Scarlet Rain Part 11

"I'm glad I ran into you. Thank you for helping me." The nurse's voice came out as a whisper, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "They would've killed me. I already saw them do it once." He adjusted his bedazzled lanyard and tucked the s.h.a.ggy side of his charcoal hair behind his ear. "Do you think your friend is going to be okay?"

"Friend?" James scoffed. "I wouldn't call him that, but yeah. He'll be fine. He has a bit of an unfair advantage."

"I think we could use that right now. What is it?"

"Wait." James held his hand up and listened. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Exactly." He noiselessly slid off the bed and pressed his ear against the door. "I think she's gone. Come on. Let's get out of here before any of them have a chance to come back."

"We can't go out there." He grabbed James's sleeve. "What if one of them is on the other side of the door waiting for us?"

"We can't stay in here. It's only a matter of time before they're able to break through this door. Unless you want to try jumping out that window, I suggest we make a run for it while we have the opportunity."

He looked at the window, cringed, and looked back at James. "Okay. When we get out of here, take a right. There's another stairwell at the end of the hall that has street access. Plus, there are no patient rooms down that way, so there shouldn't be any more of those people," he said with a shudder.

"Got it. You ready to make a run for it?"

His eyes widened and he nodded slowly. "No."

"Good. On the count of three. I'll lead." James exhaled sharply. "One, two, three."

Fourteen.

Electricity seared Eva's arms as the ground hardened under her feet. The sulfurous odor of burning hair filled her nostrils, and she held out her arms to steady herself against the fumes wafting up from her own body.

A shrill squeal pierced her ears. Then came the shouting. "Get the f.u.c.k out of my room!"

"Bridge, it's me." Eva slowly and painfully dodged a barrage of red-bottomed shoes. "Ouch. Dammit. Bridget, stop! It's just me."

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Bridget shrieked.

"You're going to mess up your shoes!" Eva shouted over her best friend's squeaky yips.

The onslaught of soaring high heels ended, and Bridget's blonde head poked out of the closet. "Eva? Jesus f.u.c.king Christ! You scared the s.h.i.+t out of me!" She raised a black pump above her head, and Eva recoiled. "Oh no!" Bridget sucked in air and hurried over to her friend. "I hope I didn't hurt any of them."

Bridget scooped up the shoes and gently lowered them onto the bed. "Oh my G.o.d. Are you okay? Here," she said, pus.h.i.+ng over a bit of the pile, "lay down. What happened? Your outfit is destroyed, and you're all blistery. Well, kind of. I mean, you seem to be healing super fast, so that's a good thing, but you're still all splotchy and burned." The last word came out in a whisper.

"I'll be fine in a little bit. As soon as I heal completely. But it definitely hurts right now, and bad." She stared down at her tattoo. A large blister covered where the branches once were, but the broad, black trunk of the family tree Alastor had marked her with remained unharmed. She rubbed at the base of the tree sprouting up from her wrist, and watched as the injured skin replaced itself with new skin, the thick, onyx ink resurfacing. She quelled the visions of Alastor, the bas.e.m.e.nt, Alek, and asked, "Why are you whispering?"

"I don't know. I'm trying to be sensitive. Okay, let's think. What helps heal stuff? Oh, I know! Neosporin. You need the first aid kit! Be right back," Bridget said, cheerily bounding out of the room.

Eva closed her eyes and leaned back against the mound of unorganized pillows. "Just relax. Everything's going to be fine. You're back in the real world now. Alek's alive. You're a powerful Oracle. Everything's fine. Just be positive and kind to yourself, like Maiden said."

"Okay, I'm back, and I have just the thing to get you all normal again." The bed slouched as Bridget took a seat next to her. "Oh, well s.h.i.+t. I'm too late. You seem to be getting better at that."

Eva opened her eyes and examined her exposed skin. The wounds had closed, leaving behind pale pink patches of fresh and tender epidermis.

"At least I can do this now." Bridget opened her arms and wrapped them around Eva, squeezing her gently. "I've missed you!" she squealed. "Everyone's been so worried. Me, your mom, James...." She released Eva and tilted her head to the side. Her chest-length curls slid off her back and bounced loosely at her shoulders. "Gah, when did 'everyone' become me, your mother, and a detective? You really need to get out more. Wait, how did you even get in here?" Her eyes widened, and a smile curled her sparkly coral lips. "You discovered another one of your crazy super powers, didn't you? Oh my G.o.d, you did! You know, you should really write all this stuff down and turn it into, like, your memoirs or something someday. Then, some big-shot producer will make it into a movie. I wonder who they'll get to play me? I'm thinking Gigi Hadid. Do you think she knows how to act?"

Eva grabbed her babbling friend by the shoulders and steadied her. "Bridget, slow down. Alek's mothers sent me back after I started sparking all over the place like some kind of defective firework. Apparently human bodies aren't made to go to Tartarus. Not living ones, anyway. Who knew?" She shrugged.

"That's a relief. Not the thing about you being sparky, just the part where you were magically transported here. I'm already packing to go to a hotel. That's why my shoes were so available. They were going in my suitcase next." She motioned to the heels piled on the corner of the bed. "Ever since James stopped by earlier today totally unannounced, I didn't want to take the chance of him or anyone else just thinking they could pop over. But not you, of course. You're invited anytime. And, now that I think about it, James can come back too. Yeah, I'd really like it if he'd come again, if you get my meaning. And he's not too old, if that's what you were thinking. So, I've changed my mind. I'm going to stay here."

"Wait, you had s.e.x with Detective Graham? Seriously, Bridget. You've got to be kidding me. How long was I gone?"

"Not long. Like, a day or something. And James is one of the good guys now. Really good." She grinned.

"Bridget, he pointed a gun at me and was 100 percent going to shoot. There's no way he's on our team, and you can't turn someone away from the dark side with your v.a.g.i.n.a. That's not how it works."

Bridget rolled her eyes and exhaled sharply. "I don't think he actually would have shot you. But none of that matters now, because I told him everything that's going on, and he is on our side. Promise. Plus, you can fix a lot of problems by using your lady bits. You'd know that if you ever freed yours from your clothes."

Eva shook her head, ignoring her friend's last comment. "What do you mean you told him everything?"

"I mean, all the stuff about Tartarus. Well, all the stuff I could remember anyway. And about how you're the Oracle and you're working for the forces of good with Alek, who's some Thor-like immortal warrior guy sent from the Underworld to fight monsters and banish them back to h.e.l.l jail."

"And he actually believed you? Did you have your clothes on or off when you said all this?"

"On!" she said, playfully hitting Eva's arm. "But now that I think about it, it probably would've gone over better if I'd done it the other way. G.o.d, James is all sorts of s.e.xy." She fanned herself and batted her impossibly long eyelashes. "The man knows how to use his tongue. And that body. Every inch of it was rock hard. The farthest thing you can get from a flabby Dad bod."

Laughter shook Eva's core for the first time in days. "Well, I guess I should congratulate you on adding another handsome victim to your list."

Bridget beamed. "Thank you."

"But just because you ended up in bed with him doesn't mean he believed you."

"Yeah, but do you not remember vanis.h.i.+ng from the middle of Mohawk Park? James was there, and that's not something he could have missed. It would make anyone start asking questions. Oh, and then there's this." She grabbed her laptop from the bedside table, and moved her finger across the track pad until the screen illuminated. She clicked on the e-mail icon and scrolled through her unopened mail. "Sorry to get straight down to weird Oracle business, but after some seriously amazing convincing on my part, James forwarded this video to me, and I told him I'd show it to you the second I saw you again." She found the e-mail, opened the attachment, and paused before moving the arrow to the play b.u.t.ton. "Just a quick disclaimer, it's from a crime scene, so you're going to see someone die. I guess that was also sort of a spoiler. Oh well. Ready?" She pressed play before Eva had a chance to process the information and answer.

Eva cringed as she watched the graphic footage. "Wait, can you play it again? But just the very last part, right after he jumps."

Bridget skipped backward and again pressed play.

"Okay, pause it." The image froze on the scarlet swarm hovering over the mutilated body. "I feel like I've seen this before."

"How? James only got a copy of it today, and I'm pretty sure this guy died less than forty-eight hours ago."

"No, not this exact video, but a picture of something really similar." Eva scooted off the end of the bed and paced in front of Bridget's dresser. "Where the h.e.l.l did I see it?"

"The Internet?" Bridget offered.

"No, it was in a book, but I can't remember which one." Eva dug her toes into the carpet and stared down at the fluffy fibers surrounding her feet.

"Some book that must've been. With pictures like that, I would have had nightmares for weeks," Bridget mumbled.

"That's it!" Eva said with a clap. "Books that gave me nightmares. Come on, Bridge. We need that book, which means we need to break into my house." Flooded with enthusiasm, Eva rushed to Bridget's closet in search of appropriate burglar attire.

Fifteen.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Bridget said, waving her hands in front of her face. "Did your trip to the Underworld scramble your brain? Because there's absolutely no way you can break into your house."

"Of course there is. It is my house, after all." Eva disappeared into the vast walk-in closet.

"Yeah, but you're a wanted fugitive. Remember what happened last time we tried to ignore what was going on in the world and go out?" Bridget leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest. "I got arrested. Arrested, Eva. There were bruises around my wrists, the building smelled like depression and Kraft singles, and, worst of all, I had to pay for all of the damage to that rental car I smashed into the police cruiser. Me! Can you even believe it? That c.r.a.ppy SUV sucked up my fun-things-Bridget-likes-to-go-do money for the next month."

Eva pulled a black T-s.h.i.+rt over her head before answering. "You should have gotten the extra rental insurance."

"Jesus Christ. Now you sound like my mother," Bridget mumbled. "Why are you changing into that boring black top? My closet has so much more to offer."

"Yeah, but nothing particularly practical." She grabbed an electric blue, fringed skirt from its hanger and offered it as evidence. "I'd be spotted immediately wearing anything else, and what if I have to make another run for it?" Eva dug through one of the cedar-lined drawers and pulled out a pair of black yoga pants.

"You'd think with how much they charged me for this condo, they'd have figured out how to infuse the drawers with vanilla or something. I don't know how stealthy you're going to be when you smell like a hamster cage," Bridget commented.

"You mean, how stealthy we're going to be." Eva threw a pair of black pants and matching black top at Bridget and followed her back into the bedroom. "Put those on. It's almost dark, so we need to get going."

"Fine," Bridget moaned, and slid her pastel pink shorts halfway off before flopping onto the bed. The TV clicked on and the screen flared to life. "Oh, there's the remote," she said, fis.h.i.+ng it out from between the tangled bed sheets.

"As you can see, we're a few blocks away from St. John's Hospital." The newscaster pointed behind her as she began her live coverage.

"The news again," Bridget whined. "This s.h.i.+t is always on."

Eva slowly stepped into a pair of black sweats as she listened to the unfolding news story.

"Police barricades have been set out in a mile radius around the location. It still remains unclear what exactly is happening tonight at one of Tulsa's busiest midtown hospitals, but I have been informed that lives have been lost in the events transpiring in the building behind me. I'll keep you up-to-date with more information as soon as it is available."

"Are you finished watching this, or do you want me to leave it on in the hope they'll flash a picture of you on-screen along with the Tulsa's Most Wanted headline?" Bridget quipped.

"Yeah, turn it off. We need to leave anyway."

"But it is nice to see there's something else going on in this town that doesn't involve you."

"It is refres.h.i.+ng, isn't it?" Eva smiled and stuffed her feet into a pair of Bridget's tennis shoes.

"Actually, James is at that hospital right now, making sure you're not at the scene."

"That's funny and kind of nerve-racking at the same time."

"So, you know I love these little adventures we go on, but how do you think we're going to get into your house unnoticed? I doubt your mom will be enjoying a night out on the town while her daughter is missing and being hunted by the law."

"We both know that house inside and out. We'll develop a solid plan as soon as we a.s.sess the situation."

"Your college sentences may make you sound smart, but I know that's just another way of saying that you have zero f.u.c.king idea." Bridget held up her hand. "Look, whatever. We'll a.s.sess and figure out something brilliant, I'm sure." She grabbed a pair of black flats and slipped them on her pristinely manicured feet. "Wouldn't this be easier if we stopped by B&N or the library, and picked up the book there instead of ninjaing our way into your house?"

"I doubt any store or library is going to have the book I'm looking for. It was my grandmother's. There's not one like it anywhere," Eva explained.

"Then we should get in touch with Alek and have him poof himself into your house, grab the book, then poof himself back here. That'd save everyone some time, and you wouldn't be risking anything. Where is he anyway?"

"He's still in Tartarus," Eva said quietly. "He got hurt, really hurt, trying to find me after I ran. He would have died if his mother hadn't pulled him back home."

"He'll be okay though, right?"

"Yeah, yeah he'll be fine. Full recovery expected. And something good did come out of my trip. I now have these." She masked the overwhelming guilt fluttering within her with a fake grin as she pulled the thin vial and the crystal from her bra. "Tada!" she exclaimed, holding them up for Bridget to inspect.

"Oh, hmm." Bridget wrinkled her nose. "The crystal's cute, but the one with the water in it looks like something you'd get from the gift shop at the aquarium."

"The crystal is part of Alek's talisman, which gives him the ability to travel between realms. Apparently, I need to have a piece of him close to me or bad stuff will happen. I don't really understand. And this is water from the Galazoneri." She stretched out the word, trying to enunciate it correctly. "It's how the Furies communicate between the levels of the Underworld. Like a realm chat, I guess. It's supposed to give me the ability to call Tartarus. Or at least that's how Maiden explained it." She tucked the items back under her s.h.i.+rt.

"If they're both important, and they sound like they are, you shouldn't trust them to the abyss of your bra. That's only for your gloss, cards, and ID when we're out dancing or drinking." Bridget pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and fished through its contents. "Here." She held up a delicate gold chain. "Put them on this so they don't accidentally bounce free of your jumbo tatas if you have to make a quick getaway."

Eva strung the items on the chain and slipped it over her head. "Thanks, Bridge."

"Always here to help. Although, you're definitely going to have to explain who this Maiden person is and what exactly happened in Tartarus. I'm dying to know what kind of fas.h.i.+on is going on down there. And if it was all on fire with people moaning and begging for mercy." Bridget smiled and clapped her hands.

"The strangest things make you happy."

Bridget c.o.c.ked her head to the side. "Well, if you went to Spain I'd be excited to hear about the Spanish. It's sort of the same thing."

Eva shook her head. "No, no it's not. But I'll tell you everything on our way to my house." She pointed to the lavishly draped window. "The sun is down. Let's get this show on the road."

"Thelma and Louise ride again!" Bridget hollered, punching her fist in the air.

"Get down! Get down!" Bridget hissed as she turned off of Fifteenth Street and into Eva's neighborhood.

Eva immediately bent over and rested her head on her knees. "What is it? Did you see my mom?"

"No, there were just a lot of cops guarding a barricade on that street, and I got really nervous all of a sudden." Bridget wrung her hands, then placed them back on the steering wheel. "The anxiety is killing me. I need a Xanax with a champagne chaser."

Eva sat up in her seat and huffed. "You have to relax. You can't be more on edge than I am. You're supposed to be the calm one in this situation."

"I'm trying, but you could go to jail, and I-"

"Hus.h.!.+ You're going to jinx us." She scanned the line of parked cars and pointed to an empty spot. "Park over there. We'll walk the rest of the way."

"So," Bridget whispered, as she piled her wavy hair on top of her head and fastened it in a messy bun. "How are we going to do this?"