Grace. I’m not sure.”

T
he next few
hours with Josh were the hardest so far. I just… didn’t know what to say to him. I was supposed to be there, offering him emotional support. Encouragement. Being chirpy and cheerful. But I felt so down myself.

I offered to read to him again, but he didn’t even want me to do that. He just turned over on his side, his back facing me, and stared at the opposite wall.

When 8 PM came around, I took my leave, even though it killed me to leave him all alone.

I returned home and got ready for bed. But I couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turning, even as I felt surprised at how affected I was. I’d only spent a couple of days with him, and he was still as good as a stranger to me. But… he’d been made my responsibility. He’d been placed in my charge. If I was doing my job properly as a caregiver, I reminded myself, I
should
be feeling like this. I should be losing sleep right along with him.

I
felt
like death by the time morning arrived. I’d maybe gotten a couple of hours of sleep. Yet I was relieved that it was time to get up. I didn’t think that he should be spending too many hours alone at a time like this. I took a shower, grabbed my backpack, and returned to the hospital.

I stopped outside Josh’s door and pressed my ear against it. All was quiet. Perhaps he was still sleeping. Gently, I pulled down the handle and entered.

Every internal alarm bell went off at once as my eyes fell on his bed. It was empty.

“Josh?” I called, gazing around the room.

The door to the en suite bathroom was open.

I hurried to it. My breath hitched as I caught sight of Josh’s legs, flat on the ground. I rushed inside. He was lying stretched out on the bathroom floor. Terrifyingly motionless.

“Oh, God! Josh!”

As I moved to the upper half of him, I realized he had blood smeared on his head and a bump. A large, protruding bump. There were razors scattered around him, along with a fallen jar of shaving cream.

As I grasped his shoulders and struggled to ease him upright, the motion seemed to stir him. His eyelids flickered, then opened. His lips were parched, his eyeballs reddish. I could see clearer than ever the throbbing bump on his head.

“What happened?” I pressed.

He just shut his eyes tight again and clenched his jaw.

Then I noticed the edge of the sink. It was stained with blood. And I put two and two together. The razors, the shaving cream. He’d tried to reach for them himself to shave. That meant he had also pulled himself out of bed and into the wheelchair without assistance.

“Oh, Josh,” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you call for Tom?”

I hurried back into the bedroom to ring downstairs for Tom, as well as Shayla so she could take a look at his bump. The last thing he needed was a concussion. Then I rushed back to the bathroom and gathered the shavers and foam from the floor and placed them on the shelf. I turned to him again and motioned to help him back into his chair. “I can help you shave.”

To my shock, he jerked away from me as I attempted to raise him to the wheelchair. The glare he shot me made me stagger back. “Let me be a man, damn it!” he snapped.

I stared at him in a daze as he gripped the arms of his chair and hauled himself back onto it with difficulty. His cheeks reddened. Scowling, he let out an anguished breath before turning his chair around and returning to the bedroom.

Tom hurried in through the door, along with Shayla, and they reached him before he could attempt to help himself back into his bed. They eased him onto the mattress before Shayla checked his head.

I cast one last glance his way before leaving the room. As I stepped out into the corridor, hot tears prickled the corners of my eyes.
God, why am I so sensitive? It’s pathetic.

I guessed it was just the shock of finding him there, lying splayed on the floor, and then his lashing out at me immediately afterward when I had been trying to help him.

But as I dug deeper into my emotions, I realized the real reason behind my tears. I felt intensely saddened by my patient’s plight.

He wanted to be a man, he’d said. Yet here he was stuck with us, more incapacitated than even a child… with no way out in sight.

It didn’t matter how nice or kind or accommodating we were to him. It didn’t matter how beautiful or cozy or pristine Meadow Hospital was.

He was a bird trapped in a cage.

I have to find some way to free him.

I
figured
that it was best to give it some hours before subjecting Josh to me again. He had obviously been deeply embarrassed. I’d seen the flush in his cheeks. Maybe I would even wait until tomorrow to return. Give him some space. I was sure that Shayla would understand.

Besides, I had some thinking to do in the meantime.

I went straight back home to my room. I pulled up a chair and sat down at my desk before powering on my laptop and pulling out my notebook. At times like this I was endlessly grateful that we could access the internet in The Shade.

I surfed the web, researching and brainstorming for hours, while jotting down ideas and comments in my notebook. Once I felt that I had researched all that I could, I left my bedroom and headed for the large storage room toward the back of the apartment. My father kept exercise equipment here, among stacks of boxes. I began sifting through his equipment, trying to see if anything was suitable. Not much was, but there were a few pieces. I retrieved them from the shelves and set them down in the corridor.

Next, I headed for our three spare bedrooms and poked my head inside each of them. We didn’t have any guests staying here now, of course. And we did not have guests all that often. Usually it was one of my cousins come to stay over.

As I stepped into the third room, I knew that this was the one. This had the largest windows of all three and afforded the best view—miles of redwood forests, a glimpse of the Black Heights, and in the far distance the ocean. Also, this room was pretty bare already, with just a single bed, a chair and a bedside table. It would not take much effort to clear it. I dragged the furniture out and stuffed it into the room next door before going back for the exercise equipment I’d taken from the storage room. I left it in the now-empty guest room and then exited the apartment.

My next stop was a visit to the senior school’s gymnasium. It was empty of pupils at this time, and there were no adults around from whom I could ask permission to borrow some things, but I was sure that nobody would mind. I milled around, scanning the equipment and deciding which would be most suitable, just as I had done with my father’s. Most of the stuff here was heavy-duty, far too weighty and bulky for me to carry without help.

I was considering returning to the hospital to have a word with Shayla, but as I stepped out of the gymnasium, I caught sight of Shadow bounding across the school yard, Anna’s sons—young Kiev and his older brother Jason—close behind the mutt. Both of them were vampires.
Great
. I didn’t need any more help than them.

I called over to them and explained what I needed to do, and they gladly agreed to help. And so the three of us transported all of the equipment that I had singled out in shifts back to my apartment. Shadow could’ve helped us if we had had some sort of sledge or cart he could’ve pulled along. Instead, he proved to be a bit of a hindrance, constantly jumping up at me to lick my face. He always got more excitable around me than others, and I was not quite sure why. Perhaps because I rarely took him for walks and I was more of a novelty to him. He definitely slowed down the process, but within an hour, we had filled up the spare bedroom to my satisfaction.

I said thanks to Jason and Kiev before they headed off, leaving me to begin arranging the room. This took me almost as long as bringing the stuff here, as I tried to put some real thought into it. Once I was done, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face… There was one more touch, however. I returned to my room and grabbed my MP3 player and speakers, and hooked them up in one corner.
Perfect
.

The way Josh made a habit in the mornings of wheeling up and down the corridor before he wanted to do much else made me think that in his previous life, he’d had some sort of strict morning regimen. Well, now, if he liked what I’d done, he could come here instead. Every single piece of equipment I’d selected was specifically meant for strengthening the upper body: arms, chest and torso. He might not be able to move his legs, but if he took it slowly and steadily, and didn’t strain himself, I was certain that he could bring his faded muscles back to life… and maybe in the process feel more like a man.

I felt quite proud of myself as I gazed around the room, wiping my brow with the back of my hand. Since I had decided to give Josh a break from me for the day, I spent the rest of it catching up with homework. Though I found it hard to concentrate. I kept imagining myself showing him the room tomorrow and wondering how he would react. Whether he would be delighted or… something else. I hoped at least that it would bring a smile to his face.

I wasn’t sure what we were going to do with him now, if we couldn’t cure him. But at least we could try to improve his quality of living. We had to stay optimistic… That was something that my father had instilled in me from an early age.
Make the best of what you have, and never let your circumstances drag you down.
My father could sure give that kind of advice from experience. He’d been put through the mill unlike anyone else I knew in The Shade, and that was really saying something given the history of this island.

Once bedtime arrived, I packed up my homework and retired to bed, though not without taking one last look at our new gym.