O’Neill sat back down. “No. Has yourle'ven'a?”
With a shake of his head Wolf turned to hisJavaanee.“Did theTaounahawalk your dreams last night?”
“He did.” Aiden lounged back in his chair and smirked. “And it’s clear I was right all along. My dreams are my subconscious at work, not your mystical gods.”
“What am I missing?” O’Neill glanced between the brothers, while Capland pretended to be engrossed in the contents of his laptop.
Winchester’s smirk deepened. “Big bro told me to ask your dead shaman a question. A question my subconscious couldn’t answer. A test of sorts.”
“There was no test.” Wolf’s voice carried infinite patience, like he was arguing with a crabbyanvaa.“Did he visit you again?”
With a shrug, Aiden pushed his chair from side to side. “He did. But he didn’t know the answer to your question. Said he’d seek wisdom from the elder gods.” A long pause, before he added dryly. “Which makes sense, as my subconscious has no way of knowing the answer to your question either.”
“What did you ask theTaounaha?”O’Neill suspected he already knew.
“I asked your dead Shaman, as my brother requested, why your women folk are being given warrior animals and what they’re supposed to do with them.”
Bingo. If only the Old One had had an answer for them. O’Neill stood, then hesitated, finally turning back to Wolf. “How’s Samuel?”
Rumor had it the warrior had awoken, but with a fractured mind.
“He is awake. But…there are…complications.
O’Neill figured as much. Until two days ago, he’d been able to find the warrior on the neural net. Even grievously injured, Samuel’s neural pathway had shone. O’Neill could find it, sense it, trace its faint hum. And then it had suddenly just...vanished. He’d think the warrior had died if he hadn’t woken up.
“Is he still linked to theNeealaho?”
“He is.” A lost expression spread across Wolf’s normally stoic face. “But the link is...inactive.”
O’Neill digested that. “Is it because of his amnesia? Has he forgotten the connection to theNeealaho?”
Wolf shook his head. “This is unknown. There has never been a fractured mind tied to theNeealaho.”
“Perhaps the link will return once he remembers himself,” O’Neill offered, attempting support and optimism. Which wastotally fucked. Those two characteristics were not in his wheelhouse.
Muriel must be hurting too. No doubt she was at the clinic, trying to jog her twin’s memory, while supporting Olivia. Although it wasn’t the best timing, now might be the only chance he’d have to talk to her. Soon, he would be buried in attack plans, mission prep, and the assault itself.
Decision made, he headed for the door. “I’ll be at the clinic if you need me.”
Wolf said nothing, just sat there...silently...looking weary and unsettled, like the weight of the world hung from his shoulders.
Chapter twenty
Day 30
Shadow Mountain Base, Alaska
Muriel reached across the seat and grasped Olivia’s fidgeting fingers. “Doctor Brickenhouse said this is to be expected. That amnesia often results after cranial trauma.”
“I know.” Olivia’s fingers twitched beneath Muriel’s palms. “But…but…” she trailed off, her eyes glassy.
“He’s awake, that’s good news, right? And he was able to move his right leg and arm.” Muriel’s throat tightened at the thought of the left side of his body. Brickenhouse said Samuel took the news of his missing limbs well. But she would describe his reaction more like complete apathy.She brushed her worryaside. He was still processing, still healing. He was at the very beginning of this journey. They needed to give him time. “He’ll remember us once his brain recovers.”
She forced certainty into her voice, although she was less than certain. Brickenhouse hadn’t said all amnesia patients recovered their memory. He’d said asignificant portionrecoveredsomeof their memories.
And the scope of Samuel’s amnesia was alarming. He didn’t remember anything or anyone. Not her, not Olivia, not Wolf, none of the doctors or nurses. Plus, he’d forgotten his life—his entire life. All of it. He didn’t remember their childhood, theBrenahiilo, theirAnistaaorAnestoo,Daniel or Gracie, Shadow Mountain, The Neighborhood. He didn’t even remember the elder gods or the old tales, the one’s they’d learned asanvaat. He’d forgotten everything.
His entire life and personality...just...gone.
