Shadows of the Sky

2. Lawrence

2

Lawrence

My hospital bed rocked like it had been tossed by waves. The darkness that had enveloped me in its crushing grip and clogged my lungs loosened, and pure air flowed into my nostrils. I attempted to open my mouth, seeking more, but something held it closed. I sucked in oxygen through pursed lips, and a hand rested on my chest, guiding the pace of my respiration.

A soft male voice, Italian in lilt, said, “There you go. Slow and easy. This medicine’s going to save you, but you can’t have it all at once. It’ll freeze your lungs.”

Freeze my lungs? How did that work? I didn’t know of anything that would cause the chill sensation that outlined each of the branches in my lungs in what I pictured as icy blue. But as painful as it was, it helped each breath come easier until the next blackness that closed over me was that of exhausted but refreshing sleep.

The next time I woke, I found myself in a different hospital room from the one I’d gone to sleep in. Whereas the healing ward of the Institute for Lycanthropic Reversal had a medieval castle vibe, this one shone clean and modern. My window overlooked cloudy sky with the tops of old mountains in the near distance. A lump that pinned the sheets down between my legs stirred, and I found the strength to lift my head and look into the green eyes of Sir Raleigh, Reine’s grimalkin guardian and guide. A smile made the cracks in my parched lips sting, but I couldn’t resist saying, “Raleigh, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. Or Scotland, for that matter.”

He stretched and arched his back like he was a normal cat, but he didn’t deign to say anything to me. He spoke to me rarely, and only in the most important of circumstances. Right, no help from the cat, then.

I recalled the person who had spoken to me during my treatment. Italy, maybe? I knew I’d been out of it, but I thought I’d remember an hours-long journey by plane or boat or train or…

“How the hell did we get here?” I asked and opened my eyes. Huh, I guess I’d fallen asleep again. This time there was no sign of the cat. The next hour—my best guess of the amount of time passing—involved me struggling to stay awake. Every time I thought I had, the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor would put me to sleep. At one point, I dreamed of a voice, old like rock worn down to its essence, saying something like, “I have done what you wish. Now I want her.”

“Apparently they’re bonded,” another voice, one from my past replied. “I cannot promise anything that will hurt my son.”

“Leave that to me. In fact, I can take care of two problems at once.” Cackling laughter.

Could Reine be in danger? Although I couldn’t leave the bed, much less change, my inner gargoyle stirred and lashed his tail, and I finally found the strength to force my eyes open.

No sign of Sir Raleigh the cat-shaped grimalkin, but he could be hiding. And only one person stood in the room, at least that I could see from my limited range of vision.

“Mother?”

She walked to the side of the bed and squeezed my hand. “Yes, Lawrence. How are you feeling?” Her northern English accent had faded to a trace, but her voice sounded the same. She definitely looked older than the last time I’d seen her, and she’d cut her long hair so it framed her face in dark parentheses threaded with white. A jeweled pin sat at the throat of her white blouse, and her dark suit had obviously been tailored. Most odd of all, since my father had never given her one—she now wore a wedding ring.

“Confused,” I answered honestly. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital in The Aerie. We have world-class care here now so no one has to be hurt for longer than necessary.”

“The Aerie… So I’m in Georgia?” I recalled the legends that the gargoyles had fled with the Scottish and Irish migration to the States and settled in the Southeast.

“Yes, dear, you didn’t realize you were so close to home, were you?” Her question conveyed hope. Did she think I’d stay?

Whereas Reine had been desperate to join her kind, I hadn’t been as enthused to find mine, not until I’d figured out and taken my revenge on the Fae who had killed my father. And when the trail had gone cold, I’d settled into my existence in Atlanta. I had faith that Fate would bring me face-to-face with his killer, and while that had happened, it hadn’t gone the way I expected.

Plus, my mother hadn’t exactly reached out to me, either.

“Lawrence?” My mother’s voice brought me back to the situation at hand.

“Sorry, whatever drugs they gave me are making my mind slippy. What happened? How did I get here?”

“I have someone I want you to meet. Two someones. That will help clarify things.”

She turned and gestured to whoever waited outside the room. Two gargoyles in human form walked in. One, a young man about my height, grinned at me. The other, a young woman who looked like my mother had in her youth, regarded me warily.

“Lawrence, meet Micah and Minerva, your younger brother and sister.”

“Half-brother and sister,” Minerva clarified. “Obviously.”

“Right, obviously. They didn’t have sperm-saving technology when my father was killed.” I looked to my mother for explanation. Was this why she’d never contacted me to let me know where she was? She had started a new family with a new man? But then, where was he?

“I know it’s a shock, but I couldn’t keep them from you. They’re the ones who brought you here. Brought you home.”

There was that word again, home. I wanted to quote a movie line about it not meaning what she thought it meant, but did they have movies in The Aerie? They must.

“And your husband, their father?” My anger surprised me. She’d been—still was—an attractive woman. Why shouldn’t she have sought out and found love again?

Minerva answered. “He died about twenty years ago. Before we built this.” She motioned to our surroundings.

“He was half-human,” my mother explained. “The doctors didn’t know how to treat his injuries, so now we have a place for gargoyles with doctors who specialize in what can go wrong with us.”

“So we’re out, then? People know about us?” That didn’t sit right, either. What sort of authority did she wield to go around the fundamental rule of paranormal creatures? And how had I not heard anything? It seemed that someone at the CPDC would have been alerted.

“Oh, no,” Micah finally spoke. “They’re gargoyle doctors, except for Barton Lucia, who is descended from the Benandanti and didn’t find the legends weird.”

“It’s a way to keep them here,” my mother explained. “Rather than running off and starting lives elsewhere.”

I was starting to get an idea where Minerva’s sour attitude came from. I’d chafe under the pressure to remain close to home. In fact, I did resent it, and the hospital felt more like a prison with each moment.

I yawned, and my eyelids grew heavy. “I’m tired. Can we talk later?” Why wasn’t a nurse chasing them out?

In fact, one did come in and gently told them that the doctors didn’t want me talking to anyone for more than ten minutes, at least not now. She treated my mother with deference, and said, “You can come back this afternoon, Regent.”

“What?” That woke me up. “You’re the gargoyle regent?”

She kissed me on my forehead. “We can talk more later. Get some sleep. Now, Minerva, where did you leave that Fae?”

That Fae could only mean Reine, but sleep overtook me before I could ask.