Chasing Adonis (27 page)

Pauline blanched. “Adara? What is it?”

“I think he has meningitis.”

~~~~

Shane returned to their suite, a bottle of children’s
ibuprofen and a packet of fever strips safely tucked inside a small paper bag.
Two hysterical females met him at the door.

“We called an ambulance,” his mother blurted.

“He’s sick, Shane,” Adara added practically on top of his
mother’s words. “Really sick. I think he might have bacterial meningitis.”

The bag fell from his suddenly numb fingers and clacked onto
the floor. No. It couldn’t be. Tyler just had an ear infection, that’s all. Yet
the grim faces around him didn’t coincide with such a simple diagnosis.

“Wh-what makes you think that, Adara?”

“His symptoms. I read a similar case at work last week. The
symptoms were exactly the same. A child with a recent case of strep suddenly
complained of a stiff neck and high fever. Tyler also said he has a headache,
which is another symptom. I may be way off here, Shane, but I don’t think so.
And there’s only one way to know for sure. He’ll need a spinal tap.”

An icy cloak wrapped around Shane’s limbs, freezing him to
the floor. “You realize what you’re saying, don’t you? If we take Tyler to a
hospital, I’ll have to give his real name.”

She nodded and chewed on her fingernail. Yes. She knew what
it meant. If her nervous action didn’t convey her fear, certainly her whitened
face spoke volumes. The room filled with anticipatory dread, heavy as a sodden
blanket.

“The EMT’s are on their way,” she murmured, her voice shaky.
“You and your mother should go to the hospital with Tyler. Just lend me some of
the money Ted gave you, and I’ll be gone before you get back.”

“Like hell! You’ll stay right here until I get back.”

Disbelief replaced the fear in her eyes. “Are you crazy? I
can’t stay here. Once Tyler’s name is known, Cherry’s goons will track us down
in no time. For everyone’s sake, we should separate. Now.”

Folding his arms over his chest, he stood firm. Did she
really expect him to just let her go off on her own, to certain death? She
certainly didn’t know him very well. “Forget it, Adara. We started this
together, we’ll end it that way.”

“And what about Tyler? Do you think he can survive
another
loss in his life? I’m a big girl, Shane. A big girl who has no family ties. If
something happens to me, it happens to only me. You don’t have that same
luxury.”

The piercing wail of sirens cut through his argument to the
contrary, and Pauline touched his arm. “Open the door, Shane. Let them in.”

“This isn’t finished,” he told Adara as he reached for the
knob. “Please. Don’t do anything yet. Wait for me. Please.”

~~~~

Oh, how she wanted to do as Shane asked. But her saner self
knew better. She loved him and his family too much to place them in any more
danger than she already had. The minute the door closed behind the flurry of
activity the ambulance crew brought, she headed to the bedroom and found their
overnight bag.

Money or not, she had to leave. Now. Before the Griffins
reached the hospital. Packing took seconds. What’d she have? A few changes of
clothing, a toothbrush, and a hairbrush—sparse articles to show she’d ever
existed in Shane’s life.

Helplessness overwhelmed her. Where would she go? The world
was a gaping maw, ready to devour her. But it wouldn’t get Shane. Or Pauline or
Tyler. Not if she could help it.

One final stop, in the bedroom shared by the two men who’d
captured her heart so cleanly. She needed something to remember them both.
However brief her life would now be, she’d carry their memories with her until
the bitter end. She stole their pillowcases, Shane’s smelling faintly of
aftershave, Tyler’s warm and soft, and stuffed them into her bag. Reaching
behind her neck, she opened the clasp to her
fludee
. After placing a
kiss upon the gold medallion, she draped this last link with her mother on
Tyler’s pillow. Let the gods watch over this poor innocent now.

With one last look at the suite that had embraced her over
the last few days, she opened the door and stepped into the alcove.

When she opened the second door leading outside, Ted stood
there, waiting. “Are you ready to go, dearest?”

Never questioning his sudden appearance, she nodded and
allowed him to escort her away from the site that had held such joy for such a
short time.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Thunder exploded beneath the immortals’ feet, and lightning
spears forked the earthen sky.

“By mine eyes, Ares has gone too far,” Zeus roared. “To use
an innocent child in so foul a manner?”

His wife, Hera, quirked a silver eyebrow in his direction. “Does
this mean you will assist your daughter now?”

“Aye,” he announced, floating into the sweet-scented mauve
air. “Yet I shall not go alone. Nemesis, the griffin is your loyal servant. You
must accompany me to arm him for the battle to come. It will be your task to
see Ares punished for his insolence. Hygeia, Panacea, you two shall see to the
child. Do not allow him to suffer needlessly. Demeter and Rhea shall watch over
the old woman and guard her from any more of the blackguard’s trickery. All
others shall remain here until this drama has played itself out upon the
world’s stage.”

Those lucky few chosen to accompany Zeus levitated among the
clouds and hovered nearby while good-natured grumbling ensued from the deities
ordered to stay behind. A flash of indigo light, six stars twinkled, and the
selected gods disappeared from the heavens.

Only Hera chortled in delight as she scanned the
disappointed faces around her. “Now, things shall become interesting. Does
anyone recall the last time Zeus asked Nemesis to devise a punishment?”

“I do,” Apollo said with a lazy grin. “No one’s seen the
continent of Atlantis since.”

“Thus,” Hera summed up, “we can only anticipate with glee
what Ares shall face at her hands for his foolishness with Adara and the
child.”

~~~~

The ER was a nightmare of “hurry up and wait.” Regardless of
their arrival via ambulance, the Griffins still cooled their heels for over an
hour before Tyler was finally brought into an examining room. By the time the
physician arrived—some youth who looked like he’d just graduated high school a
week ago—Tyler’s fever had spiked to 104. Youthful as he was, given the list of
symptoms, the Boy Wonder wasted no time in ordering a spinal tap.

Even now, Shane winced at the image of that long steel
needle boring into his nephew’s skinny back. Immediately, the doctor had visual
results. Cloudy fluid virtually confirmed a positive diagnosis of bacterial
meningitis. Still, only the lab could determine for certain, and that meant
waiting until sometime the next day. In the meantime, the doctor ordered a
regimen of antibiotics and insisted any adults who’d been in close contact with
the boy over the last several days dosed as well.

At the moment, Tyler slept in a too-big bed in a private
room, quarantined from all other patients. Shane and his mother sat on either
side of the boy, wearing sickly green colored gowns and surgical masks for
their own protection.

The whoosh of the air hinge on the door preceded the
entrance of a nurse, similarly garbed and holding a tray. Shane blinked. He
would have sworn she was the same nurse from College Hospital—the one who’d set
up Adara’s IV before her transfer. No. Ridiculous.
I’m exhausted, running on
fumes and hallucinating
.

“These are the antibiotics Dr. Penza ordered for you,” she
whispered, moving two tiny paper cups from the tray to the counter near the
sink. “I understand there’s another adult who didn’t come with you this
evening?”

“Yes,” Mom replied in the same low tone. “My son’s
girlfriend is staying at our hotel.”

Her son’s girlfriend? Ordinarily, Shane would dispute that
title with her, but now was not the time. Too many other concerns required his
attention at the moment. Like how could this nurse look so much like the one in
New York? He settled for a quirked eyebrow in Mom’s direction, but she merely
smiled in that all-knowing way she always did.

The nurse held a slip of paper out toward Shane. “Dr. Penza
wrote a prescription for you. Each of you must take one of these pills every
day for two weeks. The ones in the cups will satisfy you two for now, but you
should fill this in the hospital pharmacy tonight. They’re open ‘til midnight.
This way, your girlfriend can take her first dose as well. It’s important you
don’t skip any of the pills. You got it?”

Taking the prescription form from her hand, Shane nodded.
Once the nurse had left the room again, he turned to his mother. “I should get
this filled and check on Adara. Will you be okay here until I get back?”

Mom’s overburdened shoulders rose up and down in a tired shrug.
“I’ll manage. Go. Bring her back here with you, Shane. We’re a family now—
all
of us together. Adara shouldn’t be in that big hotel suite alone. She willingly
put herself in harm’s way to keep Tyler safe. We need to keep her safe, too.”

One hand on the back of her chair, he bent and kissed his
mother’s forehead. “Okay, Mom. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

~~~~

The door closed behind her with a loud click, and Adara’s
shattered heart could take no more. Regardless of where she went or what she
did with the rest of her life, half of her would always remain here.

A river of tears flowed into her eyes. Unbearable pain
nearly forced her to her knees, but she locked her joints and fought the
overwhelming urge to fall to the floor and weep. One last look at the suite’s
entrance, and her hand reached out to touch the cold wood, every pore
memorizing the texture and grain. Perhaps, a sliver might work its way beneath
her skin to become a permanent reminder of the joy she’d known so briefly. No
such luck. With a deep breath for fortitude, she turned around again to face
Ted.

In the time it took her to swerve her gaze from the door to
the hallway, the Prehistoric Palace’s accoutrements had melted. In their place
stood a dozen marble columns at least thirty feet high, mosaic tiled walls with
arched doorways, and a dark wood-beamed ceiling. Lording over this splendor was
a magnificent granite statue of a beautiful nude woman seated upon an enormous
throne. Curious, Adara studied the woman’s carved features, noting a strong
resemblance to the man named Ted who stood by her side.

Surrounding the statue was what appeared to be an altar and
shrine of pristine white marble. Hammered gold bowls circled the statue’s
sandaled feet, holding multi-colored flower petals, crushed to release their
fragrant oils into the air. Flickering candles, lining the altar, cast dappled
firelight over the woman’s naked, pouting, stone breasts and perfectly flat
belly.

“Where are we?”

“In my home, dearest,” Ted replied. “Welcome to Cyprus.”

“Somehow,” a malevolent voice whispered from behind the
statue, “I knew you’d bring her here.” A shadowy form emerged and took the
shape of a large, hulking brute of a man.

“Ares!” Ted exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you and your beloved, of course. We have
unfinished business among us.”

The man stepped nearer the candlelight, and Adara gasped
when his vile features registered on her dazed memory.

“Cherry!”

~~~~

Gone. He knew it the moment he swung open the door. Adara
was gone. A slab of concrete couldn’t hit him harder than her sudden absence.
All the blood left his head, pooling at his feet before draining into the tile
floor, leaving him numb and empty. Breathing became impossible, the simple task
of inhale and exhale lost in the rhythm of his brain repeating the mantra:
“She’s gone, she’s gone, she’s gone…”

Hoping to find a clue to her whereabouts, he searched the
suite with tired but determined eyes. Adara’s belongings were gone and the
garment bag, as well. All traces of her very existence lost forever.  In
the master bedroom, he discovered the two bare pillows, lying stark and naked
in the middle of the huge bed. And Adara’s medallion draped on Tyler’s barren
pillow. Oh, Christ. She never would have left her medallion behind. Would she?
Had Cherry’s goons found them?

An icy fist gripped his heart, and each breath became a
struggle. But no. There was no sign of a struggle anywhere in the suite. Even
the medallion lay perfectly framed on the pillow, a gift of farewell.

He stumbled back into the living area, his brain a jumble of
fears and questions. Where the hell did she go? And how long ago? How did she
expect to survive? She had no money since he still carried the wallet, no means
of transportation, no one whom she could trust to assist her.

Pha. The name popped into his head and wriggled around his
conscience. It had to be that damned Pha. From the get-go that guy hovered over
Adara, popping up like an ugly zit on Prom Night. But how did he know what had
happened to Tyler? Because Shane sure as hell didn’t believe it mere
coincidence that Pha showed up at the exact moment the family left for the
hospital.

No, Pha knew Adara was alone. That’s why he came. What had
he said back in New York? “I have a psychic connection to Adara. Whither she
goes, so goest I.”

Yeah, well, so goest I, too.

Who the hell was this guy? What kind of name was Tedior Pha
anyway? It couldn’t be a real name. Was it a code? Did it hold some hidden
meaning? In his mind, he played with various possibilities, but all too
quickly, he gave up. Concern for Adara took center stage now.

Dammit, Adara, why didn’t you stay put like I asked you
to?

“She left immediately after the medicos took you and your
family away,” a booming voice said from behind him.