Since neither of us wanted to do it, we put her on speaker so we could both talk to her. I didn’t know how that was better, frankly.
Sylvia answered as usual on the second ring, sounding grumpy instead of foggy. So she’d still been awake? “What.”
“Bad news, boss,” Brandon said apologetically. “Ghost got the drop on your sister.”
There was silence for a full second. Then Sylvia gritted out, “How bad?”
“She’s getting x-rays now,” I said. “Probably a light concussion, as a bottle of detergent hit her temple. We’ll know more soon.”
“God. You’d think with two anchors, she wouldn’t get injured like this. Instead, it only seems to invite bigger problems for her to deal with. Alright, back up, tell me what the hell happened.”
Brandon did, with me pitching in and filling in details he couldn’t possibly know. It was unfortunately a short explanation that could be summed up in a general phrase: Shit hit the fan.
Sylvia let out a low, steady stream of air, a sure sign of stress. “Gentlemen, I do not like the sound of this. I’m really upset my sister was hurt. I want you to get in there and get me a better status report. Quinn and Booker both suck at doing that.”
I was a little glad for the marching orders, so I quickly left the Tahoe and let Brandon handle the phone for a few seconds. I could hear his deep voice as he spoke to her, as I met him at the tail end of the vehicle.
“Yeah. Yeah, it was bad enough that even I could see it. Mack put a line of salt down on the floor and drew barrier sigils on both walls and the ceiling. Eli had already drawn sigils on the floors to keep it from going through the ceiling, so it’s well and truly trapped downstairs. How we’re going to get back in there and deal with this thing is another question entirely.”
“With enough light, you should be able to. Or undo the seals and invite it up to play on the main level. It’ll be mad enough to burst free of the area you imprisoned it in, I bet.”
She was likely right. But then, for all that Sylvia was now an administrator, she’d started out in the field. She had experience to back her up. “I hope it will, at least. I’m not really anxious to beard the lion in its own den.”
“I don’t blame you for that. I’m saying this now, too. If you have to flood holy water throughout the whole basement in order to get this thing, I’m willing to pay for any water damage.”
“Don’t think that’s not tempting,” Brandon grumbled. His face was set, a tic in the corner of his jaw adequately saying he was pissed about this whole thing. I shared the sentiment perfectly. “Okay, we’re entering the hospital now.”
I saw Booker first, standing near the nurse’s station and filling out paperwork. Going to his side, I touched his arm gently to get his attention. “How is she?”
“Doctor says she’s okay,” Booker relayed with a relieved smile. “She’s got a doozy of a headache, and we’ll need to watch her tonight, but it’s not serious enough to be a concussion. Her hard head saved her.”
“I’ll tell her you said that,” Sylvia drawled.
Booker turned to find Brandon with phone in hand, then his eyes went to the screen and he saw who was on the line. “Oh, hey, Sylvia. I was going to call you in a minute.”
“Booker, the day you call me of your own initiative is the day I know Armageddon is upon us. How’s my crazy sister?”
“Cranky, livid, and she has a headache. She’s swearing she’s going to march right back in there tonight and deal with this thing.”
“You told her no, I hope.”
“I didn’t tell her a damn thing. She and Quinn are arguing it out. I know better than to get in the middle of that.”
“You are the smartest of the three. What’s your take?”
“She probably should rest, get her equilibrium back tonight. We can tackle this in daylight hours when this thing’s a little weaker.” Booker looked to me and Brandon as he spoke, judging our reactions. “If everyone else is game to go back in?”
I nodded agreement. “I can’t speak for everyone else, but I am.”
Brandon shrugged. “Where he goes, I go, so…Sylvia, I can check in with Falisa and Ken and get back to you on them. They were locking the place up behind us as we left.”
“Do that. And Booker, get my sister to call me. I want to hear how she is directly from the horse’s mouth.”
“Sure thing.”
I ran a hand through my hair, stressed myself. I had never in a million years suspected Eli would get hit so hard and fast like this. She apparently hadn’t either, as her guard hadn’t been up. Who would have thought that after blowing all the windows out a mere four days ago, the ghost would have enough power to strike again this soon? I may have underestimated it. We all had.
We’d not make that mistake again.
18
I’ve got experience in situations like this one, where a loved one is down and hurting, and the frustration over being able to do nothing lives and breathes. I’d felt that way the entire time Donovan had been recuperating from the acid attack. I’d seen him as much as I could, skyped him often, trying to help. And it had never felt like I was doing enough for him. The memory would probably never leave me. It made me more sympathetic towards someone else who had a loved one hurt.
Eli’s injury was minor, and she’d been ordered to rest for a full forty-eight hours before attempting to work again, but she’d bounce back fairly quickly. The news relieved her husbands, but it also had to irritate them that they’d been right there and failed to protect her. It had to grate. In their shoes, I’d be one unhappy camper.
Because of that, Mack and I worked up a plan. I found a local gym we could pay a daily fee for, threw some workout clothes into a bag, and then headed across the hall to where their room was. Booker answered the door on the first knock.
I found Booker a little hard to read, honestly. He had a natural resting poker face. Even now, it was hard to read him. It was the tense, stiff way he held himself that indicated how upset he really was.
Oh yeah. Definitely needed to draw them out of this funk. “Hey. I wondered if you and Quinn wanted to hit the gym with me. Workout, maybe do some sparring.”
Quinn magically popped up behind him. “Now?”
“I mean, I can give you a few minutes to throw gear together,” I offered magnanimously.
Quinn’s upper lip lifted in a sneer at the teasing, but he also cast a worried glance behind him. I assumed he was worried about leaving Eli alone.
“Mack’s staying here,” I offered, which was also part of the plan. “He’ll be right across the hall the whole time. He’s got The Witcher to watch.”
“Damn right I do!” Mack called from our room.
I cast him a wry glance over my shoulder. I knew exactly which scenes he wanted to watch, too. “Should I be jealous?”
“Nah. You’re all yummy and built like he is.” Mack’s head popped into view. “I order you to go maintain those muscles.”
Snorting, I turned back to the listening men. “So there you have it. Want to go? Gym’s about a mile down the road.”