Page 63 of Deck of Scarlets
Without another word exchanged, I followed Kal to the opposite end of the library, where a door was hidden behind one of the bookshelves. We walked in silence, only our footsteps ricocheting off the empty walls, until we came to one of the doors labeled ‘infirmary’ and pushed our way inside. Not a single bed was occupied except one, where a curtain shrouded the only patient, Heather.
Bright lights illuminated the space before us, and the smell of sterilized products and loud machine noises filtered through the small room, which held a couple of twin-sized beds with matching white sheets like the infirmary I had awoken in. The bed, blocked by a white curtain, made my heart crack.
“She’s behind here,” he murmured.
Kal pulled aside the white fabric, and that’s when my heart split in two.
Heather’s face showed no sign of color; her lips held no pigment, as if I were staring at a corpse. Breathing tubes funneled through her nose. The machines buzzed on, keeping her stable, and when I reached for her hand, I found her temperature slightly chilled.
“Why does she look so…” I stopped, my throat constricting with emotion. This shouldn’t have happened.
“It’s rare. Only one other Scarlet has gone through stasis,” said Kal.
I squeezed her limp hand, praying some of my warmth could spark something, anything to jolt her awake. Tears welled in my eyes, a few escaping down my cheeks, staining the bed sheet that covered her comatose body.
I felt useless, only able to hold her hand for comfort she might not even feel. None of this was right. “It should’ve been me.”
Kal gasped. “Remi, that’s not true.”
I squeezed her hand one last time before placing it gently on the bed. “I had no desire to become a Scarlet. That night, Heather was so proud to go through the ceremony.”
Kal’s hand touched my shoulder. “Don’t blame your—”
I turned, tears falling freely now, cutting him off. “I do blame myself,” I shake off his touch, “for not telling her sooner about my invitation. For not talking to her about it. For not… saving her from this nightmare.”
His face fell. “Remi…”
“I’m ready to leave.”
Without another word, Kal moved the curtain for me to leave, but not until I looked back at Heather one more time, wishing there was some way to wake her up.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kal guided us up to the main floor, my eyes sore and red from the tears that had flowed down my face. The night air was surprisingly calm, despite the constant heatwave the city seemed to be held prisoner by. And that, for some reason, put Kal on edge. His hand tightened around my fingers before he pulled me to the side of the entrance, watching nervously over his shoulder.
The wind began to pick up, the temperature dropping with each passing second as we stood pressed against the stone wall. The thought of summer faded into the chilling air, stealing the warmth away and raising goosebumps on my arms. My heart pounded, and the sound pulsated in my eardrums, blocking out the noise from the outside world.
“This can’t be right,” he whispered, panic twisting his beautiful face.
“What? What can’t be—” Kal covered my mouth with his big hand, hushing my panicked voice.
Then the smell hit. It smelt nothing like the typical trash on New York City streets or the stale aroma of cigarette smoke and fried food from food carts. It was a rotting corpse smell, traveling with the way of the wind, suffocating whatever air lingered in the small space I shared with Kal. The familiarity of the aroma had my mind reeling from one previous encounter, one where lucid drugs had obstructed my senses. A giant knot began to twist and tighten in my stomach, a wave of nausea threatening to escape from my mouth. Kal held me tight against the side entrance, a trickle of sweat dripping down his temple.
He moved his mouth close to my ear, breathing heavily and shakily against my skin. “Don’t move. Okay?”
A nervous bubble in my stomach tightened as he released me, disappearing before I could stop him. Silence replaced his absence, hanging over me like a dark cloud, ready to cause catastrophic damage. Every part of me wanted to go after Kal, but would going against his order cause more harm than good? Would I just get in the way when I didn’t even know what was out there? After all, I’d become a part of his world now, I had every right to step in and help. But my type of ‘help’ required me to watch from the sidelines to witness what everyone kept trying to convince me existed.
My chance arrived unexpectedly, and it would steal a peek before Kal noticed anything out of order.
Bracing myself for what lurked around the corner, I breathed in and out for a couple of seconds to calm myself and stepped around, facing whatever danger lay head-on.
The contrast from the front of the building, where the shrubs and trees were a vivid green, did not compare to the dead, charcoal branches hanging limp in the backyard. But that wasn’t what brought me to my knees. It was Kal jumping, bow and arrow drawn toward a grueling creature, swiping furiously at his head. Long claws swiped back and forth, missing his head by an inch while he drew his bow with one swift motion, firing directly at his long, twisted body. The gruesome creature dodged the pointed arrow and soared through the air, landing on top of the cathedral.
It was a fucking Magidoz demon.
I shrieked from its proximity, which made Kal flip in the air, landing on the perfect spot to fire another arrow. It zoomed past, and instead of focusing back on Kal, the creature turned to me, its crooked teeth bared in anger, with a black substance dripping down its mouth.
“Remi! Use the pager!” Kal called from the opposite side of where I stood in the small courtyard. His movements were so quick I didn’t realize another arrow was shot from his bow.