Fort Morgan (29 page)

Otis grinned.

“
We can pass by the room,
and no one will look twice at us,” Mari said.

“
Good.” Otis nodded to
her.

She leaned into him and kissed his cheek.
Her cheap lipstick smudged on his cheek. He moved to wipe it
off.

“
Leave it,” Mari
said.

Otis nodded.

“
Are we ready?” Otis
asked.

“
Yes, my love,” Mari
said.

She was so surprised by her words that she
stopped moving. Her mouth opened and closed. She shook herself head
to toe.

“
I don’t know what’s wrong
with me,” Mari said.

“
You’re in love?” Otis
asked.

Mari blushed.

“
It’s all right,” Otis
said “I feel strongly as well.”

“
Love?”

“
Something akin to that,”
Otis smiled. “Psychopaths such as myself aren’t able to feel actual
love.”

“
Good point,” Mari
said.

“
I will never lie to you,”
Otis said.

Mari smiled, and they kissed. He smiled at
her and held out his arm. They walked out of the room by the door
Mari had created from the room to the hallway. They had gone only a
few feet before encountering yellow police tape.

A uniformed policeman in a Tyvek
contamination suit with a respirator was standing at the tape. A
team of people moved into the room.

“
What’s happened here,
officer?” Mari laced enough magic in the spell for him to tell
her.

“
Horrible business,” the
policeman said.

“
Murder?” Otis
asked.

The policeman shook his head. Behind him,
two people wearing Tyvek suits with the label “Experiri Genetics”
on the back pushed a gurney into the suite. An elderly man wearing
gear with the same logo caught sight of Otis and stopped short.

“
Plague,” the policeman
said.

“
Plague?” Mari
purred.

“
The worst thing I’ve ever
seen,” the policeman said. “Ever. Most of the men have these
massive bulging. . .”

The policeman demonstrated on his arm. The
elderly man from Experiri Genetics walked to the policeman. Mari
glanced at him and then at Otis.

“
They have disgusting
black tumors. Some of them burst open.” The policeman made a
disgusted face. He leaned forward. “There’s blood all over the
suite. Ceiling. Floor. Every wall. Windows. Most
murder
scenes don’t have
this much gore!”

“
Yuck,” Mari said. She
pursed her pretend prostitute lips.

“
The maid who found them?”
the policeman nodded. “She’s in the hospital. They’re not sure
she’ll make it. This shit is that infectious!”

Mari winced. She’d forgotten about the maid.
Otis squeezed her hand.

“
And. . .” the
policeman continued.

The two men from Experiri Genetics pushed
the gurney out of the room. Otis’s son was strapped to the gurney.
The financier was alive and in considerable pain. The gurney caught
the door frame and the financier’s head lolled to the side. He saw
Otis for the first time. The financier’s eye went wide. His mouth
opened, but no sound came out. Unmoved by their patient’s distress,
the Experiri Genetics people banged against the doorframe a few
more times before managing to wheel him into the hallway.

“
You coming?” one of the
Experiri Genetics people yelled to the elderly man.

The elderly man took one last look at Otis
before turning in place and following them to the elevator.

“
What about that one?”
Otis asked.

“
Some weird variant of the
virus,” the policeman said. “Seems to have caused his dick — sorry,
ma’am — to explode and destroyed his voice. Those guys are from
some genetics company. They’re taking him to run studies. Human
guinea pig.”

“
He’s alive?” Mari
asked.

“
Define alive,” the
policeman said. “He can’t talk. The virus paralyzed him. He’s
completely helpless. He’s on the line for child rape and kiddy
porn. He had a deal with the government, which would have gotten
him off. But now that he’s useless, his lawyers settled for him to
go to a SuperMax prison. These guys’ll keep him
instead.”

The policeman shrugged. Otis looked up as
the gurney was pushed onto the elevator. The elderly man gave Otis
one last, long look before stepping on the elevator.

“
Anyway, they’ve got this
whole end of the hallway blocked off,” the policeman said. “You
should go back the way you came. There’s an elevator at the other
end of the hall.”

“
Thank you, officer,” Otis
said.

“
You can thank me by
sharing your. . ..” The policeman rose his
eyebrows.

“
This one would cost you
much, much more than you’d ever want to give,” Otis
said.

Mari leaned over to kiss Otis’s cheek.

“
Probably true,” the
police officer said.

Otis smiled, and Mari winked at the
policeman. They turned around and made their way to the other
elevator.

“
Who was that guy?” Mari
asked. “The one with the genetics company.”

“
Someone I met in Kenya a
long, long time ago,” Otis said. “He’s the one who found something
in my blood.”

“
He’s the one who tried to
steal your grandson?” Mari asked. “Should I kill him?”

“
Nah,” Otis said. “Without
him, they wouldn’t be so interested in my son.”

The elevator door opened and Otis turned to
Mari.

“
Fox?” he asked and
stroked her fur coat.

“
Fairy fox,” Mari
said.

They stepped onto the elevator. They had
dropped ten floors before Otis had to ask.

“
What is a fairy fox?”
Otis asked.

“
Promise you won’t laugh?”
Mari asked.

“
I won’t laugh,” Otis
said.

“
It’s not real,” Mari
said. “I could never kill an animal.”

Otis grinned.

“
You said you wouldn’t
laugh,” Mari said. “Are you disappointed that I’m not as heartless
as I seem?”

“
I have not been
disappointed by you,” Otis said. “No.”

They traveled down another ten floors before
she dared to look at him.

“
I’m a vegetarian,” Mari
said.

“
I knew that wasn’t meat,”
Otis said.

“
Last night?” Mari
blushed. “I just couldn’t stand the suffering of animals. Do you
mind?”

He pulled her to him and kissed her hard.
She was breathless when he released her.

“
This must have been very
hard for you,” Otis said.

“
I told you before,” Mari
said, “I hate evil humans.”

“
I’m going to enjoy being
a vegetarian,” Otis said.

Mari clapped her hands in a little cheer. He
held out his hand to her.

“
Let’s put this mess
behind us,” Otis said.

She took his hand and they walked out of the
building.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning — 11:25 a.m.

New York, New York

Sandy had hoped Sissy would be well enough
for the doctors to reduce her medications. Sandy had hoped that
Sissy would be well enough to wake up. Sandy had hoped that Sissy
would be well enough to talk to her.

Sandy sighed.

How many times had she silently wished that
Sissy would stop talking? From the moment she arrived, Sissy had
been the noisiest child. As an infant, she’d wailed so loud that
their mother had left the house to avoid hearing her. Sissy had
babbled non-stop. She learned to talk early and would entertain
their dying father with her long stories about nothing.

Mitch had loved Sissy’s words. He’d
encouraged her to talk. When her voice lagged, he’d ask her
questions until she was chatting again. She had so much to say that
Mitch’s last moments in this world were filled with the sound of
them. Then he died, and Sissy kept talking.

Sandy spent hours listening to Sissy when
she was first in the eating disorder clinic. At that time, their
mother played the “Feel sorry for me my daughter is sick” card.
Family therapy revolved around her mother’s pouting and not Sissy’s
words.

Sandy wiped a tear from her eye. Aden had
taken Noelle back to Denver. Seth was here but busy with Ivan and
the ballet company. Sandy picked up Sissy’s limp hand. This was her
turn to be alone with Sissy. She felt very, very alone.

She was so exhausted from the lack of sleep
and her strong emotions that every once in a while she saw a flash
of light. She knew she should tell one of the doctors, but she was
too exhausted to deal with the drama. It was probably just a
migraine anyway. She rubbed her eyes.

“
Ahem!” Sandy heard as
clear as day.

She looked up and around. No one was there.
Seth had paid to move Sissy into this posh suite. She had her own
attendants, but they were nowhere to be found. Sandy shook her head
at herself. She was losing her mind.

Without warning, her emotions caught up with
her. What would Sissy do if Sandy went crazy? What would any of her
family do? Aden couldn’t make it a day. She was the only mother
Sissy and Charlie had! Noelle, Nash, even Teddy, needed her. That’s
not to mention poor Rachel, who Maresol said hadn’t slept more than
a few hours since Sandy had been gone. Sandy started to weep.

“
Crap,” the little voice
said.

Sandy covered her ears and dropped her head
to the bed. She started sobbing uncontrollably.

Beginning of
Over

A hand touched Sandy’s shoulder. Through her
tears, she looked up to see Abi. The fairy was wearing her pink
Fairy Corps costume and carrying the ridiculous silver wand.

“
I didn’t mean to upset
you,” Abi said.

“
That was you?” Sandy
asked. She jumped to her feet and slapped at Abi. The fairy raised
her arms to protect herself. “I thought I was going
crazy!”

After a moment, Sandy sniffed back her
tears, nodded to Abi, and sat down. She stared at the wall for a
moment.

“
You’ve been here this
whole time?” Sandy asked.

“
Not right away,” Abi
said. Sandy glanced at the fairy. Abi’s face was a mask of regret.
“I really didn’t mean to upset you.”

“
I know,” Sandy said. “I’m
just. . .”

“
Crazy?” Abi said with an
anxious smile. Sandy laughed and nodded. “I had to save Yvonne from
that horrible financier.”

“
I thought Jill’s
grandfather, uh, Otis, took care of him,” Sandy said.

“
Fin’s sister Mari was
first in line,” Abi said.

“
Mari and Otis?” Sandy
raised her eyebrows.

“
I know,” Abi said. “I
thought the very same thing.”

Sandy nodded.

“
Anyway, I was there, and
then I came here,” Abi said. “Fin’s in Olympus trying to save
Hedone.”

“
I thought Tanesha and
Jill did that,” Sandy said.

“
Fin was there, too,” Abi
said. “He’d never let Tanesha go there on her own.”

Sandy nodded.

“
He had to stay behind to
make sure nothing fell apart,” Abi said. “You have no idea what a
mess it is when Olympia is in disarray. It affects everything in
our world.”

“
I don’t really know how
it all works,” Sandy said. “I used to think they were just
stories.”

Abi nodded.

“
Fin’s ex is an Olympian,”
Abi said.

“
Are you
worried. . .?” Sandy asked.

“
Um. . .” Abi
said. “I mean, we’re married now.”

“
You think that getting
married will make him cheat,” Sandy said.

Abi nodded.

“
Should I tell Tanesha?”
Sandy asked. “She has no patience for cheaters. It might
help.”

“
His ex is Jill’s
step-sister, Hecate,” Abi said with a nod.

“
I hate her then,” Sandy
said with a loyal nod.

“
She’s okay,” Abi said.
“Actually, his women have all been these truly incredible women,
well, except. . .”

She pointed at herself. Sandy shook her head
at Abi’s indication that she wasn’t amazing. Abi gave an affirming
nod.

“
You should hear what they
say about me in the court,” Abi said.

“
How bad can it be?” Sandy
shrugged.

“
Bad,” Abi
said.

“
Well, forget them,” Sandy
said.

Abi gave her a sad shrug, and Sandy hugged
her.

“
Is that why you never
married?” Sandy asked.

Abi nodded.

“
You must be worried now
that you are married,” Sandy said.

Abi nodded. Sandy nodded that she
understood.

“
I didn’t want to get
married, either,” Sandy said.

“
You didn’t?” Abi asked in
a surprised voice. “But Aden is so wonderful and loves you so
much!”

“
I could say the same for
Fin,” Sandy said.

There was a noise at the door, and Abi
disappeared. The nurse came in to check on Sissy.

“
Don’t you worry, dear,”
the nurse said. “Your sister is getting better.”