You Know My Name
Pohog
Chapter 1
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door-
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before.
"Relax," said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave.
The Eagles, "Hotel California."
Molly Carpenter walked uncertainly into the antiseptic smelling hospital and stopped at the front desk, asking the nurse politely where Harry Dresden might be found.
"Are you family?" The nurse, strawberry blonde and in her mid-fifties with too much lipstick, looked the young woman up and down suspiciously. She had been dealing with the media since the …wizard… was admitted, and though this young woman didn't look like a reporter, one could never be too careful.
"Yes," Molly answered without hesitating, or elaborating, and shifted her weight.
"Can I see some identification?" The nurse knew a lie when she heard one.
"It's okay, Nurse," a very tired looking Sergeant Murphy approached the desk, carrying a Styrofoam cup of pale hospital coffee. With those three words, Murphy silently led Molly down the hall.
"He's in an induced coma until they can figure out what's wrong with him. I'll give you a moment," Murphy told her quietly, put a hand on her shoulder, seemed about to say something else, and left her at the door.
Molly was thankful she could face Harry alone, but she hesitated at the doorway. Her eyes on the linoleum floor, she took in the sounds of the machines that were doing all the work for a man she never thought would allow such a thing to happen. The slow beep-beep of his heartbeat, and deep pumping of the respirator breathing for him, the intermittent inflation of an automatic blood pressure cuff. Her mentor was lying in there, weak and so unlike his usual self that she wanted to drop the small bouquet of flowers she was carrying and run.
But she didn't. Harry had taught her how to be brave.
She marched into the room like she owned it, but she didn't look directly at Harry's face as she fussed for too long putting the flowers at his bedside. She sat down at the chair by his side, and put her hand on top of his own.
"Harry, when I figure out who did this to you, I swear, I will get revenge." Molly's eyes rose to his face, where she swore she saw a shadow of a disapproving scowl. "Okay. I'll fix you, and let you take care of him."
Harry Dresden woke in bed, stretched, and felt more refreshed than he had since before Susan was turned. He sat up, looking around for the first time, realizing that this was not his apartment.
A hospital room.
This is odd.
Even on his annual adventure (which he didn't remember having yet this year), he usually ended up in his own apartment. His effect on electronics made him avoid hospitals like they were 1970s disco clubs.
He looked down at the bed and saw himself lying in it, tubes everywhere, chest rising and falling unnaturally.
Harry shrieked and jumped to his feet, but nobody heard him.
And somebody should have heard him. Molly was sitting right next to him - the him that was still lying in bed - holding his hand.
"Molly?" Harry got closer to her and waved his hand in front of her face. She didn't even blink.
The wizard looked down at himself and saw nothing but the hospital floor.
My body…My body's lying in …bed…I have no…
"BOB!"
He didn't bother using the front door - Harry Dresden simply floated through the warded steel like the spirit he was, vanished through the floor without opening the trap door, and landed in front of the skull of the only person who could -hopefully- understand what was going on.
"Bob, wake up!" Please, please let him hear me. From upstairs, he heard Mouse lightly bark once. Harry heard him padding around in circles above the closed trap door.
"Harry, it's too early…" The skull's orange eyes lit up. "Oh dear."
"Yeah! Bob! What-" he motioned down to himself on arms that weren't there. "What!"
"Oh Harry. I'm so sorry." Bob looked saddened. "Your spirit is trapped here. Just like mine. Gee, who did you piss off?"
"I can't be a ghost! I'm still in the hospital! The monitor said I was still alive!"
Bob was thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps … I'm sorry, can you maybe … I can't see you, you know."
Harry growled something incoherent and swiped at the skull, but his nonexistent hand passed right through.
"No need to get moody," the skull sulked.
"I think I felt his hand twitch," Molly was standing over the wizard, peering at his face, awaiting the moment he opened his eyes.
"Molly, you've been here for the whole day. Why don't you go get something to eat?" Murphy looked down at the young adult and put a hand on either shoulder, gently but firmly pulling her away from Harry. Molly opened her mouth to protest but remained silent, nodded after a moment, and walked out of the room without a backward glance.
She just thought of something, the Sergeant felt the corners of her mouth twitch down. This was a situation where she felt so useless. If magic caused this to happen to Harry, though she'd seen her fair share of what it can do, it was still out of her element to understand and fix. All she could do was investigate like a regular human.
And I'm the best in that aspect.
Murphy sat down in Molly's seat, pulled out her cell phone, and started making calls.
Molly disengaged the wards with a little effort and used her entire weight to push the heavy, unlevel door open into the darkness of Harry's apartment. Mouse was sitting on top of the door that went down into the lab, and when she saw him he let out a low whine.
"I know, boy. Let me get you some food, then we'll see what we can find in Harry's books about wizards' full names." She pulled a matchbook out of her pocket and started lighting candles around the room.
TBC
