Chapter Eleven
Alice awoke to the sound of beeping. She shifted and let out a low groan of pain before looking around, truly, at where she was. Alice let out a grunt of frustration when she realized she was in a hospital. She reached out with her good hand and she started when she felt worn wood. Alice looked down and smiled at her music box. It rested next to her, carefully placed amongst her covers.
The young woman carefully picked it up and smiled. She wound up the key and the familiar music of Brahms's Lullaby began to plink out. She ran her fingers along the top of the lid before opening it to read the inscription carved in there by her late great-uncle. "Um meine Liebe von ganzem Herzen, Albert," she whispered quietly, before she closed it back up.
She let out a soft sigh and looked over when Grace walked in. "Well, Old Tom went back up to the cottage. I told the nurse you were awake when I heard the groan," she said and Alice smiled a little.
"I'm taking it Grandfather Thomas isn't liking the nickname?" Alice questioned with some amusement.
"Nope. But you're the only one who does like them," Grace responded.
Alice gave a one-shouldered shrug and looked at the white curtains. Her fingers traced the lid, around the edelweiss with the roses, across the necks of the swans.
The day passed with normal routines. The weeks passed through Alice's recovery, and once she made it through without any complications, she was released. "Finally!" Alice exclaimed as she got into the car.
Her arm was still in the sling, and Grace sat on her right side in the back, while Thomas drove. Alice stared out the car window, her right hand resting on the music box. She saw Thomas out of the corner of her eye look back at her, and she smiled before she focused on the scenes outside the window.
"You know…your great-uncle got that for his wife. Scraped all his remaining money together for that thing and gave it to her as a birthday present, inscription and all. I thought he was being stupid, but my brother just laughed and said I would understand when I was married. As always, he was right," her grandfather stated and Alice smiled.
Her eyes never left the window, though she felt he would understand.
She thought she saw a flash of red and yellow again through the trees. She tensed and stared, before she sighed, holding her head. She had to be seeing things…she had to!
The day of Alice's homecoming was cold. The threat of snow was high, and the seas were becoming frothy along the coast. The waves slammed into the rocks and each time, the sea became a storm. The beach wasn't safe, and the winds wailed through the trees.
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Joe was on patrol around the area for now. He could zip around the easiest unseen, and he watched Alice come home. He zipped back to the Dolphin, and he walked inside. "She's back," he reported to Dr. Gilmore.
"Now, we have to wait until her grandfather isn't in the house. She's no longer safe, even with us camped out below her home. And if we get her trust, she may tell us where the research is," Dr. Gilmore answered.
The cyborgs nodded in tandem and looked up at the ceiling of the Dolphin, as if they could see the person they decided to protect from Black Ghost.
End Chapter Eleven
