Chapter 9

Ami had said that she would tell the girls the whole story when they got to the hotel, but in the event, Usagi was too impatient to be reunited with Mamoru, and so the five of them went to the hospital together. Ami led the way – the others noted that she knew where she was going without hesitation – to a small ward on the fifth floor. Six beds were lined up, three on each wall, and Mamoru was seated by one of them.

While they were busy greeting each other, Rei – who felt a little uncomfortable, as she had been Mamoru's girlfriend before Usagi – came closer to the bed and looked down on its occupant. A young woman with short black hair lay motionless in the bed, strapped down and attached to a series of tubes and wires that connected with a complicated set of equipment, on which a display was flickering.

"Who is she?" said Rei.

"Her name is Diana Quick," said Ami. "She's a student at a local art college."

"A friend of yours?"

"No, I'd never met her before this happened."

Rei sat down to take a closer look at the patient. Her appearance was more or less normal; she might just have been asleep; but Rei noticed a paleness in her skin that did not look natural.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's in some kind of coma," said Ami. "She has been for over a week now. No-one knows what brought it on; she didn't turn up for classes one morning, her friends got worried, and when they entered her flat they found her lying in bed, just like this."

"And no-one knows why?"

"No… but doesn't it remind you of anything?"

Rei drew in a deep breath and nodded. She, like the others, had seen people looking like this all too many times, victims of the strange monsters they had fought against in the past, supernatural monsters that attacked not by any physical means but by draining their victims' life energy.

"Why is she strapped down like that?"

"She's been having fits," said Ami. "Every now and again, she doesn't become conscious, but she writhes about, and if she weren't strapped down she might fall out of bed and injure herself. And she screams – it's horrible, it sounds like she's being tortured – and talks, rapidly, as if she were trying to tell her torturer what he wanted to know to get him to stop – all without opening her eyes."

Rei's head was bowed, and Ami knew she was deeply affected with pity for the young girl.

"You might like to look at this," said Ami, taking a notebook from the bedside table. "Some of the things she said were so strange that the nurses have been writing as much as they can down, and when they can't spare the time, Mamoru or I have been taking over. That's why he couldn't come with me to the airport.."

"But how did you two become involved with her?"

"Well, we both come here as part of our studies, and after Dr Green told me about this case, I knew it was something I had to look into – because I had a horrible feeling this might be something that needed the sailor warriors to deal with."

Rei nodded, and opened the notebook.

"Let me out!" she read from the page. "Let me out of here! You can't do this to me… you can't keep me here! I need light again, do you hear me? Light! The shadows are hurting my eyes…."

Rei shuddered, and turned a few pages at random.

"You mustn't hurt Ruby! This is unjust… she hasn't deserved this! I swear if I ever get out of this place, I'll hunt you down and destroy you! Do you hear me, Krotera?"

Rei stopped, and looked up at Ami. "Krotera?" she said.

"I don't know either," said Ami. "Except for what's written there. Read on. You'll see."

Rei looked back at the page.

"Too dark… I can't find my way around. There must be a way out… I try to feel my way, but I keep going round in circles. All the pillars, all the walls, they all feel the same. Help me! I'm losing my sense of who I am in here…."

She skimmed a few pages, looking for the name Krotera again. It soon turned up.

"I'll never give in, Krotera! Do you hear me? Never! You can keep me here until I drop dead of exhaustion, I'll never betray my friends, and Ruby won't either. You'll never find the key to the seal."

Rei at last put the book down and looked steadily at Ami. "This is terrible," she said.

"I know," said Ami. "We've got to do something. That's why I've brought you all here."

"You have?" said Rei. "But… what can we do?"

"I thought," Ami said hesitantly, "I thought we could try… you know, Moon Healing Escalation."

"Here?" said Rei. "In a hospital? But… won't there always be too many people around?"

Ami's face became very pale.

"I know," she said. "We can't do it here. That's why… we're going to have to kidnap her."