Volcanoes (20 page)

Whoever had spoken to me before I
’
d fallen back to sleep had been right. Everything was explained when I opened my eyes.

On my table sat my Keurig with a carousel of coffee right next to it. That alone would have made me th
e happiest girl in the world. But the love these people had for me threw me completely off guard. They'd removed the wall to the left of my front door and replaced it with some sort of glass.

There were runes etched into it, which led me to believe it had
been spelled to keep me in. But I could see! Dylan could come and talk to me face to face!

I eased out of the bed - my muscles protesting the movement - and walked over to the glass. I tapped a few times and was answered with a buzz. I stepped back in su
rprise.

"Grace, don't tap on the glass."

"Drew?"

"What?"

"What are you doing inside my wall?"

"I'm not inside your wall idiot. It's my shift. Each of us is umm…
how do I explain it…
tuned into your wall. When you tap against it or try to communic
ate, it is transferred to a number of people."

"How do I communicate without tapping on it?"

"See the big glowy rune next to your door?"

I moved closer to the door and spied what he was talking about. The rest of the runes and swirls were opaque. This one
glowed bright and blue. "Yes."

"Run your hand over that when you need to speak to someone. Whoever is on duty will relay your message - they can either come to see you or take over the telecom."

"Drew, this is awesome. How did you get stuck with babysitti
ng duty?"

"I volunteered. Grace, you're still my best friend despite all of the weirdness."

"Oh," I responded quietly. "Well, thank you. Why did you guys need to knock me out for this?"

"It took a while to get it put in place. You've been asleep for about
three days. We thought you'd be more comfortable in a stasis chamber
–
asleep
–
instead of locked in some decontamination chamber."

"You couldn't have just moved me to another room?"

He paused before he answered me. "Grace, we had to use special suits just
to come in there. The virus has mutated and…
" he trailed off.

"And what?" I asked, panic rising in my voice.

"You're contagious now. Zeus figures they manipulated the virus so it would mutate once you hit a certain level.  They were likely hoping it wou
ld spread to incapacitate us, allowing them to take over the city."

"That sucks so much."

"It does suck, but the good news is that Zeus caught it before any real damage could happen. Also, he's making progress."

"Then why do you sound so sad, Drew?"

He di
dn't answer for a long time. "Drew?" I had to repeat his name several times before he finally answered me.

"Why did I have to be the one to have to tell you?"

"Because you're just that lucky?" I tried to joke.

"You're dying, Grace. You have weeks -
maybe
a few months - left to live. The virus has destroyed your cells
’
abilities to regenerate.  Since your nanites are burned out, they can't repair any damage that the virus does."

"I can't be injected with new nanites?"

"Once you
’
re injected with your final d
ose of nanites, that's all you get. Any others would wreck the balance of your system."

"What about those temporary ones my mother has?"

"They're not strong enough, Grace. Damn it! Why do you have to keep asking so many questions? Don't you think we've com
e up with all of these on our own and investigated? Don't you think it was hard enough for me to have to tell you this?"

"Don't make this about you, Drew!" I was yelling now and my voice broke.  He'd just told me I was dying.

Well fuck him. I was always d
ying. I was always getting kidnapped, tortured, having the shit kicked out of me and dying. This wasn't anything new. I would beat this just like I beat everything else.

"I'm sorry Grace," he responded quietly.

"Well, I'm obviously not going to die, so g
et over yourself."

He replied with a confused, "You're not?"

"Have I yet? Give me one good example of a situation that I didn't bounce back from? I'm the heroine of my god damned books, Drew. I can't die!"

He laughed at that. I might have been mistaken, bu
t for a moment one of those laughs sounded like a sob. "You crazy, crazy bitch. You probably won't die because you're too stubborn."

"You're damn straight, I am." I stopped and took a breath, trying to center myself. "Can you send my Mom over? Or tell her
to call me or whatever? Also, I could use some curtains or something? I don't want to feel like a lab rat in here."

"Swipe your hands over the glass and it will turn the same opaque color as the runes. Nobody will be able to see in or out."

I swiped my han
d across the glass and it fogged over as he
’
d said it would. "Thanks Drew."

"No problem. I'll send your Mom over. Grab some food and maybe take a shower. It should make you feel better. I made some roast beef for you for dinner tonight."

He made really goo
d roast beef. "Is it drugged?" I asked suspiciously.

"No. Dork."

The com went silent after that.  I sat in a chair and waited for both dinner and my mother.

I was dying. Again, that wasn't anything new but I still took the time to dwell on my newfound mo
rtality. There were new questions to ask. Like
–
Who would take guardianship of Dylan if I died?

Before, it had been a no brainer. Brandon would have gotten custody. I nearly laughed. God, would he have been in for a surprise.  Now I didn't know. My mothe
r, I supposed. She was the best equipped to raise a child with Dylan's abilities.

I think that my life insurance policies were up to date so he'd have money for college. The house was being left to him in my Will so there was that.

I wished Rose and I we
re still talking. She would have been able to tell me exactly what I needed to hear to make this all okay. She probably would have been able to figure out this disease and cure me in two days.

Okay. Probably not. But it was a comforting thought to know th
at somewhere out there was…
Oh shit. I stood up too fast and put my back out. "Jesus Christ!" The pain didn't matter, I limped over to the wall and slammed my hand onto the glowing rune.

"Grace, when you tap on the glass it's like nails on a chalkboard in
the ear piece. Would you stop?"

"Check on Rose!" I screamed.

"Wait, What?"

"They've got a doctor or a geneticist who mutated the virus. Fucking go check on Rose! I haven't heard from her in months and I thought it was because she didn't want to be friends
anymore. That might not be the case."

"Shit," he breathed.

"Yes,
shit
. Now go!" I yelled.

"I'm on my way."

Once I had confirmation that he was going, I collapsed in pain. Why had standing up thrown my back out? I didn't even have aspirin to kill the ag
ony screaming through my back muscles. I reached up again and ran my hand over the rune.

"Yes, Grace?"

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear."

"Can you bring me some painkillers? I threw my back out."

"Of course I can. I'll be there in a moment okay? I want you to try to ge
t into the bathroom. There should be some Advil there in the medicine cabinet."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can."

I couldn't walk, so I crawled into the bathroom and used the sink to pull myself into a standing position. I screame
d when I glimpsed the monster facing me.

Nobody had prepared me for what I was seeing. Instead of Grace, a cadaver was staring back at me. All of the flesh on my face had melted away and my eyes bugged slightly out of their sockets from the lack of cushio
n. My hair had fallen out in patches, what was left was hanging in greasy clumped strips down around my ears.

I'd expected to gain weight with the loss of my nanites and powers. But instead, my body was wasting away.

Oh my God. Drew was right. I was goin
g to die.

When I was little, my adoptive mother had told me that for every whine, a year of my life would be taken away.  It hadn
’
t made sense to me at the time, but looking at my current reflection, I had to believe she
’
d been right.  I was
a dirty whiner and it had caught up to me.

Acceptance was key in this situation. I could wear a hat. It wouldn't help my skeletal visage but at least it would hide the nasty hair. Actually, maybe I could just shave it all off.

Besides, I was stuck in th
is room so it wasn't like anyone could see me. I had no idea what I was going to do if/when Dylan saw me like this. I guess it was time to prepare my kid for my death.

When he
’
d been four or five I went through this phase of utter clumsiness. I
’
d convince
d myself that at any moment I was going to trip on the rug and shove a screwdriver through my eye. So I started writing letters and recording videos for him.

They were minor things like
–
This is how you shave your face. Don't have sex without a condom. G
o to college. Be a good person. Each lesson was important - no, critical - at the time.

Right at this moment, though, none of that meant shit. He didn't need to know how to shave. He needed to know how to fight off Minotaur. He needed to know how to acces
s his inheritance so he could pay for college. He had his father's and mine coming to him. I needed to make sure that Diana was listed as his guardian, so I had to find out what her human name was.  All of the details that had seemed trivial before were n
o
w utterly important and nearly impossible to focus on. 

I couldn't stop staring at my face.  I used to joke that if I ever became a zombie he needed to double tap me.  If you love someone, you double tap them.  Two shots instead of one to ensure they stay
down.  I was turning into a zombie and the macabre trains of thought were worse than anything Stephen King could have ever come up with.

Diana knocked on the glass and startled me. I refused to crawl back to the window. Even if it took me an hour to get o
ut there, I was going to at least shuffle in. "I'm on my way!" I called.

"There's a cane on the other side of the bathroom door!" she called back.

"If I haven't told you yet that I love you, I do," I responded. She didn't answer and suddenly it didn't ma
tter if she loved me back or not. I could give that to her without reciprocation.

I leaned heavily on the cane and shuffled into the other room. It only took fifteen minutes to get to the glass and pass my hand over the rune. The glass cleared and Diana s
aw me for the first time in days. She couldn't hide her look of horror or the gasp. I didn't hold it against her.

"I screamed when I first saw it," I said with a rueful smile.

"I apologize. You don't need that kind of reaction right now."

"It's fine. Hey
, I need your human name. I have to sign guardianship of Dylan over to you."

"Diana Hunter. Why me?  Why not Drew?"

Of course it was Diana Hunter. It almost made me laugh out loud. Her question was a good one. Why
not
Drew? He was Dylan's biologica
l father after all. "I want the strongest, most reliable person I know raising him. That's you. You may have a fucked up sense of humor sometimes - and why you threw my sister's husband and I together is beyond me
–
but you're his best shot at surviving."

She nodded solemnly. "I'm honored that you would choose me."

"I need someone to go get the papers from my attorney. I'll call her after you leave and have her draw everything up. I'll need witnesses to sign them. God, I don't even know what I'll need. I d
on't normally take care of this nonsense
–
Em does."

"I'm sure we'll be able to take care of it. Is there anything else you need?"

"More time?" My voice broke. I needed more time. There was Dylan to raise, a book to finish, Marisol was going to be so pisse
d and
–
and I didn't know.

Diana pressed her hand up to the glass and I laid mine over hers. It may have been my imagination but the glass heated up between us and it gave me a semblance of comfort.

"I'm doing everything I can to find a cure for this. Za
chary isn't sleeping. He cried when he saw you. I think he feels guilty."

"He should feel guilty! Who the hell creates a virus to take me down?"

"Fair point."

"Has Drew reported in on Rose yet?"

It was silent on the other side of the glass and I could see
her mind whirling
–
trying to figure out what was safe to tell me.

"Just tell me."

"Rose has been missing for a few months."

I sat heavily in the chair and leaned my head back. I stared at the ceiling and stayed silent. I wish it had been quiet in my head.
There were so many 'If only' scenarios whirling through my thoughts. If only I hadn't left her to her own devices. If only I'd tried harder. If only I hadn't completely cut her out of my life
–
I would have known a month ago that she'd gone missing and I
wouldn't be stuck behind this glass wall.

After several minutes had passed, Diana gave me a verbal nudge. "Grace?"

"I'm still alive. I'm just beating myself up on the inside. I thought someone was going to be watching her? I just talked to her. I called h
er on the phone. She didn't say a thing."

"We hadn't received a report in several weeks and assumed that it was because everything was okay. Grace, there has just been so much going on lately, we haven't been able to keep track of everything. You better th
an anyone should know a cell phone works just fine from anywhere in the world," she nodded at my phone on the bedside table.

"Who was sent to watch her?"

"Adam," she responded quietly.

"I don't remember an Adam," I said with a frown.

"He is a fairly innoc
uous member of the Hunters. Like your sister Hope, he didn't exhibit strong power signatures but was a decent Hunter. He could do the basics and wouldn't be sorely missed if he was taken off duty to watch Rose."

"I'm going to assume he's either been taken
or killed."

She shrugged.  "Or he's the one who took Rose. We just don't know."

"The casualties of this war are racking up and the burden weighs heavier on my mind with each one."

"It's not your burden to carry, Grace."

"But I do anyway. I feel somehow all
of this is my fault. They were quiet for hundreds of years. Why now?"

"Maybe they've been quietly building and working and finally they'd reached the point where they could act. It may have nothing to do with you."

"No. Hypnos made it clear it had become
personal."

"But you aren't the cause of this conflict, Grace. Remember that as you feel weighed down. You didn't cause this and you may be able to help resolve it, but the burden is not and will never be yours."

"I expected you to say that." I looked away
and my neck popped uncomfortably.

"Have you eaten since you woke up?"

"No. I was waiting for Drew's roast beef. Hell, I don't even know if I can walk over to the opening to get it. I sure as hell can't carry it to the table."

"Do you need pain pills beyon
d the Advil?"

I nodded. "I threw my back out a bit earlier and the pain isn
’
t letting up."

"I'll see what I can do. Do you want to talk to your son?"

A couple of tears slipped down my face. As dehydrated as I was, this surprised me. "Yes, please. Tell him
he can't see me, though."

"I will. Grace, you are not going to die. You haven't come this far in your life to end like this. I refuse to let this happen. Remember that. Your Mother is a bloody Goddess and she is
not
going to let you die."

I had a small smi
le for that. "Thank you," I whispered.

"I'll have the doorway moved so it comes in from this side of the room.  The tray will be deposited on your table automatically.

"Can you do that so easily?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm Diana. I can do whateve
r the hell I want to do."

Bigger smile happened. "Of course you are. I love you, Mother. Thank you."

Now her face was wreathed in smiles. "I wish it didn't take you nearly dying to compel you to tell me that you love me. Let's work on that, shall we?"

I wo
uld have laughed but it hurt too much.

After she left, my food showed up. I couldn't eat much but it was delicious and I was grateful to Drew for making it. Then I made a call to Marisol.

"Grace? I've been trying to get a hold of you for two weeks. Where
in unholy hell have you been?"

She sounded exasperated. I couldn't blame her. I
’
d gone from being annoying and reclusive during deadlines to completely erratic and unavailable all of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if she dropped me as a client.

"Maris
ol, I have something important to tell you."

"It better be damned important. You can't just disappear when you have a book due and not tell anyone. I called the police, for the love of God. They went to your house. They found a lot of dried blood, Grace. W
hat is going on??"

Shit. Another complication I didn't need. "Marisol, I'm not in the country. I went down to…
" what country…
what country would be remote enough that she couldn't just get there with a plane ride? "Ecuador to do some research. I've been in
and out of cell range. I should have told you but I just couldn't deal after Brandon's death. Unfortunately, I've caught a bug. The prognosis isn't good."

"Tell me where you are!" she demanded. "I
’
m coming to get you."

"You can't just fly in Marisol, and
by the time you get here it will be too late."

She gasped and I could hear her scrambling for paper or anything that would help her get back into control.

"Grace, you tell me where you are right now or I am going to fire you as a client!"

That was my gir
l. "If it makes you feel better. I've made some calls and my last Will is being set up right now. You will continue to get a percentage of my royalties and I'm sending everything I've written up to this point to you. Someone may be able to finish it."

"Don
't you do this to me, Grace Murphy!" Her voice didn't even crack. This woman had balls of steel.

"Listen, it wasn't on my plan of things to do.
‘
Go to the jungle. Catch disease and die.
’
Trust me."

"Let me talk to your doctor!"

"No. You need to accept thi
s. If I miraculously pull through, I will call you."

"Grace, they're saying you killed your husband and set up the car accident to make yourself look innocent. There was a lot of blood spatter. What is going on?"

"Marisol
–
I swear I didn't kill Brandon."

"The case looks bad, and now you're out of the country. They're going to think you ran."

"It doesn
’
t matter what they think. I'm dying, Marisol. What can they do to me that hasn't already been done?"

"They said they also found blood they couldn't explain.
They'd never seen anything like it before."

I was going to talk to my mother about the cleanup crew. If I survived this, Grace Murphy was going to have to die. She couldn't exist if someone thought I'd killed my ex-husband.

"I have no idea what that could
be Marisol. Listen, I have to go. The doctors are coming to check on me. I want you to know how much I appreciate all that you've done for me. I adore you and your balls of steel."

"Grace, you can't
–
" she broke off and started crying. I felt like a comple
te douche for doing this to her. I should have called her and told her I was okay. Now things had become entirely too complicated.

"I have to go," I whispered
–
trying to keep the tears out of my voice.

"You've been a good friend, Grace."

I hung up afte
r that. I didn't know what to say and my wall had just buzzed. I'd deal with the problem with the police later. Right now I had something bigger to work on.