Bound by the Hollow Moon

Chapter 18

Sprawled across the bed in my little room, I scrolled through the contact list on the spiffy new phone Marcus had given me, and tapped the "call" button when I found the right one.

"Yeah?" a hoarse voice answers.

"Can you die from Bengay poisoning?" I ask in a rush, my voice high and clipped. It had been a week since I started training with Dante, and even though I was getting more comfortable using my quickened reflexes, my muscles were far from comfortable now that they had a day off. I hear Caius' wheezing laugh on the other end of the line, he must have just woken up.

"You're a nurse, aren't you supposed to know that?" he mocks.

"Hey, I may be a nurse, but I have zero experience treating long-term torture methods."

"Is that why you're calling me at 4am on a Saturday?" Oops!

"Uh," I stuttered, " no? I didn't notice, pain has no respect for office hours!"

"That bad huh?" he asked sympathetically.

"I hurt," I whined, "I think I'm paralyzed." I wasn't exactly joking. My body was so stiff that I didn't think I could even manage to sit up on my own. As if he could sense my turmoil, Caius replied, "Don't move a muscle. I'll be there in 10." The way he had exaggerated the first sentence didn't go unnoticed.

"har, har," I answered dryly, but my tone softened when I added, "Thank you Caius, I was actually, seriously starting to get worried."

"I got you Gumdrop, it'll be okay."

*-*-*

After soaking in the hot Epsom laced bath that Cai had drawn for me, I was finally feeling human again.

"Thanks again Cai, I'm feeling much better. You don't have to stay or anything, I know you're busy," I told him as I was toweling off my tangled mass of wet golden hair, it was so thick, it always took forever to dry. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, my back was facing him, but I could see him in the mirror in front of me. He glared down at his hands for a second before he looked up to meet my gaze.

"Nah, I'm off for most of the day," he shrugged, a boyish grin started to pull up the corners of his mouth, "you want to watch a movie? It'd be like the old days!" he laughed.

"You gonna lock me in here too for old times sake?" I jeered. Caius chuckled a little harder and shook his head. I abandoned my hair and pulled the heart-grenade sweater over my tank and red plaid sleep shorts. I padded down the hall trying to catch up to him, sliding in my socks like a kitten in an ice rink. Ezra had given the EKG patterned knee-highs as a thank you gift before I left yesterday and I haven't taken them off since. I was still hobbling a bit, and the socks certainly weren't helping, but I was able to make it into the common room before my feet halted.

"Where is everyone?" I gasped. The entire East wing was empty and silent, it was the first time since I had arrived that there was zero activity in the central hub for all of the pack. It was unsettling. Caius' expression grew dark, it was obvious something was agitating him, but I didn't press. I had a feeling it was one of those things he had warned me about early on. Ignorance is bliss, right?

A resounding NO, echoed in my mind. Like a chorus, my inner voice and Artemis answered my half-hearted question. I sighed and looked up to meet Caius' eyes, their normal clear blue glass had become frosted and gray. "Some of them are out getting ready for the Moon Festival at the Forum tonight, but I don't know what Marcus and his group are up to," he looked down and couldn't keep eye contact after he mentioned Marcus.

"I didn't know Marcus had a group," I prodded, hoping for more information.

He still couldn't meet my eyes and began to rub the back of his neck with his hand, "Yeah," he mumbled, "he has a team of guys that...uh..." a puff of air escaped his lips "Shit. How do I explain this? Uhm...well, you remember when I told you our species was getting weaker after the industrial revolution?"