Chapter 2
The Visitor
Christine slept peacefully until she heard the beeping of monitors and the sound of voices going up and down the hallway outside. She turned over in her sleep, hoping the beeping and the chatter outside would fade away soon. Her hopes for peace and quiet was soon ended when a gentle but persistent hand started shaking her awake. "Miss? Miss! I'm sorry, but I need to get you up, you have a visitor coming."
Christine opened her eyes but instantly closed them tight. Everything was so bright! The sun was shining into the sterile-white room intensified its harsh glow. The female nurse immediately closed the blinds partway. "There you go, much better!" The nurse helped Christine into an upright position in bed. "Your visitor will be here soon, but you have enough time to freshen up and have some breakfast first!"
The nurse immediately took a warm washcloth and began to gently wash Christine's face and neck. Though she was gentle, Christine inwardly cringed at the nurse's bedside manner. Sure she was doing her job, but shouldn't she at least ask if she wanted to wake up and be given a sponge bath!? Too tired to protest, she let the nurse continue with her duties. The name tag read: Judy. "How are you feeling this morning, hon?" Judy asked.
"I don't know." Christine tried searching her memories but came up blank. "I'm fine though I guess."
"Any stomach pain? Back pain? Headache?" Judy asked. Christine twisted and lifted each arm and leg as tenderly as possible.
"I'm a bit sore all over, but not too bad," Christine said with a wince as she tried to ease up in the bed.
"I'll give you something for the pain with your breakfast, hon. Do you think you can handle food?" The mention of food made Christine's stomach rumble.
"Yes, I think I could."
"Alrighty, I'll send up something, I think you'll find our breakfast cuisine better than most hospitals around here." Judy winked then walked out of the room. Christine sighed and leaned back in the bed and closed her eyes. A moment later there was a knock on the door frame.
"Knock-knock" she opened her eyes to see Detective Maza at her door.
"Detective Maza! Good to see you." Christine smiled, genuinely pleased to see the detective.
"Good morning, I hope you're feeling better. Has anything new come to your memory from last night?" Christine shook her head with a frown.
"Nothing new. I wish I knew what happened."
"So do I. Don't worry, Matt and I are going to do everything we can to help you. There's something I want to talk to you about once they discharge you." The detective lowered her voice as Judy returned to the room with the breakfast tray.
"I hope you like breakfast burritos! They're one of my favorite meals if I do say so myself!" Judy exclaimed as she tucked a napkin around Christine's neck as if she were a child. "I made sure you had plenty of calcium and protein on your plate! With all you went through last night, you need to build up your strength..." Judy rattled on about the importance of vitamins and taking care of the body, especially after a traumatic physical experience. "And here is the medicine I promised you if you start to feel nauseous at all, press this button. I'll be back when I can, dear!" Judy gave her one last pillow fluff and left to take care of another patient.
"Finally! I thought I was never gonna have the chance to eat." she sighed once Judy was out of earshot. She looked down at her burrito and took a small bite as Elisa watched. She put a dab of salsa on the next bite and made a "so-so" sway of the head. "Not the best, but not the worst either I guess." She opened the carton of protein shake and washed the burrito down, but then made a face that said she wished she hadn't. Elisa chuckled.
"Don't worry, as soon as they discharge you, I'll treat you to some real food." She poured a cup of water and handed it to Christine.
"Thank you, Detective, that would be amazing." She took a large swig of water and swished around in her mouth to lose the taste of the protein shake. "The cook on the Centurion makes better shakes than this!"
"The what?" Elisa leaned in. Christine paused. What had she just said?
"I said... The cook on the Centurion..."
"Do you know what that is?" Elisa asked.
"Yes... No. Ugh! I'm not sure. I think I know, but I don't!" Christine huffed in frustration.
"Don't worry about that now," said Elisa, "I understand after an accident like yours that bits of memory will come and go. Give it time. In the meantime, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"Sure, what is it?" Christine asked.
"I have some friends who might be able to help you. They have dealt with strange and mysterious cases before. Given your circumstances, I think they would be the best for the job."
Christine brightened. "That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Detective."
"You can call me Elisa. Furthermore, until your memory comes back and you know where you belong, or family comes to claim you, you'd best stay with me at my apartment."
"Oh, Detect- Elisa! Are you sure? I don't want to be an imposition."
"It's not a problem. You'll need a safe place to stay until we can get your story figured out." What Elisa didn't say is that she wanted to keep a close eye on Chrstine and keep her away from the prying eyes of the public. The blue glow she had seen on her the other night told Elisa that Christine had some kind of power. Unknown powers of any kind made people nervous, but not Elisa. She knew that this young woman wouldn't be safe until she found out who she was or where she came from. Only Elisa and the gargoyles could be trusted with her secrets for now.
"Thank you." Christine sighed with relief. " I feel that a weight has come off my shoulders that I didn't know was there! I hadn't even thought of what I would do after I was discharged."
"It's my pleasure. Besides, this way we can work together to put the pieces of your life back together."
Two days later, Christine was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health, save for a few scratches and bruises here and there. The hospital gave her a basic set of scrubs to wear since she had no other sets of clothing to wear besides her armor which was in dire need of cleaning and repair. Elisa picked her up in her red convertible which matched her smart red leather jacket. "I can't thank you enough, Elisa!" Christine exclaimed as she slid into Elisa's car.
"You can thank me when we solve your mystery; which I'm thinking might be more complex than we initially thought," Elisa stated as she started up the car.
"What do you mean?" Christine asked as she buckled herself in.
"It's hard to explain. I think things may make more sense when I introduce you to my friends. Are you up to going out tonight?"
"Absolutely! I want to start finding answers as soon as possible. Tell me about these friends of yours, you've hardly said anything about them."
"Well, they are a bit unusual, but they are the kindest, bravest, smartest friends that I have. They have solved all sorts of mysteries with me and helped me track down dozens of criminals. If anyone can help you figure out who you are, and what kind of trouble you're in, it's them."
Later that evening, Elisa and Christine made their way over to a place called the Eyrie Building. Elisa lent her some clean clothes from her own closet until they could shop to get her some new ones. Luckily, she and Elisa were about the same size. Christine was now dressed in clean jeans, a white tank top, and a grey leather jacket with matching boots. Christine marveled at her new roommate. She couldn't be more grateful to the kind detective. However, she was a bit nervous about meeting these mysterious friends of hers.
She and Elisa entered the elevator that would take them to the penthouse level of the tower. As they went up, Christine marveled through the glass wall that looked out towards the city of Manhattan. The elevator rose higher and higher, and the lights of the city spread out like a lake of jewels. Soon, they were as high as the clouds. Christine was both nervous and excited to be in a building so high up.
"Wow!" Christine breathed. "I don't think I've ever been here before. I'm sure I would have remembered a view this beautiful!" she exclaimed. Finally the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened up to the grand hallway of a castle. "Woah!" Christine exclaimed again. Did we change buildings?"
Elisa chuckled in response. "Nah, this is just the penthouse." she explained.
"Who owns all this?" Christine asked in wonder, taking in the sights of the ancient castle. She couldn't believe that this stood on top of an enormous skyscraper.
"I do," came a smooth voice from the other end of the room. A tall, elegant man in his mid- forties entered the room. He wore a well-made suit and his long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He walked with ease and confidence. It was the king of the castle himself, David Xanatos.
"Detective Maza, a pleasure as usual." He nodded sardonically at Elisa. Then his gaze moved to Christine and he gave a charming smile. "And you must be the young lady she inquired about." He held out his hand and Christine extended hers expecting a handshake, but Xanatos gently brought it to his lips. "A pleasure my dear. Christine, is it? An angelic name, much like the lady herself." Christine blushed, not used to so much charm, especially from such an attractive older man.
"Are you one of the friends Elisa told me about?" Christine asked.
David Xanatos chuckled. "I certainly hope so." He winked at Elisa, knowing it would get on her nerves. Elisa rolled her eyes. He offered his arm to Christine "Shall we?"
"Wait Xanatos, I wanted to introduce Christine to the clan first." Elisa argued. She didn't want any assistance from David Xanatos if she could help it.
Mr. Xanatos waved the argument away. "This will only take a moment. Besides, Goliath, Brooklyn and Lexington have already gone on patrol. I believe they went out looking for Sevarius." Elisa frowned in frustration, but she made no argument. Christine wondered about the curious names that Mr. Xanatos had mentioned. Perhaps they were code names or nicknames of some kind. She may not have had her memory, but she was certain she had never heard of those names before. Mr. Xanatos offered his arm once again to Christine. "If you'll follow me, perhaps we can start solving this mystery of yours." Christine graciously took his arm, and Elisa reluctantly followed along.
Mr. Xanatos lead them into a large laboratory. There were computers, test tubes, beakers, bunsen burners, microscopes, monitors and miscellaneous lab equipment everywhere, but it was all organized in an orderly fashion. A tall, blond man with glasses turned from his seat at a computer monitor as Mr. Xanatos and his guests entered the room.
"Owen, allow me to introduce our honored guest." Owen stood to face them rather stiffly, hardly a look of expression on his face.
"A pleasure ma'am," he made a slight bow at the waist then turned to cordially greet Elisa. "Detective."
"Papa!" A little boy of four years old darted out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around Xanatos's legs and giggled.
"Ah, Alex! Where did you come from?" Xanatos smiled, pleased to see his young son.
"If you don't mind sir, I asked him to be present while our guest was here," Owen said woodenly. All of a sudden Owen spun like a top and in his place, an elvish looking young man appeared; lively and as animated as could be. "I thought it might be an excellent opportunity to teach him how to extract lost memories"
Christine gasped with surprise. "But what- who?" she stuttered.
"Ah! Allow me to introduce myself!" The elvish man floated over like Peter Pan. He bowed at the waist gallantly. "I am Puck! Magic extraordinaire! Or at least some of the time. When I teach this young one to use his powers!" He pointed to young Alexander and tickled his cheek. Alexander giggled and was lifted into the air, floating around the room like Puck. Then Puck turned back to Christine and flew in uncomfortably close to her face, staring deep into her eyes as if searching her soul.
"Uhm. Excuse me?" Christine asked uncomfortably.
"Shh! I'm concentrating!" Puck said impertinently. He floated right in front of her nose for a good ten seconds before Elisa finally pushed him away.
"Alright, that's enough Puck! What exactly are you doing?" Elisa demanded.
"Just give me one more moment, I almost have her figured out!" Puck protested. He started to fly back towards her, but this time Christine intervened on her own behalf.
"Hold on buddy! I may have no idea where I am or where I came from, but I think I have a right to know what you're doing before you invade my personal space!"
"Of course, my lady." Puck replied drolly. "As a member of the third race, I have the ability to find other magical beings like myself. I'm just trying to figure out if you are one of them!" He started to inch closer once again, but Christine put out a hand to stop him.
"Woah, You think I'm magical?" She laughed. "Why on earth would you think that?"
"Simply because Detective Maza suspected it." Puck explained.
"Wait, what?" She spun towards Elisa.
"Now hold on!" Elisa argued.
"See, you're glowing even now!" Puck pointed to Christine and made a magical mirror appear before her, proving his point. Sure enough, the atmosphere around her and even her eyes were glowing blue and a slight breeze had entered the laboratory, gently dancing around her.