Chapter 13 — The Hospital

  William blinked, the harsh hospital lighting irritating his eyes. He was in a hospital ward, laying in bed with an IV fluid bag dangling from a hook by his side. Next to him, a vital monitor beeped vigorously. The sun bore down through the window, revealing a clear blue day. He seemed to be the only patient in the room, as doctors and nurses bustled about outside. It felt like a while had passed since he fell asleep.

  Where was he? He looked around until he saw a little placard on the wall saying Mount Cyane Hospital, sponsored by the Van du Gartens. Just a few miles away from university then, in the city center. Judging by the relatively peaceful surroundings, it seemed like the lockdown had ended.

  A nurse in her twenties walked into the room, holding a clipboard. “Good morning, Mr. Blackwood. How are you feeling today?”

  William sat up, although the movement took quite a bit more effort than he realized. “Not too bad. A bit sore.” He looked down at his hospital gown, smooth and unblemished skin underneath. Now that his head felt a bit more clear, he remembered quite clearly why he looked uninjured. The skulk went straight for his neck, but he repelled it before it could land the killing blow.

  “How long have I been passed out?” he asked, pointing out the window. “It looks like the lockdown is over, right?”

  “The lockdown has been over for more than a week, Mr. Blackwood,” the nurse replied politely, a hint of pity in her smile. “And you were discovered unconscious roughly one day before that.”

  “A week? That long?”

  “That’s correct. We’re still taking care of some of the wounded from the attacks, but most of our patients have been discharged already.” The nurse switched to the other side and began to operate on the vital monitor machine, while taking out some instruments. “Can you face your chest to me?” she asked, holding up a stethoscope.

  William turned as the nurse put the cold metal against his ribcage, following her dictated instructions.

  “Did anyone else pass away in our university?”

  The nurse shook her head. “I believe the only death was a boy named Ebenezer Finch.”

  “How about Finn Mutton?”

  “Ah, yes. Finn Mutton is in stable care at the end of this hallway, being taken care of by my colleague. He’s still in a coma.”

  Finn had survived. He couldn’t believe it. Somehow, they had both survived.

  “And Abby Fate?”

  The nurse looked a bit confused. “I’m afraid there isn’t a patient named Abby Fate currently at our hospital, Mr. Blackwood.”

  That arm that he saw the skulk carrying… he couldn’t tell in the moment, but could it have been Abby’s?

  “Did anyone else at Trinity see the monster?” he asked.

  “We weren’t informed of any monster related injuries at Trinity Academy, Mr. Blackwood,” the nurse replied. “Your vitals appear to be fine. Please get some more rest, and we’ll have you officially discharged by the afternoon. One of my colleagues will bring some food for you in the meantime. You must be starving, right?”

  As the nurse left the room, William pondered about their conversation, as well as everything that had transpired in the week or so he’d be in a coma. No monster related injuries? So nobody else had seen the monster in the university? How was that even possible? This situation was trickier than he thought. Even in such a situation, the skulk must have covered its trail well.

  He absentmindedly reached over to the night stand, where the nurse had kindly left a bag of his belongings. Rummaging through the package, he fished out his phone. The screen had a new, fine crack running down the bottom corner, which made his heart ache to see, but otherwise it had survived the ordeal. He looked at the phone with a reverence, as well as a newfound curiosity. It seemed to be tied to his newfound power, although he didn’t fully understand how exactly.

  He turned it on, as the battery displayed that it was almost empty. Rummaging through his pack again, he took out his charger and plugged the phone in. It looked the same as always when he turned it on. Flipping the screen to white, he no longer felt that mana draining feeling from before. He reached towards the light and tried to touch it, to materialize it, but it had reverted to being an ordinary screen light. How curious. He continued to experiment with the phone, turning it on and off, unplugging it, changing the brightness setting of the light, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get that ethereal, life saving white light to resurface again.

  What a strange situation. He’d never heard of someone that could not utilize their power again after awakening. Sure, some powers took some getting used to, but to be completely unable to manifest it again? That was unheard of. Even level one ability users had no trouble manifesting their powers after awakening, so why couldn’t he?

  The other uniquely frustrating aspect of his ability not working was that with Finn in a coma, his ability happened to be the only piece of evidence to prove that something actually happened that night. Although he had gone through quite enough self doubt for a lifetime at this point, and firmly believed what he saw, it would be nice to have a little confirmation.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The second nurse entered a while later with a tray of food. William’s stomach grumbled at the sight of the rather plain sandwich, soup, and slice of fruit on a platter, an ordinary meal that looked fabulous given his current hunger levels.

  “Try to eat a bit slower,” said the new nurse, handing him a napkin.

  William looked up at the young nurse, noticing that her voice sounded vaguely familiar. He nearly dropped his spoon when he saw her face. She had long brown hair tied into a ponytail, and an ordinary but pleasant face that he’d seen before, on that night outside of apartment 626. It was the maid.

  “Looks like you remember me as well,” the ponytailed nurse said with a calm smile. “I’m Farida. And you delivered the fried chicken the young master ordered, right?”

  “Yeah,” William replied, setting down his spoon. “That was me.”

  “Thank you for helping me that day. I took it as a part-time job for the weekend, but as you could tell it’s not the easiest one,” she said with a laugh. “You’re a good person.”

  William shrugged. “I don’t think so. I’m selfish.”

  She smiled again. “Then you’re a good person who happens to be selfish at times. Isn’t that all of us?”

  He let out a small dry laugh. “Sounds about right.”

  Farida nodded knowingly, then leaned over and dropped to a low voice. “Listen to me, William. I don’t know what’s going on, but I think you’re a good person. I’ve been listening in to the conversations that your visitors have been having. They don’t seem like your family.”

  William listened intently to what she was saying, but interrupted for a second. “Whoever you saw, they’re not family. I don’t have any family left.”

  Farida looked at him with pity, and placed another hand on his arm in comfort. “I’m sorry. I know how difficult things can be sometimes. But you have to know—the older gentleman with the sickly looking skin, I believe he’s a professor at your school, has been in talks with your dean about the cause of your coma, Finn’s coma, and that boy called Ebenezer’s death. They seem to have come to the conclusion that you’ve all been poisoned by some new kind of drug, and that he’s been insistent that you’re responsible for spreading it.”

  “That’s not what happened—”

  Farida nodded. “I think so, too. Overall the story sounds a little strange, but I don’t think they care. Your school’s dean mentioned that keeping Trinity's reputation was important, and that other professor insisted that you’ve been the one spreading the drugs around school and that you should be punished for it.”

  She continued. “The police will be coming soon to question you. Be careful not to say anything wrong.” She paused. “And I’m curious, what really happened there? The lab results showed that you were both exposed to some unknown synaptotoxic substance, but they couldn’t find the origin of it.”

  “It was a monster. It let out this black mist that caused paralysis, and, well, apparently it also causes people to go into a coma.”

  Farida seemed surprised. “Really? I heard that there weren’t any monster reports. And plus, a monster with that strong of a paralytic ability must have been documented, right? We couldn’t find that substance in our database.”

  “Figured. I think it’s a new type of monster.” William shook his head. “It’s a long story. I went looking for my friend Abby Fate in the middle of the night—she was getting punished so she had to scrub the toilets, and Finn happened to be following behind me. That’s when we ran into the monster in the girls’ bathroom.”

  Farida suddenly seemed emotional. “Did your friend Abby go missing?”

  “She did. How did you know?”

  “I heard your visitors talking about a girl who went missing. They were planning to blame you for her disappearance as well. Do you think the monster took her?”

  “I’m sure of it,” he confirmed. “She looked like she was in the middle of cleaning when it snatched her.”

  The sound of footsteps from outside the door prompted Farida to look behind. She took out her phone and flipped to her contact code. “Here, scan my contact. If you run into any trouble, let me know, okay?”

  William scanned her into his contact list, as the door burst open and Farida scurried out.

  The atmosphere in the hospital room shifted instantly as the group entered. Professor Ghoulstein, with his gray complexion and perpetually sour expression, led the way, followed closely by the dean of Trinity Academy, the gray haired man who gave the speech during the beginning of lockdown. Behind them trailed two uniformed police officers, their expressions professional. One of them carried a notepad, while the other held a digital recorder.

  William felt his pulse quicken, though he tried to remain calm. He had been expecting them to come, but not this quickly. He suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that they arrived this quickly to catch him before he could collect his thoughts.

  The detective, a middle-aged man with sharp features and an air of experience, stepped forward. "Good afternoon, Mr. Blackwood. I'm Detective Harris, and this is Officer Reynolds." He gestured to the younger officer beside him. "We're here to ask you a few questions regarding the incident at Trinity Academy last week."

  William swallowed hard. "Of course. I'll do my best to help."

  The detective nodded approvingly. "Thank you. Now, let's start from the beginning. Can you tell us what happened on the night of the lockdown?"

  William took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts. "It started when people started yelling and running down the hall, saying that one of the students wasn’t moving. We then went over to the janitor’s closet and found Ebenezer Finch there.”

  The detective scribbled something in his notepad. "And who was with you at the time?"

  "Finn Mutton, Abby Fate, and Vanessa Lullaby were with me. We were together most of the night."

  "That aligns with what Ms. Lullaby had to say to us earlier in the week. And what were you doing at the time of the discovery?" Harris asked, his tone neutral but probing.

  "We were just drinking and playing truth or dare in an abandoned classroom. Abby suggested it, and we thought it would be a fun way to pass the time during the lockdown."

  Professor Ghoulstein butted in. “You see how irresponsible these kids are, stealing alcohol and causing trouble in the middle of a lockdown? I don’t doubt for a moment that their group is the source of the substance!”

  As Professor Ghoulstein spoke, William couldn’t help but notice a sealed envelope in the hands of one of the police officers, addressed to him from the government. The last time he’d seen a sealed envelope was when he received notice of his inheritance. What was that all about?