Space Witches 1: The Book of Witches

8. Return to the Hospital

I stood in front of him. He took my hands in his, and closed his eyes. I did the same, just in case. I did not know what the proper procedure of coming back to life was, after all.

"Now, think about your body in the hospital."

I did – but the image of the cursed girl popped in front of my eyes no matter how I tried. In my mind's eye she was standing between me and my body.

"No, don't think of her," Anthony said as if he could see into my mind, "or this won't work."

I tried again, to no avail – those hauntingly sad eyes kept staring at me whenever I closed my eyes.

"This is useless... she is standing between me and my body no matter how hard I try," I said, frustrated.

"Maybe it would be better if we went to the hospital?" Mia asked.

Anthony sighed, and let go of my hands.

"Very well – but only for a short while. I need to be back soon – a new chair and mug appeared to the kitchen a short time ago. And the date on the mug is today."

"We'll be quick," Mia said. "George – maybe you'd better go ahead and catch the girl. You need to keep her still while Anthony helps Nina. And come to think of it – you'll need to keep a grip on her after that too."

"Happy to!" George grinned, "Take me to the hospital! This will be fun!"

If he hadn't been so dirty I would have said his smile was quite nice.

"Ok, we'll go first." Matthew headed for the revolving door with George close at his heels.

They went through the door and we waited. It took only a few minutes before Matthew returned.

"Right, we're ready now, come along, quickly!" he said without stepping out of the door frame and we followed him.

The nurses' room looked like a hurricane had hit it. At least three mugs were in shards on the floor, and the table had moved from the place where I had seen it last. A pile of electronic clipboards lay on the floor in a puddle of coffee – the coffee maker was on top of them.

Two scared looking nurses were standing with their backs against the wall. 

"An earthquake?" the taller one said with a shaky voice. "Is it possible?"

"Yes, it must have been," the shorter one did not sound convinced either.

I found the explanation interesting, as we were on a plate – a big ball divided into two by a horizontal plane. On the lower part was all the technology necessary to keep nature alive and produce heat and oxygen, which filled the upper part of the ball. And in the middle was the disk-shaped Plate on which our society lived. So, there were no tectonic plates that could have caused an earthquake. And I had never heard that the machinery keeping the living conditions stable would have caused so much as a tremor.

The nurses did not see us, but when we passed them they did squeeze even more tightly against the wall.

"Did you feel something?" the short one whispered.

"Uh-huh..." the tall one nodded.

Mia led us along the corridor and back to the room where I lay. In the corner, on a chair, sat a happy looking George, holding a cloud of darkness in his lap with his hands wrapped around it. The cloud was an angry dark color now, and I half expected little lightnings to be shooting from it. I could just make out the form of the Egyptian girl inside it, but she could not budge from George's tight grip. Also, the swirling darkness did not seem to have any effect on him. One of the benefits of being a demon, I suppose.

My mother and sister were still standing next to the bed. The nurse was not there – presumably she had run off to see what the racket caused by George had been.

"She put up a bit of a struggle then?" Mia asked.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," George smiled happily. "One feisty young lady we have here, though. She was waiting in the nurses' room, by the door, just as you suspected. Trying to hide behind a cupboard, to be exact."

The feisty lady in question let out a blood curling scream.

Tina looked in George's direction.

"Did you hear that as well?" she asked mother. "It sounded a bit like someone screaming... but at a distance?"

"No dear, I didn't hear anything. But look – Nina is breathing so easier now. It's as if the allergic swelling in her throat has gone down..." Mother leaned over so that she was closer to me.

Anthony stooped over George to look at the cursed soul.

"Listen to me," he said, "we are now going to give this body back to its owner. She will be guarded by the same person who is holding you now, so there is no point in you continuing to try to take her over. You are under a curse, and maybe these souls here can help you get rid of it, if you behave yourself. But you must stop fighting, and ask for their help if you wish to get it. Do you understand?"

The squirming form stopped swirling about. For a moment I saw those sad eyes clearly again, as did Anthony.

"Oh dear..." he sighed, "I do wish people would stop playing with magical spells. So much bad comes out of it... now, we will proceed. Remember they are willing to help you, but you must not attack her again."

Anthony pointed at me and those sad eyes locked with mine for a while. I nodded to her, and to my surprise she nodded back.

"That is settled, then," Anthony said. "Now, come here, Nina." He took a few steps so he was standing by the bed next to my body.

I did as he asked. He touched the hand of my physical body with his, and then extended his other hand to touch the arm of my soul body.

"I wish you a happy life," he said and smiled.

At that everything turned black.