Mythe: A Fairy Tale (54 page)

“Are you going to marry your girlfriend?”

“Do you think I should?” he asked the two girls. He tried not to grin like an idiot.

“Yes! You have to!” the older girl declared. “She’s so nice!” Kayley nodded her agreement.

Richard pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Do you think she’d say yes?” Their earnest advice was especially amusing considering the small box he had in his pocket.

“Yes!” the girls answered in unison.

“Well, maybe I might just do that then,” he said with a smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go find her. Thank you for the advice.” He stood back up but had to duck quickly when a large black bird darted past his head.

Richard’s eyes widened in alarm and he looked toward the front row and froze. Josh was talking to Mikey, who was sitting in Manda’s seat, but Manda was nowhere in sight. Vaulting over several rows of empty seats, Richard rushed back to the front with dread constricting his heart.

“Where’s Manda?” he demanded with a sick feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. “I thought she was with you.”

Josh’s eyes widened and he looked around wildly. “I left her with you! That’s the last time I saw her. Kastl must be watching her though.”

“No. He just tried to take my head off back…,” Richard began before a woman’s call for help stopped him in midsentence. Without hesitation, he and Josh both sprinted for the exit, toward the woman’s voice. They’d only gone a few steps when the piercing blast of a police whistle followed the call and Richard’s blood went cold. That could only mean one thing. Manda!

Chapter 37

M
anda pushed against the tile with her heels and slid across the bathroom floor on her back. Her blood made the tile slick and her feet slipped, but she struggled to reach the door. The girl watched her with contempt, knowing she could finish her off in an instant. Manda’s arms were clutched across her abdomen tightly, but she didn’t look down. She didn’t want to see what her hands felt. The girl’s claws had torn into her body deeply. The left side of her face burned where the razor sharp claws had laid it open from cheekbone to jaw. Her right arm was weak from the severed muscles of her bicep and she’d seen her exposed collar bone where the flesh had been torn away from her shoulder and chest.  The slash across her stomach was the worst though. She held her arms tightly around herself.

She had once seen a deer that had been disemboweled by some large predator. She’d been twelve, out hiking with her father, when they’d come across the fresh kill. Her father had quickly whisked her away from the grisly scene, explaining to her that it would be safer to leave the area if a large predator was hunting nearby. She’d been fascinated at the time, but later she’d let her very vivid imagination conjure the last few terrified moments of the deer’s life and she’d had nightmares for weeks. This felt very much like what she’d imagined the deer had experienced, but much more vivid, and she was afraid to look down—both afraid of what she would see and afraid to look away from her attacker.

The small, brown sparrow that had flitted in the bathroom door when she entered had startled Manda, but her surprise had quickly turned to horror when the bird had transformed into a young woman with the claws of a large cat and attacked. One blow had raked across Manda’s face before her mind could register the threat. The impact of the second blow across her shoulder and chest had sent her crashing into the tiled wall. Searing pain crumpled her to the floor in a breathless heap. Before she could recover, the girl had picked her up by her hair with one hand and sliced across her abdomen with razor claws. Then she threw Manda to the floor with a harsh laugh.

I’m going to die here
, Manda thought desperately. She knew she had to get out of the bathroom. No one would hear her scream from in here. The roar of the crowd had been deafening in the stadium, but as soon as the door to the ladies room had closed behind her, the noise had disappeared. She doubted even Richard or Josh would be able to hear her. She struggled to reach the door, but she didn’t think she was going to make it. The girl was advancing on her with deliberate malice—toying with Manda. A wicked grin contorted her face and her eyes shone with almost rabid excitement. She leaned over Manda, raising a powerfully clawed paw threateningly, and then froze.

As quickly as she had changed from bird to girl, she turned back to bird again, perching on the top of the stall nearest the door. When the door opened, the sparrow flitted out, startling the woman who was entering the bathroom. The woman tittered nervously—a sound that cut off sharply when she saw Manda. The woman’s cry of alarm echoed off of the tile in the enclosed space. She turned, holding open the bathroom door, and frantically called for help. Then she pulled a small silver whistle from her pocket and blew several sharp blasts.

“Help me,” Manda tried to plead, but she was unable to gather the force necessary and only managed a choked whisper. The woman knelt beside her, keeping the bathroom door open with her body. Within seconds Manda heard running feet and twisted her head around to see Richard and Josh racing into view, followed by half a dozen others that Manda didn’t know. The woman retreated into the corridor, making room for Richard and Josh. Richard reached Manda first and dropped to the floor by her side. His face was contorted with shock and horror.

“No, Manda, no! Oh, please, no!” His hands hovered over her as he assessed her injuries. Josh knelt on the floor beside Richard. His face was white and terrified. “Give me your shirt,” Richard ordered him, taking his own shirt off as he spoke. He wadded the jersey up and pressed it to her chest and shoulder. Josh’s shirt he folded and pressed over her abdomen, moving each of her arms carefully as he did so. “Hold this here, Josh,” he instructed, returning his own hands to her shoulder. Manda watched as the blood soaked through the shirts immediately.

“She’s bleeding too much, Richard. What do we do?” Josh asked desperately.

“I don’t know. She’s lost so much blood already.” Richard’s words were frantic and anguished. “Please, hold on Manda. I’m here. Hold on.”

“It hurts,” Manda whimpered. Richard’s face swam before her. “It was a bird, but not really. She was someone like you and Josh…and Sarah and Daniel.” They needed to know that it had been another shapeshifter that had attacked her, but she had to be careful what she said with so many others around. Her words had been broken and barely audible, but Josh nodded his understanding.

Richard stroked her hair desperately. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m so sorry! Please, hold on baby. Just hold on. I’ll make it better. I promise.”

“Richard, think about this. There are people watching. You can’t do this in front of everyone,” Joshua warned under his breath.

“It doesn’t matter. There’s no time. She’ll die if I don’t do it now.”

Josh nodded grimly. The exchange didn’t register in Manda’s mind for a few moments. It was just meaningless noise. She was just glad Richard was there. He would take care of her, just like he always did. Then she remembered Richard’s explanation of how someone could be transformed by the blood of a shapeshifter who was in
non-human
form, and understanding exploded in her mind. Richard wanted to change her, but there were witnesses nearby. Manda focused past Richard and Josh and saw Mikey and a man with an unbuttoned shirt crowding through the door. Barring their way, two uniformed officers were taking up positions in front of the doorway. One was talking to a man in a suit who made him let Mikey and the other man through. The second officer was holding off the crowd of onlookers—the crowd of witnesses. At the opposite end of the bathroom, where a second door allowed access to the room, several uniformed guards were making sure no one came in from that direction. Several other uniformed men had stationed themselves at various locations inside the bathroom, while yet another man in a suite checked the stalls.

“No!” Manda protested desperately. “No! You can’t...” but her words were cut off by a choking cough as a torrent of warm blood filled her throat, suffocating her. Richard lifted her head and shoulders, sliding under her. She managed to cough up the blood and suck in a painful breath. Mikey and the other man were kneeling beside her as well now.

“Get them out of here,” the man in the unbuttoned shirt barked at Mikey, “before they do something stupid.” He quickly and calmly assessed her injuries as he spoke.

“I’m staying with her,” Richard growled, tipping her forward to help her clear her airways further. Pain lanced through her midsection and she gasped, but she was able to breathe more easily.

“No, you’re not! You’re leaving. Now!” the man growled back. He held her blood-drenched wrist in his fingers, checking her pulse.

“Like hell!” Richard snarled. He leaned forward toward the man and his glaring eyes glowed golden yellow. His pupils were vertical slits. The other man glared back.

“This is
my
job. Let me do it. You’re losing it, Richard. Get out of here now!”

Manda moaned weakly, pain and fear causing her body to shake violently. Josh, his hands still pressing the blood-soaked shirt to her abdomen, leaned closer to her and whispered. “It’s okay, Manda. Kastl is a friend. He’s here to help.”

“That’s right,” the man barked again, “so let me. Mikey, get them out of here!” He glared toward the corridor then, and barked a command to a woman who was standing alertly just beyond the line of police. “Tell them to hurry up. We don’t have much time.” The woman nodded and raised her hand to her ear as she turned away. Manda realized it was the same woman who had interrupted the girl’s attack. The man, Kastl, was scowling at Mikey when Manda looked back. “Get them out of here
now
, Mikey. That’s an order.”

“No!” Richard refused softly. “If I don’t change her now she’s going to die.” Tears streamed unheeded down his cheeks.

“No,” Manda choked weakly. “No, I don’t want you to.”

“Manda, you’re going to die if I don’t do something. I can’t let that happen,” Richard pleaded. He cradled her tenderly with one arm, applying pressure to the bloodied shirt on her chest with his other hand.

“No,” she moaned again. She saw Richard’s face harden. She knew what that look meant. She’d seen it before when he’d decided something was for her own good and intended to ignore her protests. He was going to change her anyway, right there in front of a room full of witnesses, and his life would never be the same. Neither would Josh’s, or hers, or any of their families’. She had to stop him—her own life wasn’t worth ruining the lives of so many others—but Manda knew Richard well enough to know that he wouldn’t let anyone or anything stop him from doing what he thought was best for her. Her mind worked frantically, trying to think of something, anything, to stop him...and then it came to her, like a lifeline. Suddenly she remembered how nervous he’d been when he first revealed his secret to her and she knew what she had to do. It would hurt him, but she couldn’t think of any other way.

“No!” she repeated. “I don’t want to be changed. I don’t want to be a monster. Please, don’t do that to me!” Her words were frantic but weak, so quiet that no one beyond the kneeling men would hear. Tears burned her eyes for the pain she knew she was causing him, but she forced her face into an expression of horror and disgust. She must have been convincing because he flinched as if struck.

“You heard her,” the man named Kastl growled. “There’s nothing you can do here. Now leave!”

“No!” Richard’s anguished groan tore through Manda. “Please, Manda! Don’t do this! I need you!”

Manda turned her face toward Kastl. She didn’t know who he was, but he seemed to have authority over the others. “Make them go. Don’t let them near me!” She heard both Richard’s and Josh’s sharp intake of breath and she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to look at the betrayal she knew she would see on their faces. She felt like she was sinking into a dark pool and she fought against the lethargy that was overtaking her. The pain that seared through her body left her panting shallowly.

“You heard her, Mikey. She doesn’t want them here. Get them out!” Kastl ordered. She felt Richard and Josh’s hands leave her, and opened her eyes to watch Mikey drag the shocked and betrayed brothers away into the corridor, past the crowd. Kastl was supporting her head and shoulders now, assuming Richard’s position, with his hands pressed to her shoulder. One of two paramedics that had arrived as Mikey was pulling Josh and Richard away was pressing a folded blue sheet to her stomach over Josh’s bloody shirt. She watched Richard’s departing feet, refusing to look up, afraid to see his face if he was looking back. When they had disappeared from view and she thought they must be out of earshot, she gave in to the weak sobs she had been suppressing.

”Tell him that I didn’t mean it!” she pleaded faintly. “Tell him I’m sorry and I didn’t mean it!” Her eyes were wide and desperate as she sought out Kastl’s face, close above her. “Please, tell him I didn’t mean it.”

“You can tell him yourself,” Kastl replied in a tight voice. “You’re not going to give up on me, Manda. You have to hang on and tell him that yourself.”

Manda felt hands under her body and gasped in pain as they lifted her and placed her onto a stretcher.

“Hurry. We don’t have much time,” she heard Kastl bark. “She’s losing too much blood.” She watched dizzily as the ceiling raced by above her. Suddenly they passed through a set of double doors and bright lights blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut, but the light shone bright and red through her eyelids. With a lurch she felt herself lifted slightly and the red light disappeared. She blinked slowly and found herself in the back of an ambulance. The man, Kastl, was leaning over her, but he seemed very far away, as if she were looking at him from across a long room.