The Secret Countdown – Chapter 03

“What did you tell him?” I asked. Rafael had returned—and thankfully not before I’d calmed down and put myself back together. I used to be great at putting on a neutral expression and keeping everything hidden and tucked away, but that had grown harder and harder to do once all this madness started.

I had opened the gate into the pedestrian network, then closed and locked it behind us, and we were now wheeling the cart down the barely-lit halls toward our building.

“I told him that we found nothing weird up there, so the perps looked to be long gone,” Rafael said. “I also suggested he call their IT department and have them restore the system from a backup, which will hopefully override any viruses or forced openings in their security. I also strongly suggested they upgrade their firewall ASAP.” He flashed me a quick smile, though it did little to change the stressed look around his eyes. “I tossed around the possibility this was some sort of prank because who wouldn’t want a chance to play with the BMU? But I also told him that I’d go check and make sure they didn’t escape using these tunnels and for him to call me if any of the residents reported a break-in. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be filing a report.”

“And he was okay with that?”

Rafael nodded, a mischievous glint finally softening his eyes. “Sure. A fancy place like this? The last thing they want is bad publicity, especially about their security, which is supposedly one of the main perks of living here in the first place.”

With the two of us pushing the cart, we moved at a half jog, always being careful not to slam into any walls or accidentally tip Karki’s limbs out of it. I kept hoping the jostling would wake him up or make him moan—anything to indicate he might be coming around—but he stayed as still and quiet as before. If he died before we got him help…

I strangled the thought away before it bit me any deeper.

While my new apartment keycard had been “upgraded” by Anghelescu so it would allow me access to the underground passenger network, in order to get into our building, I switched to a special cylindrical key to open it. Both items had been imbued with “magic,” or at least a mutated form of the living energy, so that only the assigned bearer would be able to use it to open the locks it was tied to.

We’d just started down the RSC building’s maintenance corridor with its pipes and other building infrastructure items when, to my surprise, Karamel came around the far corner in a rush.

“Julia?” RSC’s bubbly receptionist and resident dryad came to a surprised stop. “And Rafael?” Though it was the middle of the night, my friend looked as fresh and adorable as ever. Super petite and with a pixie haircut, my blond friend made the glass full and overflowing. “But I sensed…” She glanced all around, then her wide-eyed gaze homed in on the covered cart. “Is someone under there?”

She rushed over to us. “Who is it?” Karamel’s face blanched. “Julia, were you attacked again?” She stared at me, oozing worry, her mixed yellow and green aura fluttering wildly in her sudden distress.

Aside from my dead social worker friend, Laurel, no one had ever been this concerned about me. Being among friends and people whom I could regard as family was still a fresh and awkward experience. “No, not me. I think it’s Councilor Karki. He’s been hurt.”

Karamel’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh no.”

“It gets worse,” I told her. “He’s unconscious and in his second form. And I’m pretty sure this was done by the last person we want to notice us.”

Rafael spoke. “All the security feeds here go into the network, correct?”

Karamel pulled her hands away from her mouth, her brown eyes growing wider. “So you think he’ll be watching to see who you take him to?” She shook her head rapidly. “You might be overthinking it. Of course you would bring him to us!”

My face heated up. She was right. Where else would we take him? Anywhere but here would make us seem guilty of having done it. Avoiding the cameras here might make it appear as if we had something to hide and bring suspicion down on us, something that would work in our quarry’s favor.

Rafael gave a self-deprecating laugh and smacked his forehead. It looked like I hadn’t been the only one to board the paranoia train. “Should we take him to Morgan? Is he still here?”

Karamel shook her head. “No, but the sixth floor is the best place, anyway. We have a couple of rooms with hospital beds and monitoring equipment there in case of trouble. Since Karki’s a councilor, I’m sure they’ll want him seen by an SH healer rather than a human one.” She threw the cart a worried glance. “I’ll go wake Dawn, then meet you on the sixth floor to show you where to take him.”

Before we could say anything else, she turned on her heel and ran back the way she had come. How she would get to Anghelescu fast enough to then come back and meet us without us having to wait, I had no idea. Did it have anything to do with the fact that there were bits of her oak tree embedded in the building’s structure?

“Chica, you heard the lady—let’s go!”

Pushing my weird questions aside, I concentrated my efforts on grabbing the cart and rushing as safely as possible toward the maintenance elevator.

True to her word, Karamel was waiting for us on the sixth floor by the time we arrived. I would need to ask her how she did that when, and if, things ever calmed down around here.

“Dawn will join us after making some calls,” Karamel said. She walked briskly down the hallway, stopping at a seemingly random door close to Dr. Morgan’s office.

“Houston, we have a problem,” Rafael said. “That doorway is way too narrow for this thing. And even if we manage to haul him in there, I’m not sure he’s going to fit on the bed, either.”

I gritted my teeth, another frustrated scream trying to climb its way out of me. We didn’t have time for this shit!

A warm hand settled on my arm, distracting me. I found Karamel at my side. “It’ll be all right. We can just pull on the pads and slide him into the room. We can use pillows and blankets to make him comfortable on the floor.”

I blinked back tears, feeling like a slapped-around buoy in the middle of a raging tempest. What the heck was the matter with me? “Y-yeah, that sounds good. Would you hold the cart steady for us?”

She suddenly got an impish gleam in her eyes. “It’d be better if I pulled him in.” She raised her dainty arm and curled it to show off her tiny muscles. “We dryads are stronger than we look.”

Before Raphael or I could comment, she leaped past the cart and through the doorway, then turned around and effortlessly slipped the furniture pads and Karki’s heavy, unconscious form off the dolly and set them parallel to the hospital bed. We stared at her in shocked amazement.

Karamel was full of all kinds of surprises today.

Rafael pushed the empty cart to the side so we could join her inside.

“Normally, those with a second form revert to their human shape when unconscious,” Karamel said as she glanced at the bed and Karki’s way-too-large size. “I’ll make sure to ask for an upgraded model in case this comes up again.”

I’d be happy for us never to have to use it.

We removed the pads covering Karki and straightened him out so he lay on his back. The ape-like face was still slack, and his mouthful of sharp teeth didn’t seem anywhere near as intimidating as they would have if he had been awake. Karamel rushed out, then came back moments later carrying towels and blankets. In silence, the three of us grabbed a towel each and rubbed the unconscious councilor as dry as possible, turning him carefully this way and that so we could replace the soaked pads beneath him with dry ones.

After stripping the medical bed and grabbing more sheets and blankets from the closet, Karamel gently slipped a pillow beneath his head as Rafael and I covered the rest of him. Just like on the way here, Karki never moved, twitched, or showed any signs of coming around.

I took off Rafael’s jacket and returned it to him, and he handed me a towel to use on myself in exchange.

We were all sitting on the floor when Anghelescu arrived.

My boss and the owner of Remington Safe and Clean wasn’t what you’d call typical, even if she hadn’t been part of the Secret Humankind. A tall and lithe European beauty, she exuded sophistication and poise. She was also the most generous person I had ever met, a trait she displayed almost to the point of insanity. It had been her idea for me and Penny to move to one of the penthouse apartments in Fountain Place to assure our continued safety when the attempts on my life began. She had somehow managed to buy the unit outright, though they were supposed to be available only for rent. And Anghelescu was charging us the same rate as we had been paying for our old apartment. Beneath the luxuriant hair of brown and gold, the lovely oval face and snub nose, even the brown eyes with gold that could see right into your soul, lay an Amazon warrior. Being on her bad side was not something I would recommend.

“The council has been informed. A healer should arrive soon via the portal.” Though she spoke to all of us, her gaze was locked on Karki’s prone form. “Kara, would you mind meeting them at the elevator and showing them the way here?”

“I’m on it!” Karamel sprang to her feet and left.

Anghelescu knelt down and gently took the councilor’s large simian-like hand into hers. Her brows drew together, marring the perfect lines of her face. “How could this have happened?”

I hoped the question was rhetorical because I hadn’t the faintest clue how to answer it. This was our fault, though. I knew that without a doubt. I didn’t have the faintest idea what we were going to do about it. But the guilt of it was a heavy weight on my back.

“Where did you find him?” she asked. Though she didn’t look away from Karki, I knew the question was aimed at me.

I swallowed hard, hoping my voice would remain steady. “Someone trussed him up outside the window of my study.”

Her gaze snapped to my face, her deeply troubled expression and flashing eyes letting me know she understood exactly what it meant. But we couldn’t talk about it here, and retreating to the special conference room, where we would be guarded against being seen or overheard, would only alert the person we hoped to stop.

“He’s been unconscious the entire time?” Anghelescu asked, her gaze returning to Karki.

I forced the answer out. “Yes.”

“Was he seen?”

“I don’t believe so.” Thankfully, Rafael answered that one. “There was a problem with the security system and the cameras.”

She raised a brow at that little tidbit. “I see.”

We sat in silence after that. I was so mentally exhausted that I think I even zoned out for a while. An unfamiliar voice coming down the hall brought me back.

“What a drab place this is. You know, painting the walls in a bright color would do a lot here.” A woman’s melodious voice carried easily to the room, yet she wasn’t talking loudly.

“I know, right?” came Karamel’s bubbly response. “But sadly, Dr. Morgan likes it. And although it is drab, it makes the place easier to overlook.”

“Is that so? Still, it’s something of a downer,” the newcomer said. “The place doesn’t flow at all.”

They reached our room, and I got my first look at a Secret Humankind healer. She was… not exactly what I had expected.

“Namaste, Guardian and fellow beings.” She placed her hands together and half bowed. The healer wore a bright, multi-layered, long purple boho skirt, a yellow peasant blouse with embroidered purple flowers, and leather open-toed sandals. She had long, wavy, platinum-blond hair, wore purple-tinted large round spectacles, and even had a crown of white and purple blooms on her head. This was who they’d sent to help Councilor Karki? A woman with literal flowers in her hair?

“My name is Vera Feelgood,” she said with a calm, straight face.

I felt my eye twitch. Vera Feelgood? And she was a doctor? With a name like that, she could have been an extra in an old James Bond movie.

“Is this my patient?” We got out of her way as she kneeled beside Karki. Her aura was like nothing I’d seen before—it resembled a rainbow, and it pulsed and shifted. If I stared at it for too long, I knew it would make me seasick.

Feelgood didn’t check Karki’s eyes or vitals, just held her hands an inch above his body, closed her eyes, and stayed still. The female herald I had seen before came in from the hallway and closed the door. She was carrying an oversized multi-colored tote bag with peace signs all over it.

“Bummer.” A soft sigh reverberated in the room as the healer moved her hands away from Karki’s prone form. “My bag, please.”

The herald stepped forward to set the tote bag beside her.

“Thank you, Steph.” The healer flashed her a mellow smile before digging into the bag. She pulled out a stethoscope, a tongue depressor, and a small flashlight. She examined Karki thoroughly before putting her things away. Feelgood then removed a small bottle from her bag, unscrewed the top, and held it under Karki’s flattened nose. There was no reaction.

“Double bummer.” She put the bottle away as well, and rose to her feet. “If it had been an illness, I would have been able to take care of this. But it’s not.” A forlorn expression settled on her face. “His vitals are stable, and he doesn’t seem to be suffering any distress. But the total lack of a reaction to the smelling salts worries me.” She turned toward the herald. “Steph, we’re going to have to take him back with us so I can run some tests and scans.”

“Leave it to me, Doctor.” Herald “Steph” pulled out a folded piece of canvas from her pocket, as well as one of the belts I’d seen her use before to levitate captives. She snapped the canvas with a flick of her wrist and it unfolded in midair into a stretcher. No way was Karki going to fit on that thing. But before I could put my foot in my mouth by stating the obvious, the herald pulled the sides farther apart, and the gurney stretched.

Everyone moved to the wall to give her room to expand it even more. When she’d manipulated it into the right size, Steph then placed the belt around Karki’s waist and, with a little help from Karamel, effortlessly moved him over onto the gurney. The stretcher would be incredibly convenient since the SH with second forms could be all manner of sizes. The herald put one of the blankets over him, then strapped him down tight. “We’re ready to go, Doctor.”

“Cool.”

Without being asked, Rafael opened the door. The herald deftly tilted the gurney so it would fit through the doorway. We all followed her out.

I turned at an unexpected touch at my elbow and found myself face-to-face with Feelgood. The scent of peaches and cream circled around me. “You’re her, aren’t you?”

I didn’t see the point in trying to hide it, so I nodded. Word of my existence had spread far and wide despite the council’s gag order. At least she hadn’t called me an abomination, which made her more polite than several other SH I’d met.

“How very interesting,” she said, looking me up and down as if seeing things only she could see. “I’ve been told you can heal yourself. Is that right?”

I nodded again, taking a step back, bothered by her continued invasion of my personal space. The doctor’s gaze grew intense.

“Can you heal others?” she asked.

I felt my brows draw together—where had that come from? “I don’t think so.”

Her purple-tinted eyes locked onto mine, and she closed the distance between us, her expression oddly serious. “Have you ever tried?”

How in Heaven would I even go about doing that? “One of the conditions of my release was that I not consciously use or experiment with any powers I might have.” The Council of Purpose had remanded me to Anghelescu’s custody while they decided what to do about me, but it had come with a list of conditions.

“What a downer.” Feelgood’s whole face drooped in disappointment, but only for a moment. “You should come see me when they let you out from under their thumb,” she said. “Do take better care of yourself until that happens, won’t you? Look into doing some meditation and yoga to siphon all that yucky stress away. Otherwise, it will eventually make you sick. And we can’t have that, can we?”

“Doctor, we need to get moving so you can tend to your patient.” The herald didn’t quite hide her annoyance from her voice.

“Oops!” Feelgood finally stepped back. “Can’t have Steph getting out of sorts. She can be a cranky one.” She flashed me a secretive smile and a wink before swishing past me to join the herald.

I watched them go, hoping Karki would be all right.