Chapter Seven
Vivien stared at her treatment table. The charred sheets were sending up the smell of burnt linen and the fire extinguishing foam was dribbling to the floor in slow motion. Her work had taken on an entirely new dimension of adventure since returning to the hospital. The fairies could never relax and always floated slightly above the table. Maria Llorona had sobbed through her whole treatment, awash with grief over her children as if the loss had just occurred. Puck had stolen her watch and two bottles of painkillers. Granny had snapped at her; literally. Jack Springheel had tried to get fresh and she'd bound him with magic before giving him a long and stern lecture after which he'd apologized.
This, however, took the cake. Vivien sprayed the fire extinguisher at the table again where the sheets looked like they weren't soaked enough.
"I'm really sorry, Viv." Her patient moaned in apology, his head hanging so low it might fall off.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have pushed past your comfort zone so fast." Vivien shook her head numbly. The man she'd known for years as simply 'Chubby' had chronic knee trouble from a torn ACL. She'd been mobilizing the joint as usual and hadn't expected anything unusual from the sweet, shy man. Except it turned out 'Chubby' was short for Golachaub and he had the surprisingly nasty habit of setting himself on fire when threatened. Pain could be very threatening.
"I used to be able to control it." The poor man wailed, angry fists pounding at his sides. Vivien watched for any sign that either hand was about to combust. She was going to have to invest in a whole new line of equipment. Who knew how many of her patients had similar pyrotechnic leanings?
"You will again. Everyone's skills are rusty right now. Just go home and ice the knee. Pretty sure you had enough heat today." Vivien didn't think she'd ever forget the image of her prone patient completely on fire. Chubby muttered some further apologies then quickly slunk away.
She began stripping the table, only to give up when she realized the sheets had melted together with the vinyl into a noxious smelling mass. Great. Vivien massaged her forehead, trying to will away the headache that was gnawing at her eyeballs. She hadn't slept properly in days. The nightmares kept coming back. Add to that sleep deprivation the strain of identifying and navigating a world of foreign magical beings and it was a bloody miracle she hadn't just combusted herself.
She'd been doing her best to keep her head down. Between the hospital and her research at home she had more than enough to keep busy but she was also hitting brick walls everywhere. Damned Maine. Why did it have to be Maine? This far out there was limited cell phone service and the internet was something that only existed as a theoretical concept, like wormholes. She'd scanned the whole book of fairy and folk tales and hadn't seen anything about herself or her family or the people she'd known. Now she was reading in depth, wondering if she'd missed something.
Frustration made her skin feel too tight. She was trapped. She was going to have to ask for help but couldn't begin to think who she should trust. Regina perhaps, but not only did the Mayor have no clue who Vivien was, she had her hands and head full with her own problems. David; Prince Charming? Vivien had an aversion to heroes. August was gone, which was typical for him. Graham as well, which sucked because he was the only man that hadn't made a pass at her from the treatment table. Even Sheriff Swan wasn't around. Lake had felt dark baggage lurking in the edges of the Savior's psyche. Emma carried herself with the courage of a woman who'd battled her way through a hundred wounds and sins and was still standing. She'd been given the ultimate second chance and was in no position to withhold anyone else's. Given a little time Vivien could've even trusted her for help. No such luck.
Vivien pounded her fists into the destroyed table.
Temper, temper, little one. We mustn't play too rough with our toys. The long gone voice mocked in her head. Vivien gritted her teeth and brought her fists down again. Toys. Toys had been people once. Even she was a toy. Until she graduated to being a tool.
So much power! I really did choose well. Now, show me what you can do. The words had been a caress in her ear, stoking the anger, goading her on. She'd showed her. Gods, she'd showed everyone what she could do. The lucky ones died before they could scream.
Slow down, child. Take your time. Enjoy it.
"DAMN YOU!" Vivien released her fists and the table exploded. A massive cloud of splinters and fibers filled the room as tiny bits of metal shrapnel embedded into walls in every direction. Several nurses came running at the noise and stopped in the doorway. The atomized debris floated down like a heavy mist, coating Lake's skin and clothes.
"Nurse Lake?" one of the orderlies inquired nervously, not daring to enter the room. It was still crackling with the discharge of magic. Vivien turned, looking at them for a moment but not seeing their faces. She saw their fear; in that fear she saw hundreds of other faces. No more, please. Not again. She could feel a young part of herself curling up into fetal position and begging; crying.
"The table was irreparable. I didn't feel like hauling it to the dumpster. Sorry." Vivien gave them a sheepish shrug with an embarrassed smile. Let them think she was impulsive and naughty. Anything was better than dangerous.
"Well, it'll take the cleaning staff some time to clear all this out." The head nurse wiped a finger through the heavy dust settling on every surface. Lake and this woman always had a good relationship. The chief of the nursing staff loved any medical professional that treated her nurses with respect. Only she herself was allowed to bully them about their rounds. She and Vivien had spent many years annoying doctors together. Her name had been Fawn during the curse but these days everyone called her Fauna.
"I'll need a day or so to gather and setup new equipment anyway. Could you please ask my patients to reschedule?" Vivien smiled gratefully to the woman, realizing the older nurse was giving her an excuse to leave. She needed to get out and clear her head.
"Of course. You should stop by Granny's. It's always slow this time of day." Fauna suggested with just enough authority in her tone to make it clear it wasn't a suggestion at all. If Vivien had dared argue she would've been upbraided with a lecture on her sleep habits, lack of nutrition and probably a copy of the time sheet showing her as the first signing in and last out for the past three days. Fauna just had that glint in her eye.
"Good idea. Thank you." Lake meekly agreed and grabbed her satchel.
Viven stopped off in the hospital locker room for a quick shower, rinsing off the heavy wood and vinyl dust that had caked to her skin. She stood under the cold water for several minutes, waiting for the after effects to pass. Dizziness, nausea, feverish chills; who knew that the wrong kind of magic had the same side effects as most prescription medications?
There had been a time when she was so practiced at using dark and violent magic that it didn't even faze her; it had become second nature. But she was out of practice. Just like Chubby. The foreign power that she'd once wielded like an expert now fought with her body and she wanted to throw up, to vomit it out of her system. She never could. It was bound with her being and flowed through her as vital and irreplaceable as blood.
Always a price.
Vivien chuckled ruefully. Who had first given her that warning? Her mistress, before the agreement? Unlikely. No, it had to have been one of her sisters. Probably the eldest. She had always been warning Vivien about her ambitions. Trying to hold her back, or so she used to think. What was it about a teenager's mind that sees a jealous oppressor in every protective adult? If I'd just listened.
Shutting off the taps Vivien quickly toweled off. Expertly avoiding her reflection in the mirror she dressed, violently rubbed her hair dry and stuffed her scrubs into her pack. She was still a mess but a hygienic one at least.
On her walk to the diner she spotted a school bus letting out and recognized Goldilocks' fair hair trying to make an escape before her mother caught her. She could hear the scolding from here. Another familiar head bobbed into view and Vivien waved greeting.
"Hi, Viv!" Henry waved back and jogged to catch up to her, obviously heading the same direction. Lake smiled at him. She'd always liked the kid. She liked that he was polite and intelligent and poetic. She liked that he never felt uncomfortable with adults and wasn't afraid to speak up for himself or others. He believed, with absolute and unshakable faith, in the best of human nature. How much of that is because he was spared from ever seeing its worst?
"Hey, Henry. Going to Granny's too?"
"Yeah, I'm meeting David. He's my grandpa, you know." Henry elaborated in case she'd missed the revelations. He was trying to walk fast to keep up with her pace. Vivien had noticed that about him too: always in a hurry just to keep up with the grown-ups.
"I did hear something like that. So you must be off house arrest?" she deliberately slowed her gait.
"Yeah. It's weird. Mom said I should stay with David." His brow furrowed as he squinted up at her. This latest change in behavior was probably even more unnerving than Regina's sudden magic.
"Well, that's what you wanted, right? It must've been hard for her."
"I guess," Henry shrugged his ambivalent reply to both comments, "I think she's going to stop using magic."
Viven tripped over her feet but caught herself from falling. She scowled at the inoffensive sidewalk as though some invisible imperfection were to blame.
"Did she say why?" Lake had to concentrate to keep her voice steady. Anyone who's ever gone to a 12 step program knows that the most crucial moment is the one at the beginning; the one when you realize you have a problem you have to change. They call it Hitting Bottom.
"She knows it wouldn't make me stay. She said she wants to redeem herself." Henry sounded like he wasn't sure if he should allow himself to believe it. This was the boy who'd believed in fairytales when no one else did. Maybe he could also believe in Regina when no one else wanted to?
"Do you think she can?" Vivien held her breath. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew she wasn't just asking for Regina. Henry was the speaker of truth, the child who saw what no one else could see. If he believed that the 'Evil Queen' had a chance at redemption then maybe there was hope for her too. Right, cause a war, some vendettas and a curse are totally on par with everything youdid.
Henry stopped walking, partially because they'd arrived at the diner but mostly because he needed to devote himself to deciding on an answer. Vivien rested her fingers on the door handle and watched the boy's face screw up in thought.
"I think," he looked up at her with the eyes of both his mothers; the eyes that saw right through to your core, "Anyone can change. For good or for bad."
"Well, let's hope there's no more bad. For anybody." Vivien released her breath as a sigh. Not exactly the unqualified reassurance she had been hoping for. It would have to suffice.
Inside Granny's Henry ran to where David was waiting for him in a booth. Vivien slid onto a stool at the bar and watched grandfather and grandson in the shiny reflection of the coffee maker.
"Hey, stranger," Ruby greeted her with a wide smile, "I've never seen you here this time of day."
"There was a little equipment mishap at work. I had to clear my schedule until it's sorted." Vivien had always been good at avoiding honesty, even before her patients' privacy was at stake.
"Damn! What happened? Your hands look like you were fishing in a fire!" Ruby grabbed Vivien's left hand. Lake stared in surprise at the swollen skin and angry red blisters
"Magical patients. This is probably going to be a professional hazard from now on." Lake sighed. She hadn't even noticed. Now that she looked at both hands she realized she'd been gripping Chubby's leg pretty tightly when he caught fire. She cursed herself for not noticing earlier. Slips like that were going to make people suspicious. It wasn't exactly her fault.
I said you will not release the coals! Magic hurts! Stop crying and pick it up!
She'd evolved a heightened pain threshold for her own survival. Which only meant she had to work even harder to pay attention to her body.
"Let me get the first aid kit!" Ruby started to rummage under the counter.
"Don't bother." Vivien shook her head. At least this she could handle. This was her magic. She took a deep breath and blew on both hands, watching the wounds heal and vanish. She smiled as she flexed her fingers. Her powers never came with ill side effects, just warmth no one else felt and a wistful longing to be home. Her sisters could cure anything. Possibly even her, if she ever made it back.
"Whoa. If you can do that, why are you always making me do exercises?!" Ruby stared at the new, unmarked skin.
"Because you appreciate your wellbeing more when you work for it. If every injury was just magically healed there would be no incentive to avoid getting hurt. And you haven't been doing your exercises, I can tell by the way your left shoulder is higher than your right." Vivien cocked one eyebrow sharply, full practitioner mode switched on.
"Ok. Ok, I'll do them tonight," Ruby held up both hands in placation, "Speaking of tonight, are you going to the Hole? Marshall was asking about you."
"He just wants some distraction from Glinda flirting with their enemy." Vivien ignored Ruby's suggestive wink.
"C'mon, he's a good guy. You could definitely do worse."
"Than a tin man with no heart?" Lake countered. Granted, the story said that Tinman did have a heart after all but who was to say he held onto it? They seemed to be lost or stolen more often than credit cards.
"I seem to recall you being pretty casual with relationships before the curse broke. Oh! Is that it? Have you remembered someone else?" Ruby leaned forward, all ears for anything like gossip. Vivien hesitated. She hadn't been thinking of such reasoning at all.
"I'm just busier now." She looked away from the waitress' penetrating gaze. Yes, she had been pretty nonchalant about her liaisons under the curse. But she'd also not had anything more important to worry about. Right now, not sleeping, staying up all night trying to find the clues to her story, was not the time to be inviting random strangers for sleepover.
"Bull! I can smell the way your chemistry shifted at the thought of someone else. Who was it? Is he here? Or is it she?" Ruby's grin was downright salacious. There was a time Vivien might've been embarrassed by such an innuendo. Why? It hardly made that much difference. If Glinda wanted to have a fling with a witch, bless her sparkly pink heart. She was pretty sure that Archie was gay as well. She doubted anyone really cared either way.
"So far I'm the only one from my world here." Vivien shook her head, sidestepping the issue entirely. Let Ruby think whatever she wanted. She'd honestly rather have the wolf waitress convinced that the local PT was 'that way' than have to explain what had really happened.
"Well if you're open to your options . . ." Ruby gave her a wink, tongue running along her upper teeth, then laughed, "You should see your face! Breathe, Viv, I was kidding! I knew you were straight!"
"Not fair, Ruby." Vivien blushed and gratefully accepted a glass of ice water from Granny.
"She'll do anything to be right." Granny threw the junior Lucas a scolding glance. Vivien made a mental note to never underestimate the waitress again. And to go reread Red Riding Hood with some new perspective.
"C'mon, Viv. Come to the Hole tonight and give Marshall a chance." Ruby pleaded, pouting as best she could while fighting her victorious smile. Vivien was saved from having to answer by the noise from her cell phone. She glanced at the ID and quickly snapped it up before anyone else could see.
"This is Vivien." She turned partially away from Ruby and her grandmother, hoping that the young brunette didn't have a wolf's heightened sense of hearing as well as smell.
"Your office is a disaster. Did you kill someone?" the cold, authoritative tone that normally would've had a touch of humor on the edges was ringed only with tension. Regina did not sound good. Vivien frowned and got to her feet.
"Small accident, no casualties. What are you doing in my office?" she grabbed her satchel and nodded thanks to the Lucas' women.
"Currently? Being fussed at by a fairy godmother with a napoleon complex."
"I mean why did you go there?" Vivien laughed, picturing just how furious Fauna would be with the imperious Mayor simply storming into a closed office like she owned the place. That was sure to be an epic war of wills.
"I rather assumed that it was the place to find you during the day. Obviously I was mistaken. Should I be searching the strip clubs?"
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Tell Fauna. And please don't hurt anyone."
"Very well. Not for ten minutes anyway." Regina consented and the call ended. Vivien turned at the door and glanced at Henry and David, still chatting and laughing in a booth. If Regina was in the PT's office it was because she needed help. Did Henry have any clue what his happiness was costing her?