Fury and Flame | 3

2 | 0

K A N E

When we'd arrived at the hospital later, Finn informed us Benny and Delphinium had wisely been moved to two separate rooms far away from each other. If by some miracle they awoke, the last thing we wanted was for them to join up again.

The doctor pulled us into the hallway almost as soon as we got there. "How is she?" Jaxon demanded an answer. I noticed he didn't ask whether she was alive, though we all wanted to know.

"We resuscitated Ms. Tesla as soon as she was on the way to the hospital. It took a few tries, but she began breathing again. Her other injuries have been closed and bandaged. As for her broken neck..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Jaxon almost barked out at him.

"There's some foreign substance in both Ms. Tesla and Mr. Benton's bloodstreams," he said, though the subject change didn't escape me. "We think it's causing some...unknown changes to the way their bodies function. In all twenty years in this field, I've never seen anything like it."

  It must have been something in the drugs Delphinium claimed Orion pumped into them. But the question was: what exactly was it doing to them?

The doctor continued before anyone could ask the obvious questions. "I can't say any more," he said, glancing down the hallway. "For legal reasons."

I took that to mean Marcella Krasowski had already gotten through to him. A slow, burning anger filled my veins. In a way, Benny and Delphinium were hostages: she was keeping their states a mystery to make sure we stayed in our place.

      "Where is she now? Can we see her?" Finn shook his head, looking concerned.

      "She's in a normal room under careful watch. We need to be certain there are no changes to her state. A certain Marcella Krasowski called in once she heard of the indecent and told us of Ms. Tesla's...unique medical history." So she had indeed heard of the incident. That meant she'd also told him about their brainwashed states and how they could be a danger to everyone here.

      The doctor looked uncomfortable. I wondered what Krasowski had threatened him with. "You can visit her for a few moments. After that, I'm afraid you'll have to come back out here."

     We agreed; it was better than nothing. So he led us to the door. I noticed that he had to unlock it from the outside. Another precaution.

     On the hospital bed, the assassin looked eerily alright—eyes closed, dry hair fanned out and no expression on her pale face. All blood and seawater were cleaned from her body. She could have just been in a peaceful sleep, if I didn't know any better; though the blankets did cover most of her body, meaning that the brunt of her injuries were hidden. I noticed that her head was perfectly straight on the thin pillow; they were hoping to minimize the damage to her broken neck.

     Delphinium's setup was similar to Riley's. An IV pumped into her bloodstream. Machines to measure her brain activity, heart rate and breathing capability. They'd know the second she began to awake.

     But one thing was different: her wrists were face up on the blanket, encircled by chains connected to the bed. The rest of her thin body was held down by straps across the bed. If she awoke still in that brainwashed state, they might have enough time to subdue her. Though it wouldn't do much, her eyes were covered by a blindfold in hope that it might slow her telekinetic power. One thing was clear: if she awoke as a soldier, there would be no stopping her.

Something about her still seemed mighty, even as she lay unconscious in the bed. Perhaps it was the fact that in just weeks, this single girl had caused us so much trouble. And dome so much damage. I tried not to think of Riley, who was in another hospital closer to the compound.