Medusa's Dagger (Aya Harris Collection 1)

Instead, he placed two fingers on my forehead. An electric shock of power pulsed through my skull, down my body and into my toes. As I fell to the ground, Nicky stepped over my body. He jumped off the balcony railing and disappeared right before my vision went dark.

Chapter Seventeen

The warm sun streamed across my face, glowing red and orange through my closed eyelids. I opened one eye and then the other. Above me was a white popcorn ceiling and fluorescent lights that remained dark.

This wasn’t my bedroom. In my room, I had a fake mahogany ceiling lamp and a lilac wallpaper border around the top of the walls. In the mornings, I could usually smell Johnny’s expensive coffee from South America, which he only took black. Here, the air smelled like antiseptic and bleach.

I sat straight up. Someone had stripped away my work clothes and folded them neatly on a chair next to the bed. They’d stuffed me into a thin hospital gown that’d been washed a hundred times and was seeing the last of its days. A dozen cords were stuck to my body, while a machine next to me dinged to the beat of my heart.

The last thing I remembered was Nicky touching my forehead. I’d tried to stop him from leaving – tried to get him to turn himself in. It was something that I’d failed to do years ago after he murdered Mrs. Beckett. But, I was stronger now and less afraid. I could finally stand up to him.

Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I yanked off the cords and the sticky little pads that held them on my chest. The eerie sound of the heartbeat monitor flat lining buzzed, while I pulled my pants on under the hospital gown, and shoved my feet into my boots which lay underneath the chair.

A nurse came running into the room, her face flushed. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. I towered above her. She rushed to turn off the assortment of beeping machines, while I pulled my shirt on and discarded the hospital gown.

“You have to lie back down, Ms. Harris,” she said. “You’ve been seriously hurt. We don’t know the extent of your injuries.”

“I feel great.” I stretched my arms high above my head. It felt like I’d just gotten up from a ten-hour sleep. “I don’t think I need to be here anymore.”

“I wish you’d change your mind.” The nurse put her hands on her hips and frowned. “You really should wait for the doctor to release you.”

I had the feeling her business-like tone worked on a lot of her patients, but not on me.

“I feel fine. Where’s the boy they brought in with me today? Is he okay?”

“First of all,” —she raised her index finger— “you were brought in yesterday. So don’t start skipping around. Take it easy. Secondly, the boy’s down the hall in another room.”

I gaped at her. No wonder I felt so rested. I’d been unconscious in the hospital for almost twenty-four hours. Nicky must’ve really taken it out of me with his little magic trick. But none of that mattered now. If Kit was down the hall, that meant he was still alive. I had to see him with my own two eyes to believe it.

Stepping toward the door, I went to leave, but the nurse mimicked my step and blocked the way. The flush in her cheeks had spread to her neck and under the edge of her bright pink scrubs. There was a slight flicker in the air and the nurse’s skin turned into a moldy green. A bulbous nose sat in the middle of her face under black eyes.

I should’ve known she was a troll. My landlord was just as short and bossy. I stretched to my entire height of five feet six inches and looked down my nose at her. She could tell I wasn’t giving up. With a sigh, she moved aside and let me pass.

About five rooms down the hall, I spotted Kit through a glass window. I skidded to a halt and nearly pressed my nose to the glass. He lay stretched out on a hospital bed, a similar gown tied around his tiny body. His mother lay next to him. She had a Dr. Seuss book in her hands, and was reading aloud to him.

I watched as Kit laughed and pointed at the drawings, his face rosy again with life. A bandage around his arm was the only reminder of yesterday’s events. Other than that, he looked perfectly healthy.

Sighing, I pressed my back to the wall, relief washing over me. When I saw Nicky holding Medusa’s dagger over that little boy, I was sure he’d killed him. He would’ve done anything to stop Theo – to get revenge.

The thrill of Kit’s giggles was like music to my ears. For all the bad things Nicky’s done over the last seven years, at least I could say he didn’t kill that little boy. He must’ve bled him just enough to get a taste of his powers to stop Theo.

My brother was still out there, hunting down creatures he thought were evil. For all I knew, I’d signed my death warrant by trying

to stop him from leaving. But, I didn’t regret it.

All these years I’d been in hiding, it felt like I was to blame for Nicky’s madness. As if I could’ve stopped him and his killing spree before it even happened. But, I was beginning to realize that wasn’t true.

Nicky would travel down his own path. And I would travel mine. Maybe someday, he’d come after me. Until that day, at least I could say that I’d stood up to him and tried to put an end to it.

“Aya!”

I heard Gideon call my name and looked up. He was strutting down the hallway, a newspaper in hand, and his freshly pressed suit jacket buttoned up. Compared to the last time I saw him, it was a world of difference.

Worry no longer clouded his face. The deep lines in his forehead were gone. Instead, a carefree boyish smile lit up his face.

“I knew you’d pull through,” he said. “Whatever your brother did to you, I knew you’d wake up.”

“Yeah, I’m tougher than I look.” I smiled at him.