"Good," I said faintly, turning to get my bag. My face was warm, and I put a hand to it.
"Uh," the pixy said, hovering uncertainly in the dark. "Did I miss something?"
Ivy took my bag from me, having to jerk it free. "No," she said, then turned to me. "Stay here and I'll get you a chair."
"No you won't." She had confused me, and I didn't know how to stop her from pushing me around right now. "A chair wasn't in the plan," I added. "I can walk it."
"You're wobbling on your feet," Ivy said, and I shook my head. This was a decision I was going to stick with.
"I can't sneak out in a wheelchair," I said, eyes on the ground until I was sure it wasn't tilting. "I have to walk. Really, really slowly."
Jenks hovered before us, looking like Lawrence of Arabia with wings. "No way, Rache," he started, his eyes crinkled in worry. "You're as strong as a fairy's hard-on."
"I can make it," I breathed, hesitated, then shook my head. Nice one, Jenks. My head was down as I started for the door, and my thoughts were on my laundry list: Bargain with Al for the time off; reconstruct the charm to give Pierce temporary substance; remind Marshal that we weren't going to move our relationship along simply because one, I'd gotten hurt, two, he'd beaten Tom, and three, we'd had a nice dinner with my family. I also had to try making that locator charm again, not to mention, to get a lead on Kisten's killer, look through the records to track down everyone Piscary had bled or bedded during his jail time. I could do it. I could do it all. How am I going to do this?
Jenks was flying backward in front of me as I moved from couch, to bed, to wardrobe, gauging my aura, no doubt. It was irritating to say the least. "Tell Glenn we're on our way?" I asked, slapping at Ivy when she threatened to help me inch along.
"Already did." Jenks landed on my shoulder, puffing from the constant weight of his clothes. "You owe him big, Rachel. He was scheduled to be released tomorrow."
I clutched my bag and looked at Ivy, squashing my guilt. "Then let's go."
Ivy nodded. Touching my shoulder once, she headed out. "See you in the elevator, Rache," Jenks said, then darted out before the oversize door swung shut behind her.
Alone, I let myself lean against the wall, exhausted. I was breathing heavy and moving slow. That wasn't a problem. I could do this. I had done this lots of times, actually, with my mom when I wanted to go home and the AMA hadn't come in yet.
Sneaking out of the hospital is like riding a bike, I thought as I listened to Ivy talking to the nurse at the desk. Then I remembered that I'd never learned to ride a bike either.
"Elevator," I whispered, cementing it as my goal. I could rest there. Ride up and down until I felt like walking out. I waited by the almost-closed door, eavesdropping. It was about midnight, and since I was on a human floor, it was quiet. Perfect.
"Get a nurse!" someone shouted, and I heard a clang as something hit a wall. Jenks started shrieking, and I edged forward to peek through the crack in the door. There was a distant masculine groan, and a heavy orderly rushed past, his dreadlocks swinging.
I eased the door open with my weight, shivering when it felt like the varnished wood was stealing the heat from me right through my coat. I looked to the right, following the sound of the commotion, smiling at Glenn, on the floor at the end of the hall. Ivy was there with Jenks, two orderlies, and a nurse. The guy who delivered the food was there, too.
As I watched, Glenn groaned convincingly, cracking an eye to see me. I gave him a bunny-eared, kiss-kiss, and he flipped me off, turning his smile into a pained moan. Jenks was right; I owed him big.
Pulse racing, I hobbled to the elevator around the corner. I didn't even have to go by the nurses' desk. My pace slowly became more sure and my posture upright, while fighting the fatigue and mild sensation of walking in deep snow and trying to look as if I was sedate, not sedated.
I turned the corner, and the noise behind me grew faint. The hallway was empty, but I didn't dare use the waist-high handrail. Besides, the elevator was just ahead. I pushed the button, then pushed it again until the light went on.
Almost immediately the doors opened, and my heart jumped when a couple stepped out. They gave me a cursory glance, then perked up at the noise Glenn was making. Curiosity was winning when I staggered to the back of the lift and propped myself up in the corner, my bag clutched to me. The more quickly I moved, the worse I felt. Which really stunk, seeing as I was in a turtle's footrace for the door.
I took shallow breaths and stared at the couple's backs as the doors slid shut. Jenks. Where are you? You said you'd be here.
The pixy darted in at the last moment, nearly crashing into the back of the elevator.
"Rache!" he said in excitement, and vertigo hit me when I flung my hands over my ears.
"Not so loud!" I exclaimed, and he dropped to hover at eye level.
"Sorry," he said, looking anything but. He followed my weary gaze to the dark panel, then flew at it, hitting the button for the next level down feet first. I heard the whine of electronics click over, and we started to descend.
"Glenn is good," he said as he returned to land on my shoulder. "I don't think they'll know you're gone until they get someone to take him back to his room."
"Excellent." I closed my eyes against the vertigo. I'd been afraid the elevator might move too fast to stomach, but I couldn't take the stairs even if my aura was dragging behind me as we descended.
"You doin' okay?" he asked, worry thick in his tone.
"Yep," I said, propped in the corner. "It's just fatigue." I squinted to get him into focus, and then the world snapped back when the elevator dinged and the rest of my aura caught up. I took a breath, letting it slip slowly from me. "I've got things to do today, and I can't do them lazing around in a bed that moves up and down."
He laughed, and I pushed from the wall when the doors opened. If all was going well, it would be Ivy, and I didn't want her to think I was a wimp.
Ivy was standing right before the doors, and giving me a glance, she darted in and clicked the button to close the doors. "Everything okay?" she asked.
"Peachy."
Ivy exchanged a look with Jenks and hit the "lobby" button with a series of taps so rapid that they were almost indistinguishable from each other. A little nervous, are we?
The descent was worse this time, and I closed my eyes and leaned back in the corner as the elevator picked up speed, going almost the full height of the building.
"Rache, you all right?" Jenks asked, and I wiggled my fingers, too afraid of what might happen if I nodded. My stomach hurt.
"Too fast," I breathed, worried about the ride home. I was going to be blowing chunks if we had to drive faster than twenty miles an hour.
I started to shiver, and I clutched my bag to me, feeling every muscle I had clench when the lift lurched to a stop. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Relieved, I opened my eyes to find Jenks hovering at the sensor to keep the doors from shutting. The soft sounds of a nearly empty lobby filtered in, and Ivy took my arm. I would have protested, except I really needed it. Together we started out of the elevator. God, I felt a hundred and sixty years old, my heart pounding and my knees weak.
But the slow movement started to feel good, and the farther we went, the more sure I was that this was the right thing to do. I glanced around-trying not to look like I was-scopin' casual, as Jenks would say. The lobby had a few people passing through it even at midnight, and the lights shining down on the entryway illuminated the snow-covered vegetation to make it into indistinguishable blobs. It was kind of pretty with the flashing amber lights of the tow truck.
Tow truck?
"Hey! That's my car!" I exclaimed upon seeing it parked at the curb in the pickup and drop-off spot. But it wouldn't be there long from the looks of it.
At the sound of my voice, two people turned from the big plate-glass windows. They'd been watching the guy work, and my eyes narrowed when I realized it was Dr. Mape and the cop on duty. A big vamp from the I.S. Great. Just freaking great.
"Plan B, Ivy," Jenks said, then dove into the elevator.
"That's my car!" I shouted again, then gasped when Ivy spun me around and yanked me back into the elevator. My back hit the wall and I put a hand to my stomach. "Who said"-I panted through the sudden vertigo-"you could drive my car?"
The doors snicked shut and cut off the doctor's protest. I clutched at the walls when the elevator started to go up, then forced myself to let go. Damn it, I am not going to get sick. "Who said you could drive my car?" I said again, louder, as if I could hold off the dizziness with my voice.
Jenks's wings hummed nervously, and Ivy flushed. "What was I supposed to pick you up with? My cycle?" she muttered. "I'm in a legal spot. I had thirty minutes left."
"They're towing my car!" I shouted again, pointing, and she shrugged.
"I'll get it out of impound."
"How are we going to get home now!" I yelled, not liking the feeling of helplessness, and Ivy pulled out her cell phone from a slim case at her belt. God, the thing was the size of a credit card. "I'll call Kist-" Her voice broke, and I stared at her suddenly riven features. "I mean, Erica," she amended softly. "She'll come get us. She works near here."
Turn it to hell. Ill and heartsick, I pressed into the corner of the elevator and tried to find my equilibrium.
Jenks landed on my shoulder. "Relax, Rache," he said, his eyes darting to Ivy as she hunched in pain, her fingers tapping out a text message as fast as if she were at a conventional keyboard. "You saw the hag of a doctor. It's not Ivy's fault. They knew you were making a run for it."
Hands splayed, I propped myself against the two walls surrounding me. It felt as if we were rising through thousands of pinpricks of ice as the world hit me raw, unprotected without my full aura. It wasn't as if I was in a position to do anything. And Dr. Mape would have been a fool for not expecting this. Multiple escapes were in my record. My mom used to sneak me out all the time. "Where are we going?" I breathed, forcing myself to keep my eyes open even though they kept shifting on their own, like I had been on a merry-go-round for too long.
"The roof."
I eyed Ivy, then carefully leaned to push the button for the third floor. "There's a walkway to the children's wing on the third floor. We can go out that way," I muttered, and my eyes slid shut. Just for a moment. Ivy and Jenks's silence pulled them back open. "What?" I said. "Why should I go through the laundry chute to the basement floor when I can roll out in a wheelchair?"
Ivy shifted her feet. "You'll sit down?" she asked.
Before I fall down? Not likely. "Yes," I said, then accepted Ivy's arm when the elevator stopped and the world magically returned to normal.
The elevator doors slid open with a ding, and Jenks flew out, darting back before we had gone three steps. "There's a chair over here," he said, and I leaned against the wall beside the fake potted plant as Ivy used one hand to keep me upright, and the other to almost throw the chair open, the locks snapping in place from the sudden shock of being jerked to a stop.
"Sit," she said, and I gratefully sat. I had to get home. Everything would be better if I could just get home.
Ivy pushed me into motion, taking advantage of the empty hall to race for the walkway. Dizziness roared from everywhere, slipping out of the corners where the walls and floor met, chasing after me as Ivy raced. "Slow down," I whispered, but I think it was my lolling head that got her to stop. Either that or Jenks screaming at her.
"What the hell are you doing!" Jenks was shouting, and I gritted my teeth, struggling to keep from throwing up.
"Getting her out of here," she snarled from somewhere far away and distant behind me.
"You can't move her that fast!" he yelled, dusting me as if he could give me a false aura. "She's not moving slowly because she's hurt, she's moving slowly to keep her aura with her. You just freaking left it back at the elevator!"
Ivy's voice was a mere whisper of "Oh my God." I felt a warm hand on me. "Rachel, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
It was getting better surprisingly fast, and the world stopped spinning. Looking up, I squinted until she came into focus. "Yeah." I took a cautiously deep breath. "Just don't go that fast." Crap. How was I going to handle the car?
Ivy's face was scared, and I reached up to touch her hand, still on my shoulder. "I'm okay," I said, risking another deep breath. "Where are we?"
She pushed us back into motion, almost crawling. Jenks, flying a close flank, nodded. "The children's wing," she whispered.