She groaned and weakly said, “No… where’s Torin?”
Cooper said, “He’s here.”
I saw Torin shake his head sadly, he wouldn’t even look at her.
I tried to reassure him, “Don’t worry, we’ll get her to the emergency room.”
He said something about ‘farewell, mo leannan,’ bowed, and walked away.
Coop watched him go. “Man, he is pissed, whatever she did, he was not happy about it. He is such a nut job.” He held her hand.
I said, “I don’t think that’s what happened at all.”
“You saw him, he was pissed.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, but I don’t think you’re right about why, he’s not mad at Lexi. That’s not it at all.”
We heard the distant sounds of an ambulance headed our way.
27
LEXI
2004- TO COUNTY HOSPITAL
Ipulled myself conscious enough to see the familiar faces of Cooper and Jen above me. I was home, Torin had gotten me home, it had happened, just like he promised.
I asked,Where’s Torin?
But I was too weak to see, to hear, I didn’t understand what they said.
Later,there were paramedics around me —Torin?
My temperature was checked, my blood pressure taken, then I was moved on a gurney to the ambulance. The world kept tilting — up, down, sideways, though the ambulance didn’t seem to be moving that much. Voices came in fragments over the steady hiss of oxygen and the snap of something being torn open.
A voice said, “BP’s low, get another bag going.”
Another, “Pulse one-oh-five… okay, let’s keep her head up.”
I tried to swallow, but my mouth was sand. Someone was pressing my hand. I felt a tightness around my arm, then a stinging in the tender skin below my elbow — an IV, maybe. Icaught the tang of antiseptic and plastic tubing, the brassy smell of my own sweat.
The stench of the sixteenth century clung to me: shit, piss, dirt, stress.
Torin’s voice wasn’t there.
I saw an IV line hanging beside me. This was good, I needed this. Yes.
The doors bangedopen and cold air rushed in. Light — white, too white, swallowed everything. Wheels rattled over a seam in the floor.
A voice, “…dehydrated, probably viral, maybe bacterial… fever one-oh-three…”
A cuff tightened on my arm, there was a soft thunk of a stethoscope on my chest. Someone peeled the plaid away — but no, it was a hospital blanket. I wasn’t in the past anymore, I was in the modern day, my damp tunic replaced by a gown.
I remembered nothing.
A hand held mine,is that you?
Cooper’s voice, “Yeah, it’s me, I’m right here, Lexi.”
