Shattered: A Psychic Visions Novel (14 page)

“Who is the owner, and how do I locate the manager?”

“Manager is dead, presumed killed in the fire…as one very crisp critter was found inside. Autopsy is still pending. Whoa, this is a whole new level of bad. And yes, the owner is none other than your new wife.”

H
annah opened her
eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Pure white and the opposite of an institution. Relief flooded her psyche. She wasn’t back in the private hospital. Or was she? Some of them had been damn fancy. Then they were gilded cages so the birds wouldn’t mind being imprisoned. Like hell. As she studied her surroundings, she rotated her neck and tried to ease the achiness in her body. Although most of her felt great, her head and neck were burning as if a headache and a fever had combined.

“Hi.”

She rolled her head to see Glenda bringing fresh water.

“Hi,” she croaked. “Can I have a glass?”

Glenda reached down and helped her to sit up. Then handed her the glass full of ice cold water. Hannah drank greedily. When she was full up, she sighed happily and tried to speak again, this time her voice sounded normal. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She replaced the glass, her gaze intent as she studied Hannah. “How do you feel?”

“Better except my neck. It’s on fire.” Hannah stretched out on the bed. “I’m also hungry. Any chance of something to eat?”

“Sure. I’ll see what I can find.” And she walked out.

A few minutes later Dr. Maddy walked back in. Hannah smiled. “That’s quite a scan. I’m not sure exactly what technology you used because I never saw it, but the effects were great. Except for my neck.” She reached up to massage her sore neck.

“What’s wrong with your neck?” Dr. Maddy asked. She reached out and gently removed Hannah’s hands and replaced them with her own. Hannah moaned softly as soothing coolness washed through the heated area. When Dr. Maddy removed her hands a moment later, the heat was gone and a wonderful soothing calm replaced it.

“You have magical hands,” Hannah said seriously. “That did the trick, whatever that was.”

Dr. Maddy smiled. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.” She shifted position and said, “How are your injuries feeling?”

“Right, I forgot about those.” She couldn’t reach her leg to check as she was still wearing jeans, but it felt fine. “I need to shuck off my jeans and take a closer look,” she said in surprise. “It feels not only fine but like it’s fully healed.” And that couldn’t be.

She hopped off the bed, feeling better than she had in days, and removed her pants then laid back down. Dr. Maddy removed the bandage and both bent their heads for a closer look. There were stitches, but the wound had completely healed over.

“I need to remove these,” Dr. Maddy said. “Just a minute while I get the scissors.”

Hannah didn’t say a word as the woman left. She was too stunned. In her mind she couldn’t reconcile the evidence before her eyes. She lifted her shirt and struggled to see the bruising at her ribs then her collarbone. It was hard to see, but the lack of pain was obvious. Whatever Dr. Maddy had done, it had been a miracle. She reached up to her head expecting to see the same progress and cried out at the pain.

“Your head injury is a different problem,” Dr. Maddy said cheerfully as she walked back into the room. “But first things first.” She sat down on the side of the bed and before Hannah even understood what had happened she felt tiny tugs and the stitches were gone.

“This looks great. The last bit of healing should happen overnight.” Dr. Maddy checked the rest of her body, even her arms. She studied the long clean skin where the scratches had been.

“Everything looks good but the head.”

Hannah desperately wanted her head to be healed as well. “Is there something you can do for that?”

Dr. Maddy wrinkled up her face. “Well, yes and no.”

“Damn. I was hoping for another miracle,” Hannah admitted. “It’s been a hell of a day with Trevor whisking me away to safety already, so I guess I shouldn’t be too greedy and ask for more.”

There was an odd silence. Hannah looked up to see a serious look on Dr. Maddy’s face.

“What’s wrong?” When the doctor didn’t answer, Hannah bit her lip. “Is the head injury more serious than I know? Is there permanent damage?”

“No, not like you mean.” She sighed and sat down on the chair beside Hannah. “I was in here a little while ago and did a second scan.” Hannah could feel her searching gaze and wondered what was going on.

“And?”

“Do you remember that?”

Hannah frowned. “A second scan?” She shook her head. “No.”

Dr. Maddy nodded.

“Maybe I was asleep?” Hannah ventured slowly. “I don’t remember a second one.”

“How about seeing Trevor and not recognizing him?”

Hannah gasped. “I didn’t?”

Dr. Maddy shook her head. “And you thought you were married, but to a man named Will.”

Her skin burned hot then shifted to ice and she could feel the tremors start deep inside. “No!” she cried. “Never him.”

“That’s what Trevor said.”

The tremors shook her whole body as she realized Dr. Maddy was serious. “Why? Why would I say that? I hate him. He terrifies me. I know I married Trevor today.” Her gaze locked on Dr. Maddy’s face. “Please tell me that’s true. That I married him at the hospital with Stefan and his wife standing beside us. Please tell me I’m not making that up?”

“It’s true. That’s what you did today,” she confirmed. “So you can understand my confusion when you woke up not recognizing me or Trevor.”

“Oh God. Why is this happening to me?” She wrapped her arms around her chest. “I’ve had blackouts since forever. I want them to stop.”

“Let’s start at the beginning of what you remember in terms of the blackouts. When was the first one, and do you remember anything that might have triggered it back then.”

“Triggered it?” She stared at her in surprise.

“Any emotional trauma that might have given you a reason to
not
remember what was going on?”

Hannah opened her mouth to answer but was too shocked to formulate words. “Do you really think this was triggered by some kind of trauma in my life?”

“It often happens that way.”

How could such a thing happen? “Lots of people live through all kinds of horrific events,” she said. “Why aren’t they having blackouts?”

“Good question,” Dr. Maddy said calmly. “And we can’t worry about everyone. We can only worry about you.”

Hannah reached up to touch her head and the stitches and dried blood mess. “I’d hate to think of something going on inside my head that is so weak it hits a reset button every few weeks. And it’s not like I’m traumatized over and over again,” she said. “So why am I blacking out so often then?”

“I don’t know.”

Moodily she shifted her gaze to the doorway and heard sounds of footsteps coming down the hall. She sighed with relief, at least he was okay. “Trevor is back.”

Dr. Maddy nodded, her gaze intent on Hannah.

“Now what?” Why was she looking at her so intently?

“How did you know?”

“I don’t know.” Hannah frowned. “It sounded like his footsteps?” Yet, how many times in the last day had she heard that man’s walk? Once? Twice? “That sounds stupid.”

“What’s stupid?” Trevor walked in holding a bag in his hand.

She recognized the label. “Beignets?” she cried out in delight. “You stopped in at the Voodoo Deli?”

He laughed. “I did. Glad to see you recognize the place.” He walked in and placed the bag on the small side table then wheeled it closer. He searched her gaze. “Especially considering the state you were in last time I saw you.”

Her face fell. “Dr. Maddy said I didn’t recognize you earlier. I’m sorry about that.”

“But you do now?” He grinned hopefully at her.

She let his gaze search hers. “I do.”

“What happened that brought your memory back?”

Silence.

Then Dr. Maddy spoke up. “She fell unconscious again and when she woke up she was in her normal mind.”

“Interesting,” Trevor said but without any apparent shock.

She studied these two. “Did you ever consider that maybe
this
isn’t my normal mind? And that other state whatever it was, was the normal one?”

“So you want to live in a world where Will is your husband.”

“God no. That was my father’s constant threat. I pleaded with him to not force me into that.”

“Why would he want you to marry Will? Is Will rich? Famous? From a huge mover shaker family?”

Each time Hannah shook her head. “No, he’s just a lackey of my father’s.”

“That doesn’t make much sense unless he figured that this man would take good care of you, but if he’s someone you feared…”

“Exactly.”

*

“I’d like to
speak to you for a moment too.” Trevor waited at the doorway for Dr. Maddy to join him. When she stepped into the hallway he said in a low tone, “I’d like you to see her eat.”

She shot him a curious look then stepped to the side where she could talk to him but observe Hannah. “Why?”

“Just wait. Maybe it won’t happen, but I’d like your take without influencing it.”

She nodded.

Hannah lifted the silver cover off her plate and smiled at the large clubhouse sandwich in front of her. Glenda had really come through. Hannah picked up one of the three pieces and dug in. She had that piece gone in five bites and had moved through the second while they watched. When she picked up the third piece and took another huge bite, Dr. Maddy sighed.

“See what I mean?”

“I do. She’s burning through food as her main fuel source, and the fuel is to keep her energy as low as possible.” She rubbed her temple. “That strong aura is a self-defense mechanism.”

“Why? That’s the opposite of what she should be doing.”

“Why does any animal try to keep their energy low, their footprint almost non-existent?”

“To avoid detection,” he exclaimed in a low voice. “But she can’t store enough food to keep this up, and she’s beyond lean.”

“She’s a healthy weight, but on the light end of that,” Dr. Maddy said. “Her body won’t allow for anything else with this much food, but she’s channeling all that energy into keeping her guard up.”

“But there are easier ways.”

“There are, but I suspect she has no idea what she’s doing or why?”

“And do we tell her?”

“We’ll have to but not yet. We need to learn more first.”

“About what?”

“Will. He’s the only person she’s shown any emotion toward so far. Except you,” Dr. Maddy turned to look at him. “I’m not sure how she feels about you.”

“Grateful and that’s about it,” he said. “She was in a hellish place, and I helped her out.”

Dr. Maddy smiled. “She knew you were coming down the hallway. She already recognized you on an etheric level.”

“I found out about that florist shop. Can’t say I like that either.” After he explained, he added, “The car belongs to her.”

Maddy’s breath gushed out. “Wow. That can’t be good. So the police are thinking she did it herself for insurance money.” She studied Trevor.

“Is she broke?”

“I have to get a court order to get into her financials to find that out.”

“Do you?” Dr. Maddy studied him. “You’re her husband. Do you still need that?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I forgot.”

She laughed. “Well, I suggest you remember.”

“I’ll speak with her too. With her permission I can have access to any information we might need.”

Dr. Maddy nodded. “I’ll have the kitchen bring up double dinners for you and her tonight. Likely, she will need a snack before she goes to sleep at this rate.” Hannah had finished the sandwich and was working on the small bowl of Jell-O.

“Good. Can I coax a couple of coffees out of your fancy machine too?” he asked with a smile. “I could sure use one.”

“I’ll send someone in with two lattes for you.”

And she turned to walk down the hall. Trevor walked back inside the hospital room.

Hannah was wiping her mouth and said with a happy smile, “This place rocks.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” He sat down beside her. “We’re getting coffee delivered in a few minutes too.”