The Locket
Alex sat up in her bed, sweating, and out of breath. She clenched her hands and swung her feet to the floor, and they carried her quickly across the hall to the bathroom. Flipping on the light switch, she saw her reflection, and was surprised at how tired and red her eyes were, her cheeks tearstained, her hair tangled and her skin pale and covered with sweat. "It was just a dream. Just a dream." she repeated, trying to calm down, her voice shaking.
"Alex," Derek's whisper came from the doorway. "Are you ok? What's wrong?"
"I had that nightmare again, the one I can't remember when I wake. But it absolutely terrifies me. Derek, what do you think it is?" she looked up at him, and more tears fell from her eyes.
"I don't know, but we'll find out. This is the third time this week this has happened." Derek said, putting his arm around her shoulder, wincing as his elbow hit the side of the counter.
Alex smiled sympathetically, and they went downstairs to the kitchen. Derek got out a box of chamomile tea, and set about making it.
"No thanks Derek. I'm not thirsty." Alex said, as he handed her a steaming mug.
"Just drink. It'll help you sleep." Derek said, sipping his mug.
"That's the last thing I want right now! I don't want to sleep!" Alex cried at him, and buried her head in her hands. He hugged her, and she looked at him, pain in her eyes. "I know if I go back to sleep, it'll happen again. You go back to bed. I'm fine."
"Alex, sweetheart, listen to me. You haven't slept through the night in four days. You look like crap, and I can tell you feel like it." Derek said, and Alex shot him a dirty look. "You need to get some sleep. I'll stay right there, ok? If you start having a nightmare again, I'll wake you up, ok?"
Alex nodded, comforted, and said, "You really don't have to, but thanks."
They went back to Alex's room and Derek lay down next to her on the bed. She snuggled up close against his chest, and fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.
*
The next morning, Alex woke to Derek hissing "Kat. Go away." She rolled over and saw Kat slipping out the door. She smiled languidly at Derek, "Morning. What'd she want?"
"Apparently there's a box for you." Derek said, stretching his muscles.
"Guess we should go take a look." she said, pulling her robe tightly around her nightgown. "Thanks for staying with me last night."
Derek smiled gently at her, and said, "You're welcome. To be honest, I hadn't been sleeping very well either, and having you next to me just felt so…"
"Natural. Right. I know. I felt it too." Alex smiled, then said, "We better get downstairs before Kat starts telling them we were doing something other than sleeping!"
Laughing, they headed downstairs.
*
Alex slit open the tape on the box, and dug in. Inside there was a small golden locket. "It's beautiful." Derek softly pushed aside her hair, and fastened the slim chain around her neck. She smiled sweetly at him. She then asked Kat, "Is there anything else in there? A note card or something to tell us who it's from?"
Kat rummaged through the Styrofoam popcorn, but couldn't find anything. "Nope. Who do you think sent it?"
"I don't know." Alex sighed. She closed her eyes, and began to feel dizzy. She squeezed her eyes tightly, and rubbed her forehead.
Derek looked at her, concerned, and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm ok." she answered. The dizziness had calmed. Derek looked at her, nervously, but turned to the others. Alex held the locket in her hand, and gently pried it open. The world tipped, and Alex lost her balance. Derek turned around and helped her up. "Are you alright?"
Alex nodded. Derek guided her over to a nearby chair, and she sat down gladly. "Thanks." Alex said, leaning back. The dizziness washed over her, but after a moment, it cleared. "I'm fine. I was just a bit... Dizzy. I think I'll go lay down for a while."
Alex stood up shakily and began to walk towards the stairs. "Are you sure you're ok?" Derek asked, putting his hand on her shoulder gently.
Alex shrugged. Derek walked over and began to help her up the stairs. "I'll be up in a minute to check on you, OK?" Derek asked. Alex merely nodded weakly.
She trudged up the rest of the stairs, and turned the corner. Derek turned to the others. "Nick, see if you can find out who sent that box." Derek told him. He heard a thump, and looked at the others, panicked. "ALEX!" they said in unison, and ran up the stairs.
She laid on the floor, still. Derek rolled her over, and her deep brown eyes stared glassily back. "Damn it! Nick, go get the shock machine" Derek exclaimed and laid her flat on her back. Rachel pressed her chest, counting, "one, two, three, four." Derek forced air into her still chest. Rachel pressed again, "one, two, three, four." Derek blew in, harder, silently praying that she would live.
Rachel put her fingers at the base of Alex's throat, trying desperately to find a pulse. She shook her head, and resumed the compressions. Derek blew once more. Rachel sadly went to check for a pulse, and felt a slight beat beneath her fingertips. She watched Alex's chest, which was still unmoving. "I'm feeling a bit of a pulse, but I'm not sure." Rachel said, as she resumed the compressions again. Derek shoved air into her lungs. Nick came charging up the stairs with the machine. Nick took over the compressions, while Rachel charged the machine. She pulled Alex's shirt apart. The buttons on the front popped away. It beeped ready, and Rachel shouted, "Clear!"
Alex's body convulsed. Rachel felt for a pulse, then began to charge the machine again. Derek blew into her mouth. Nick counted, "one, two, three, four." Derek blew again. The machine beeped its charge, and Rachel laid the paddles on her exposed chest. She convulsed again, and lay still.
In a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, her chest stayed still. But then, it rose slightly. Rachel felt for a pulse, and found one. They all breathed a sigh of relief, but they knew that the danger wasn't over.
"Nick, go warm up the helicopter. Rachel, call the hospital and tell them we're flying her in. Kat, go look in the basement, left hand side. There should be a stretcher or something. Bring it." Derek ordered.
As the others rushed off, Derek stayed by Alex's unconscious form. He ran his hand gently along the curve of her forehead and down the side of her face. He leaned over her, and kissed her softly. He felt her breath warm as it flowed in and out, and he felt a knot begin to form in his throat. "Alex, come on. I love you." he whispered softly.
Rachel came back in and went to help Kat carry the stretcher up the stairs. They loaded Alex onto it and carried her from the room.
*
When they landed, a group of emergency technicians came rushing out. Rachel filled them in on what had happened. They wheeled her inside and through a pair of swinging doors. "I'm sorry," A young nurse said, "you can't come in here. There's a waiting room down the hall, you can wait there."
*
Derek paced up and down the small waiting room. Nick had taken Kat to go get something to eat in the cafeteria, and Rachel sat in one of the hard plastic chairs. After a seemingly interminable half-hour, a resident intern came out.
"Dr. Corrigan?" Rachel nodded. "I'm Dr. Lackey. Miss Moreau seems stable for now, but I would like to ask you a few questions. What exactly happened?"
"We were standing around talking, when she became dizzy. She sat down for a few moments, but then seemed fine. She was going to go lay down, and collapsed. She was not breathing and had no heartbeat. We administered CPR and shocked twice. After the second shock, she could breathe on her own again, so we flew her in." Rachel said in a detached voice.
"So there were no indications of any symptoms prior to that?" Dr. Lackey asked, puzzled.
"No" Rachel answered.
"Can we see her?" Derek asked.
She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Only immediate family is allowed in the ICU."
"She has no other family." Derek told her.
"I do not have the authority to let you in there." The doctor said.
"Fine" Derek snapped. "Who does have the authority?"
"The director of the ICU." she answered.
"Is it still Dr. McCaffrey?" the woman nodded, surprised, and Derek pulled out his cell phone.
"Hello, Anne? It's Derek Rayne. We have a bit of a problem and..." Derek listened for a moment. "Alex is in the ICU. This resident won't let us see her..." He listened for a moment, then handed the cell phone to Dr. Lackey. "She wishes to speak with you."
After a few moments and many repeats of "yes, ma'am", she hung up and passed the phone back to Derek. "I'll go get the passes. How many do you need?" she asked, chastised.
"Four." A few minutes later, Nick and Kat came back up. The chastised resident came back again and sullenly handed Derek the passes.
"Sheesh" Nick muttered, "What's her problem"
"She didn't want to let us in. I just pulled a string." Derek said. Under any other circumstances, Nick would have laughed. As it was, he smiled slightly.
- *
Derek went in to the white emergency room. Machines beeped harshly, as if protesting some great injury done to them. Alex lay on the bed, wires and tubes going into her limp body. Derek blinked several times, trying to keep back the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. {Come on, Derek. You're getting soft in your old age} he thought to himself. He stood next to the bed, picking up her limp hand. He whispered to her, "Alex, it's me, Derek. Come on, you have to fight. You've never quit before, and I'm not going to let you quit now."
Derek looked at the necklace. It had to be responsible for what had happened. He reached over and tried to unclasp the chain, but he couldn't get it to open. He tried to break the chain, but though he used all his considerable strength, he couldn't remove the necklace. Frustrated, he kissed Alex's forehead, and went back out to the waiting room.
"Nick, see if you can get that necklace off." Nick looked at Derek, confused. "I think it might be responsible." Nick nodded and went in.
He came back out in a few minutes, shaking his head. "Nope. I could probably get it off if I had bolt clippers, but... other than that, it's stuck."
"That makes no sense." Rachel interjected. "I mean, it's just a necklace chain. I've broken I don't know how many of those by accident." Rachel went into the hospital room. A short time later, Rachel returned, flummoxed. "I don't get it. There's no way a chain that thin can be that strong."
Derek thought for a second. "Nick, go back to the house, see if you can find anything about unbreakable chains or weird lockets in the database."
Nick nodded, and Rachel added, "Take Kat with you, please." She looked over at her daughter, who was looking very tired. Nick smiled at the young girl, and they went to go call a taxi.
*
Kat slammed the door to the bedroom and went over to her book bag. She pulled out a leather-bound book, pulled the key off from around her neck, and opened the book. She glanced at the inscription and smiled, then turned to a blank page.
"Alex is in the hospital." Kat wrote. "She almost died today! Her heart wasn't beating. I wanted to help her, but then they "jump started" her heart while I was trying to think up a spell. I was so scared, I couldn't think. I need to think up a spell to get that locket off her. That's why she can't wake up. Hmm... I got it" Kat closed the book, and headed downstairs.
Nick was sitting at the kitchen table, pushing soggy cereal around a blue bowl. He didn't even glance up when Kat pulled out a chair and sat down next to him. "It's ok, Nick." Kat said softly. Nick didn't look up. She saw the faint line of a tear wind it's way down his cheek. "It's ok. I know how to fix it." Kat whispered. Nick sat staring at the cereal.
*
Rachel came home an hour later. "Derek's staying there with her tonight." Rachel told them. "Nick, were you able to find anything about the locket?" Nick shook his head sadly.
Rachel looked over at Kat, who was looking pensively at her. "Kat, what is it?"
"I was thinking." Seeing her mom's slight frown, she continued hesitantly, "If I knew something can be wrong, but I do it for good, is it still wrong?"
Rachel cocked her head, and asked, "What do you mean, Kitty-Kat?"
"Well," Kat began, "If I knew something that would help someone, but I'd gotten in trouble and hurt people with it before, would it be wrong?"
Rachel considered for a moment, then said, "Like witchcraft?" Kat nodded. "Well, Kat, you know I don't approve of witchcraft. But how do you think it will help?"
Kat stared shocked at her mom. "Uh... Well, I was thinking about the locket. I mean, it was sent by someone with evil intent. So if I could turn the intent back on whoever sent it, then Alex will be ok."
Rachel mulled it over. Much as it scared her, what her daughter was saying made sense. "Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't allow you to do it, but she's getting worse. She can't breathe on her own, and they have her on a respirator. So, just this once, I will allow you to do a spell. Do you want to do it here, or go back to the hospital?"
Kat smothered her surprise. {Mom's approving magick?} Her stomach sank; {Alex must be really bad.} "Well," she said aloud, "I guess at the hospital."
Rachel walked over to the door and picked up her coat and car keys, saying, "OK, come on."
*
Rachel, Nick, and Kat drove up to the hospital and went inside. They went up to the ICU's floor, and into Alex's room. Derek started awake when they came in. He had been half-asleep. "What?" Derek asked, startled.
Kat went over to Alex. "I'm going to help."
Derek looked at her. "How?"
"I thought up a spell." Kat hesitated, and when Derek didn't object, continued, "I think I can help her." Kat told him what she had told her mom a while before.
Derek thought about it, then said, "Well, Kat, I trust that you would not do anything to harm Alex. So... Alright."
Kat smiled, relieved. Nervously, she intoned, "Alex has always been my friend, now her life I will defend. The evil spell upon her now I turn, and on it's caster now return."
Over on the bed, Alex's eyes fluttered open. She began to thrash, confused and frightened. Derek hurried over to her, and held her head, saying, "It's ok, Alex, just relax. It's ok." he repeated, trying to soothe her. She calmed down, and he turned and smiled at Kat, who was smiling proudly.
Her pride was quickly expelled when Alex resumed twitching, faster this time. "Alex, calm down," Derek pleaded, to no avail. Rachel saw the heart monitor was fluctuating wildly, and she quickly pressed the call button. Derek held her closely against him, pinning her flailing limbs, all the while, trying to calm her.
A doctor rushed in, asking, "What happened?"
"She woke up, but was frightened, probably by all the tubes." Rachel told him, and he rushed over to the bed.
"Miss Moreau, please, relax. It's ok. You're in the hospital. Calm down." he said, his voice commanding over the machinery. She slowly began to relax, but her eyes danced nervously about the room.
Rachel, Kat, and Nick went over so that she could see them. "Hey, Alex, I know it's very uncomfortable with those tubes and everything in you. Just relax, they'll be out soon," Rachel told her. "How do you feel?"
Alex shrugged, since she couldn't talk with the breathing tube down her throat. The doctor went to go write it up in her file. Derek kissed the top of her forehead fondly.
"Do you remember what happened?" Rachel asked. She pulled out a notepad and pen from her purse, and handed it to Alex.
She wrote on the paper, "Sort of, but it's fragmented. I had just turned the corner, and I felt a burning in my chest, then it all gets fuzzy." she passed the pad back to Rachel, who read it to the rest of the group.
Rachel nodded, and said, "We heard a thud, and ran up. You were not breathing and didn't have a pulse. We managed to revive you, but you've been unconscious for the past 14 or so hours." Alex looked surprised, and slightly fearful. She grabbed the notebook back and scribbled, "Will I be ok?" and handed it back to Rachel.
"I don't know hon. You seem fine, but they'll need to do some tests first to make sure." Rachel saw the frightened look on her friend's face, and added, "But I suspect that you'll be ok."
*
An old nurse came in a while later. "I have to change the IV bag," she explained, and disconnected one of the lines running into Alex's hand. She took the bag that was connected to off the metal stand, and put another bag up there. After she reattached the line, she left.
Alex was having a conversation with Derek, passing a note back and forth. He decided it would be better if he wrote too, so that Alex wouldn't feel uncomfortable. He saw that her writing began to get more jagged, and asked her if she was ok. She told him yes, but that she was tired.
Aloud, he told her, "Get some sleep. If you need me, I'll be right outside the room." He gestured to the others to go outside, and when they left, he whispered to Alex, "I love you, Alex." He leaned over her and kissed her forehead softly. She looked at him, and scribbled, "I love you too." The letters scrawled down on the page, and she closed her eyes.
"Alex?" he asked distressed. "Rachel, come in here." he shouted out into the hall. "Now!"
*
"I don't understand." Kat said. "Unless... Derek, we have to find that woman. She's the one who caused this." Kat walked over and unhooked the IV bag. She handed it to her mother. "What is this?" she asked.
Rachel studied the bag for a moment, then looked at Kat, shocked. "Narscoleptinal? It's a very, very strong sedative. Why would they put Alex on this?"
"Maybe they didn't, but that woman did." Derek said. "Rachel, go alert the staff about this. Then call Detective Royce, and ask him to come stand guard. Kat, any idea where the woman might be?"
Kat closed her eyes. {A young girl warped into an old, hateful old woman as the house behind her fell to ruin. Derek laying unmoving, draped over a tree branch while the woman danced around below.} "The forest. That was her house once." She looked at Derek frightened. "Derek, you can't go. If you go, she'll kill you."
He squatted awkwardly down next to her. "Kat, I have to. We have to take her out when we have the chance, before she hurts someone else, and maybe we won't be able to save them. She was the one who sent the locket. I can't sit back and wait for her to strike again."
Kat nodded, "I know, but please, be careful." He smiled at her.
*
Derek and Nick drove to the house in the forest and stepped out. Derek looked around carefully. Pictures flashed through his head, {Flames licking his body as he dove into the ocean. His weary body carrying him to land. The old woman looking coldly over his battered body and dragging him to her house, where she hoped no one would be able to find him, while she tried to get him to turn.}
Nick walked over to him, "Derek, are you ok?"
"Yes." Derek said, then, "Come on." Nick shrugged and followed his friend into the woods.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Nick asked, his gun pulled.
"You may as well put up your gun, Nicky boy. It won't do any good against me." A voice cackled around them and he spun vainly about, trying to find where it was coming from. "Do you really think that you can defeat me? I have existed since before humans learned how to use fire, and I will be here when your kind have faded to ashes."
"We must try," Derek shouted into the surrounding trees, and the woman laughed maniacally.
"Try, and you shall fail." Derek found himself flying helplessly through the air. He landed with a thud against a nearby tree, his head pounding against the rough bark. He moaned and the world around him tilted sideways. He was vaguely aware of Nick pulling him into the car.
They bumped along the road away from the forest, Derek's head lolling from side to side. When they reached the highway, Nick pulled over. "Derek, can you hear me?"
"Ugh. Yes. Don't shout." the injured precept groaned. Nick looked at Derek, concern mixed with anger in his face, but he drove on back to the hospital.
*
Derek felt the bump on the back of his head. The doctors had told him that it was only a minor concussion, and not to worry. He was more worried about Alex. The sedative hadn't worn off yet, and they could only wait for her to regain consciousness, since the doctors didn't want to give her any stimulants. He leaned over her, pushing her hair gently back along her forehead.
"Penny for your thoughts." Rachel's voice floated softly over to him.
"She looks so small and lost." Derek mused, still staring down at Alex.
"She does, doesn't she? But she's never lost, as long as she has people who care about her." Rachel laid her hand on his shoulder. Derek smiled at that thought. He looked down at Alex, who began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey Alex. Shh. Relax, it's ok. It's all going to be ok." Derek whispered to her. Alex looked up at him, the anxiety vanishing from her face. Looking in his eyes, she knew it was going to be ok, and rested gently against the pillows. She felt his lips brush softly on her forehead, and slipped back into sleep feeling warm and fuzzy inside, knowing she was loved and would never be left alone.
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