***
"How could you go without me! You could've gotten seriously hurt!" Sam wailed at Abby, who had already been tested and declared fine. Her job was to calm Sam down the best she could while Maru stitched me up. "But that already happened! You could've died. Seriously!"
I sat on my sickbed kicking my legs back and forth. Harvey had recommended me to lie down, but I had already started to feel much better and could soon try to stand on my own.
Abigail had survived the whole incident with only a regular checkup. She had gotten some stitches here and there, but even those didn't seem to bother her much. On the contrary, she seemed to be rather proud of the one scar running through her right brow that only narrowly missed her eye.
Sam shuffled around on his seat and turned to look me in the eye. He had been wondering the same thing as me.
"Where is he by the way? Sebastian." He asked.
"Surgery. The leg needs to be put in place before it can be cast." Maru explained. She had been noticeably quiet for the whole morning, although that could just be a family thing. Still, the worry was clear in her face.
"There, now. You will have to avoid exercising while the wound is still healing and come back in a week for a checkup. Harvey will send you a reminder in the mail." With steady hands she wrapped my torso in tight bandages.
I squinted my eyes but let her finish. After she left, I closed my ears from Sam's rant the best I could and shut my eyes. It didn't help that the monitors attached to me made my head split. I knew steady heartbeat meant good, but why did it have to be so bloody loud?
We all had made it. Or at least as long as Sebastian survived the surgery, we all got out alive. I turned to Abigail, whose face had started to turn desperate.
"How did you get us both out?" I cut Sam off. Thankfully he seemed to be only a little offended.
"I ran to Robin's. They were ready in minutes, but we had to wait for the smoke to lessen. So, it took a while. Actually, it nearly took the whole night." Abby let out a nervous laugh. "It was really scary, actually. You both seemed so... stiff."
First it seemed like she couldn't go on, but then, like none of it had ever happened, her mouth turned to a bit of a devious smile and said, "Robin's furious, you should've seen her face!"
"She's not the only one, young lady."
Pierre towered by the door his gaze fixed at the daughter. I had always thought of him as a bit of an odd person. Gentle and maybe a bit shy compared to his wife. But this showed a completely new side to him. There was something creepy in the way that he stood, his eyes glinting with rage.
"You can't be serious! Don't you ever listen to me? How many times have I said to NOT-" His voice echoed. Under his fury even Abigail crumbled. She looked small and kept her gaze down.
"And you-" Pierre's attention shifted. I couldn't name many monsters scarier than him as he stared at me in the eye. "Stay away from my daughter. If I ever- ever even hear that you've been near her I will-"
"Pierre."
Caroline stood in the hall. She stayed out of the room but was visible to everyone from the doorway. The look on her face sent chills down my neck. With only a single look she got the furious being that had crawled out of Pierre to close back in. She motioned him to come to her.
"We don't need to make a scene." She stated. Her voice was calm, but cold. The loving feeling she usually beamed of was gone. Like it never even existed. She gave Abigail a stern look, which was her sign to follow her. She took them both and walked out.
The door slammed shut and left us stunned. Sam, frozen in place, looking terrified. The monitors next to me had started to dance around like someone was having a stroke.
"Wow. I mean I was mad, but not nearly THAT mad. He's crazy!" Sam muttered once the first shock wore out.
"Mm, maybe. But he had a point." I muttered.
They let me go that evening. Harvey came to check me before the leave to make sure I was good to go. He would've liked to monitor me for the night, but I refused to stay and used the dog as an excuse.
After the surgery they put Sebastian to another sector to rest. He wasn't allowed any visitors, not friends nor even family. On my way out I saw Robin sleeping in the waiting room leaning her head at a strange angle against a wall.
Maru packed some bandages and cleanser for the wound. She gave clear instructions on how and how often I was to clean and care for it while it healed.
Koda came to greet me by the port as usual. The little adventure had been such a mess I had nothing but my tools to bring home. Leaving them lying by the porch I noticed that there was a note waiting for me in the mail.
It was from Willy.
"Got your little fish. It's called a largemouth bass, so not really what you were looking for. Still, I'm surprised you caught it. It's usually quite the knucklehead in these waters."
The only information I received from it was that the try wasn't quite good enough. I'd have to try again.
Neither had the caves been. I had known it was a bad idea. I took them too far. Abby had never even been there before, and I sent her miles too low. What had even those things been that had tried to kill us?
The things hadn't been human, I was sure of it. But they weren't anything like the slimes in the levels close to the surface. At the clinic Harvey hadn't been able to identify the thing that had caused my bruise. I did have a solid hunch, though.
The thing had been mucky and extremely difficult to kill. As its body mainly had consisted of disgusting goo, it was fairly safe to assume it had been some kind of slime that had just gotten good hold of me.
And look now where that all got us. It felt like I actually got off the easiest with only one small would. The other two both had people who were waiting for them. The anger came from care. And I could understand it.
The wound had sentenced me to complete home rest, and I was not allowed to lift a finger. So, the next week would be spent preparing the interior of the house. I started with the dirty paw marks all over the house and gave Koda a thorough bath.
But even work couldn't distract me enough from my own head, and so the following day I returned to the clinic.
"Oh, hey. Is everything okay with the stitches?" Maru called me over to the counter to check me in.
"No, no. They're fine. I'm not here for that." I explained. "Do you know... Seb. Is he-?"
"He's been sleeping a lot; Harvey is planning on sending him home tomorrow if everything seems ok." She answered. Her gaze was fixed on some statistics she had on a pad. "Do you want to see him?"
"Yes, please."
She led me through the back to a four-bed guestroom. One of them, the one closest to the door, was occupied by an old pale man. By his side sat a gran tightly pulling a knitted cardigan over her shoulders, worry carving her face.
The other beds seemed to be empty apart from one which had been shut off with heavy curtains. Maru walked straight up to it and carefully parted the cloth so I could easily slip inside. Without a word she shut the blinds and walked out.
And there he was, peaceful and steady. His legs were covered by a white blanket, but the other side was clearly more tampered than the other.
I pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down. I wasn't sure how long I waited, but it didn't seem to matter. He looked so worry free it was rather calming to see. There was a small cut on his left cheek that would thankfully heal without leaving any marks on his pretty face.
His dark hair fell loose to his side. I wondered if they had been brushed clear while he had been trapped here. Did they give their patients hairbrushes?
"You're staring."
"Oh good, you're alive." I passed the remark, which he seemed to unfortunately notice. He squinted like the lights in the room were too much for him. This brought back the normal frown that he usually held.
"I brought some soup and sweets." I awkwardly rummaged through my bag. The package lay in the bottom under everything else. "It's probably gotten cold by now, but I can ask if they can microwave it-"
"Thanks." He tried to chuckle a little. "I'll ask Maru the next time she comes."
I had something else to give to him. The night in the caves he had given me his hoodie for me to lessen the blood. After that I thoroughly cleaned it off and ironed it flat. I pulled up the folded cloth and set it onto the table next to him.
"How's your leg?" I asked. The room was uncomfortably quiet knowing we weren't truly alone, and I couldn't shake the old couple's listening ears off my back.
Sebastian's agitated look deepened and more to look like annoyance and frustration. It was understandable. From what I had heard, it had been quite an operation to get the thing back together. Thankfully, only the shin was broken.
"Luckily Harvey gives out painkillers really generously." He shifted his posture a little and tried to turn without much progress. "But mum's out of her mind. Berated me the first thing when I woke up."
"So I heard." I tried to smile, but it felt too fake, so I stopped. Unfortunately, he seemed to notice this, too. "Know anything about Abby?"
"Sam said she's been grounded for a year. But it's fine, Pierre's usually very short-tempered."
"Really?" For some reason it didn't feel too likely.
"Yeah. We once put a pound of anchovies in the potluck soup at Luau and Abby got grounded for a lifetime." Sebastian chuckled. He had the kind of glee in his eyes that meant he regretted nothing. "She got out in a week."
"Really? And you got Sam in on it, too?"
"You think way too highly of him." The thought got a small chuckle out of him. "Why'd you think he leads the town in community service hours?"
He had visibly cheered up, which helped to calm my nerves a lot. But this time when he spoke again, his voice sounded more hushed and careful.
"Hey, um. I might have been a bit out of my head back then. In the caves. Ya know." He chipped something off the top of his nose. I had come to the conclusion that this habit of his was to ease some kind of stress. "Do you remember anything I might have talked about?"
"Hmm." I thought, nearly whispering myself now too. "From what point on? I remember the hoodie, but not much after that."
To my utter devastation he looked relieved.
"You're really annoying, I hope you know that." I glared at him. I could only wonder what he had been yapping about down there.
"I do." He said, grinning like he always did when he knew he had succeeded in something devious.
"So, you won't tell me?"
"Absolutely not."
***