Page 30 of A Light in the Dark
THIRTY
I think I’ll survive being exploited.
The transfusion process took three hours, and topping my tank did wonders for me. Joel, on the other hand, went to nappy land as soon as the procedure finished, which the doctor and nurses reassured me was what they’d hoped for. As they had the luna moth’s permission, two of the hospital’s doctors, both women, explained the complications with his head injury, why they’d allowed the transfusion in the first place, and that he’d be closely monitored for the next few days to make certain the swelling in his brain stayed down.
Using a mixture of magic and medicine, they piggybacked on the transfusion process to reduce the damage the bat had done, and they expected my neighbor to sleep through the next full day.
While they’d found evidence of where I’d been struck, I’d escaped his level of injury.
Then, the women confessed they were using me to keep him in line and give him a chance to recover, something stress and separation impaired. In reality, they would have been willing to release me in the morning, but they’d keep me for observation so they could monitor Joel’s health.
The hospital in Stonecreek had been more than happy to transfer him to Moonriver, as Moonriver boasted better facilities for the injuries Joel suffered from.
Keeping a straight face, I informed them I had the worst headache ever, and if they could hand me my project keeper, I’d somehow tolerate the utter agony. I estimated it would take at least two days for the headache to fade.
They laughed at me, well aware I’d ditched my headache already and was unlikely to endure any more of them, especially with the painkillers they gave me every few hours.
Once they left, I stitched, kept an eye on Joel, and caught naps when I needed to give my hands a break from my creative work. I kept my complaints about the hospital food to myself, and when I got home, the first thing I’d do was dig out my deer haunch from the freezer and go on a binge of a favorite food. I’d even invite Joel over to enjoy the bounty.
By the time Joel woke up, a rather slow process due to his sleepy nature, I’d gotten enough of my cross-stitch project finished to recognize the upper left corner involved a forest of some sort. I grinned at the man, who grumbled curses, shot dark glares at the IV, and otherwise made it clear he’d rather be at home in his comfy bed.
“I can’t fix your comfy bed problems, but the hospital food was bland yet tolerable, so that’s something.”
Joel regarded me with a pout. “I feel like molasses.”
“Well, you’ve slept a whole day. You needed it. How does your head feel?” As the nurses had asked me to press my summon button when he’d woken enough to be communicative, I did as told before returning to my stitching.
“Much better,” he admitted, and he wiggled to sit up without making use of the bed’s remote.
I was a far lazier beast and let the bed do the work for me. “Good.” I turned my project to show it to him. “Shifter Five truly makes excellent silk, and I feel you should take me to visit Shifter Five’s wares twice a month instead of just once a month.”
“Good progress. I’m going to tell my cousin to put Shifter Five into protective custody, though.”
“I would be very protective as a custodian of Shifter Five,” I informed Joel in a solemn tone, well aware he produced my favorite silk. I pulled out my phone and waved it in his direction. “Also, thank you for replacing this. How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing. The Hunters paid for it. They were overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. They also bought you a third camera. That was Allasandro’s contribution. He got you a green bag for it, and he put some luna moth patches on it for you so it was extra special and catered to your needs.”
“Once you are recovered enough to take photographs, I will invite luna moths over to my home so we can photograph them. We’ll extort them for their silk, get them skunked on roses, and feed them a buffet. They might forgive us for getting into trouble that way.”
“That plan has a high chance of working,” he admitted. “But when do I get to get skunked on your roses?”
“You’re still my hostage, and my hostage gets ongoing rose rights. You’ll also have to provide some adult supervision, as I can’t be trusted with roses. ”
Joel laughed at that. “I’ll help you learn how to resist the sleepy charms of roses, so don’t worry about that. At first, you’ll probably only be able to shift once a week. Your magical aptitude will make a big difference in that. I can realistically do four times a week, and that’s higher than normal. Most of our flutter can do twice a week. Wolves have a much easier time. Most of the wolves do equal exchange of mass between forms, so they end up being huge wolves and can change almost at will. It’s a lot more energy required to transform down to something that weighs a few ounces at most.”
“Is that why the silk? The mass has to go somewhere?”
“We think so, although it may be a magic to mass ratio. We haven’t quite figured it out yet. Magic does play a role, however. Shifters with high magical aptitude tend to produce more silk, higher quality silk, and can shift more often.”
I understood; with his aptitude due to his shoring work and general magic usage, he could shift more often than the rest of his flutter. I suspected his magic also played a role in his silk’s quality. “This is good for me, as it means you will produce quality silk for my enjoyment.”
“I think I’ll survive being exploited, but I’m going to need a lot of quality time in your home with your roses.”
I smirked, wondering when Yolana would inform him of the truth. “You’re sacrificing yourself so no other luna moths fall into my trap. You’re so noble.”
“I’m possibly jealous, because if you get your hands on Shifter Five, you’ll have a second hostage, and I don’t want to share. As the sole hostage, I get preferential treatment. ”
He also got my undivided attention, and I held hope he enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed his.
“I will restrict my obsession with Shifter Five to within my home and in Yolana’s store,” I promised. He’d quickly figure out the obsession would result in me working to lure him into my bedroom, where he’d be invited to jointly rule my roost while I stole my boss’s idea of turning Joel’s home into a crafting palace and guest house we maintained to protect the rest of our section of street.
“I suppose I should be grateful that you have limits.”
I grinned at him. “I also owe Elenora a blanket, a matching hat, a scarf, gloves, and anything else crazy ladies with a hobby of baking poison might like. I would not have survived that without previous introductions to strangleberry. Honestly, it made me mad I couldn’t enjoy my berries! I had to play at choking on them. I also didn’t appreciate getting tossed in a river and having to go camping without the benefit of any tools. That said, I liked being out in the woods.”
I blamed the luna moth in me, as it was nice, quiet, and peaceful when my worries hadn’t taken the spotlight.
“Well, I can promise more trips to the wild outdoors without the parts you did not like.” Joel engaged me in a staring contest. “And if you really want strangleberry to be involved, we’ll sneak across the border and steal the edible kind.”
Stealing from the wolf shifters sounded like a good time to me. “Tell me more.”
“I’m thinking you’ll have to agree to be my hostage for a period of at least ten days if you want that. ”
“I’ll even struggle for your enjoyment,” I promised. “Can we taunt the wolves that we stole their berries?”
“That seems like a reasonable request.”
“Once we’re both fully recovered from this, I propose that we take a vacation to do just that. You can introduce me to all the best flowers to get skunked on in the wild, too.” I would pretend I knew nothing about being on a mayoral ballot and hope sanity prevailed. “We will visit your cousin and gather everything we need for a wilderness adventure, including a craft project for you.” I held up my project again. “I will be working on this.”
“I think I can handle arranging for a comfortable camping trip with a glamorous tent setup so you can stitch in peace and comfort while in a wooded environment. When you’re tired of stitching, we’ll steal berries from the Hunters and sniff their flowers, all without their permission.”
I giggled at the thought of yanking the Hunters’ chains through doing what luna moths did when shifted and given an opportunity to stop and smell the roses. “Tell me what else we’re going to do to the Hunters.”
“I have a list.”
It took three days in the hospital to realize just how badly my kidnappers had injured Joel. While he recovered ahead of schedule, he suffered through bouts of dizziness, infrequent but alarming hallucinations, and a tendency to shapeshift without warning, leaving an explosion of silk in the room. As the doctors and nurses wanted me to start rebuilding my strength, I was given the job of collecting it all and transporting it, by hand, across the hospital to where Coraline and Calden waited with bags.
They promised to make certain my precious silk would be cared for.
According to the doctors, who dealt with me having anxiety over the unexpected shifting, shapeshifters tended to have spontaneous incidents during expansive recoveries like the one Joel faced. It helped them heal faster and removed some of the strain of the injury.
I did my best to focus on the ‘heal faster’ portion of their commentary. I enjoyed caring for him while a luna moth more than I should have, and I went out of my way to find roses for him to sniff while he suffered. When he wasn’t sniffing roses or gorging on fruit, I kept him on my shoulder and transferred him to a plastic lined basket so he could expel his silk without making a mess everywhere.
After the sixth transformation, Joel refused to shift back to human, even after eating seventeen oranges and vomiting out at least twenty pounds of silk, which I got to walk to the entrance of the hospital to meet up with a rather amused Coraline, who’d escaped from Calden on virtue of him needing to get some work done.
“I’m so sorry about this,” I mumbled, handing over the latest bag overflowing with silk.
Joel rode on my shoulder, and judging from his still state, he’d passed out following his latest bender.
Coraline smiled, reached over, and petted the luna moth. “The poor guy. That’s shift number six so far, right?”
“It is,” I confirmed. “He’s refusing to shift at this stage, not that I blame him. He’s exhausted. ”
As far as I could tell, Joel slept through the wolf’s attention. “Let’s go talk to the doctors and see if we can take him home. There’s a point where being in the hospital doesn’t help shifters much, and if he’s refusing to shift back, he’s probably at that point. Shifting, peace, and quiet will be best for him at this point. Try not to fret. The first time Calden injured himself, I had my first midlife crisis. Nobody had told me there’s no point in hospitalizing shifters after a certain stage, and my idiot spouse had decided to check himself out. I went to visit him, he wasn’t there, and I lost my shit. The hospital staff laughed at me. A nice nurse explained it to me, and she suggested I should seek vengeance for his wily ways.”
“Have you paid him back for that yet?”
“I’m paying him back for that stunt soon.” Coraline raised a brow and nodded in Joel’s direction.
Ah. Right. The game. “When is the game happening? Will Joel be able to play?”
“We’re waiting for Joel to recover and be rested before we have the tournament. Winning because a pair was excluded due to a bunch of assholes didn’t sit well with anybody. Since we’ll be playing on weekends for most of the days for however long it takes, it’s not a big deal. Nobody is happy about having to cram in our errands and chores over the weekdays, but we’ll probably survive.”
I frowned. “How many hours a day will we be playing?”
“Fifteen, split into three five hour sessions. There will be a two hour break between each session.”
I could work with that schedule. Two hour breaks would give me plenty of time to make food and stretch. “By ‘home,’ do you mean our home or yours? ”
“Mine,” Coraline admitted with a grin. “The hospital will insist you stay close for a day or two in case Joel needs to go back for any reason. If you go three days without mishap, we’ll drive you home. Flying will still be out for another week at a minimum.”
“They almost killed him, didn’t they?”
“It came uncomfortably close, yes. But because you two took the hits, no more refugees should die.”
I wondered how many times I would have to tell myself that before I accepted the truth of it. I hadn’t minded quite as much when I’d been the one targeted, but Joel’s injury had done an excellent job of transforming the whole incident into an unforgivable sin. To keep myself from lying, I focused on the silver lining. “I’m glad the refugees will be safe.”
“That leads me to the next problem.”
I wanted to go home, pick a corner, and cry for a while. “I have a plethora of problems. I do not need more. Please take the problems elsewhere.”
She laughed. “The emergency election in Stonecreek is tomorrow.”
The election might be the death of me, especially since my boss kept sending me teasing texts and photographic evidence I was on the ballot. “I definitely do not need that problem. I’ll worry about it the day after tomorrow. For now, let’s see if we can get Joel busted out of here and do something—anything—other than sitting around a hospital while waiting.” If I needed to care for the luna moth for even a few weeks, I’d happily carry him around, offer him choice bits of fruit, gather his silk, and otherwise rule over him. If anyone tried to take my luna moth, I’d weaponize anything I could get my hands on.
I had many problems, but a lack of my own luna moth would not be one of them.
“Hopefully, we can manage that little. Come on. Just don’t let Joel fly off on us. I brought a luna moth prison for if he’s discharged.”
“You better go get the luna moth prison even if he’s not discharged, because I don’t trust him. He will try to bust out of this joint,” I stated.
Laughing, Coraline returned to her SUV, and after a few minutes, returned with a large plastic cage meant for a rodent of some sort. “I think Calden’s just making me drive more. After we got together, he insisted I learn how to drive so I can be properly independent. And he keeps threatening to buy me my own vehicle if I don’t use his at least twice a week.”
“That’s harsh.” I turned my head to regard the sleeping luna moth. “You don’t think he’ll make me drive, will he? I have feet.”
“He’s the type who will delight in being your servant and will drive you wherever you want. Mine prefers independence. Then he gets upset when I get on the bus and read. Me? Spend forty minutes to go somewhere it would have taken ten if I drive? It’s reading time, Valerie.”
“I read while I walk fairly often,” I confessed.
“And it’s excellent reading time.”
I nodded. “Will they let him out without him being able to sign anything?”
“He can sign with his feet. ”
“But then he’ll have ink on his feet!” I pointed at my shirt. “Then I’ll get ink on my clothes.”
“You can clean his little feet, I promise. Or you can sign for him as the reasonable adult responsible for him.”
“We better put him in that cage before he wakes up and gets ideas,” I muttered.
Laughing, she crouched, set the cage down, and removed the lid.
I worked my hand under Joel, placed him inside, and locked him in. “Can I buy this from you? This seems very convenient to put naughty luna moths into prison.”
“I’ll give it to you for free. It wasn’t expensive, and if I need to contain another luna moth, I’ll just get another.”
“Thank you.” With Joel suitably contained, I followed Coraline inside, and she angled for the hospital’s front desk, inquiring who was best to discuss the release of the luna moth from the hospital and into my custody. After a few calls, the nurse directed us to the sixth floor.
“That’s not the same floor we’re on,” I commented once we were on our way to the elevators.
“Shifters get somewhat special treatment because we’re a pain in the ass, and because we aren’t discharged on the same schedule as everyone else, we have to do a few extra steps to escape the hospital.” She heaved a sigh, pressed the up button, and tapped her foot while waiting. “Once you’re released, we’ll leave Joel with Calden, and we’ll go get something to eat, get our hair and nails done, and otherwise escape the men for a while.”
Ah. I understood. I was the scapegoat Coraline required to restore her flagging sanity in a world gone mad. “Sure. A few days out in the woods followed up with a trip to the hospital is terrible for my hair and my nails. I’m honestly not sure if either are salvageable.”
The wolf laughed. “We’ll go pick out some nice clothes for you, too. Calden gave me a budget. He’s feeling guilty because his father has put you in a tight spot.”
That damned election might do me in. “There isn’t really any chance of me being elected, right?”
“Oh, Valerie.”
I recognized when disaster loomed, barreling my way. Unlike the drunk driver in his weaponized vehicle, I wouldn’t be vaulting out of the way. “You’re serious.”
“You’re the best option of the lot, and reporters went wild finding out about what you do for work, how good you are at it, and your relationship with Joel. Your work is incredible, and your boss’s bosses were not shy about singing your praises, especially with your lack of education.”
“That should not be a benefit for this.”
“You’re just an everyday woman with a heart of gold doing an everyday job, and they’ve been controlled by someone willing to murder refugees. Sometimes, change is as simple as electing someone with a good heart rather than any political aspirations. You have the skills to do the job, earned through working. And everyone knows you don’t want the job. My father-in-law? Also doesn’t want the job. He keeps trying to get rid of it, and the people won’t let him resign. I thought he was spending every waking minute running the government, but then I learned the truth: he’s running Moonriver using two or three hours a day. The rest of his time is spent organizing the Hunters. The faction is actually more work than the entirety of the city-state, because the city-state has support staff. The only time he has to work a lot as the leader is when something goes wrong.”
“Like with the refugees.”
“He’s been doing a lot of overtime running the city-state lately, but we’re due for some time off. I will rebel if I don’t get time off.” The woman sighed. “The situation in Stonecreek is creating a great deal of overtime for everyone, but it’s important. The fucker ex-mayor did a good job of hiding his activities from outsiders—and the insiders who weren’t in on it were literally murdered.”
“Or almost murdered. Like us.”
“Precisely.”
What a dick. “Can we shove strangleberry down his throat and toss him in a river to see how he likes it?”
“However satisfying that would be, I’m afraid not.”
“Well, that’s a bummer.”
“You’ll cope, I’m sure. And if you can’t cope, well, in a few weeks, we’ll have the gaming tournament, and there’s something to be said about killing off our friends and family in competition.”
“Assuming we don’t get offed right away.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll win.”
“How are you so certain?”
She smiled, held her hands to her lips, and glanced in Joel’s direction. “You’ll see.”