Drawn From Stone
Chapter Five
Eli felt his fingers and back muscles twitch as he sat with the others around the cramped living room. He was squished on the same loveseat as Aja and Davaros. Varvatos, Zadra, and Izita took up the other seats. Krel was pacing back and forth as he listened to Zadra's explanation — with Aja adding in different things 'for flavor'.
Momblank and Dadblank — or Lucy and Ricky Blank, as Aja tended to call them — paced back and forth in the kitchen as they prepared snacks for the group.
He fought the urge to roll his eyes and try to get comfortable. It was a little difficult with Aja moving every couple of minutes to reposition herself, and Davaros kept looking around at everything, occasionally asking questions.
He should probably find a different seat. Or stand.
"...forced to make a quick escape," Zadra said, folding her hands neatly on her lap. With the way she and Varvatos were folded up on the couches, her slight movement made her look more out of place than ever. Next to her Izita appeared more comfortable. She was less constricted by her larger than average size.
"So, do you know why exactly they want to blow up Earth?" Krel said.
"Unfortunately no. My connections on Akraidian-5 might not be able to pull the answers for us. Our escape put them at risk." Zadra looked down and then cleared her throat. "We do have a vague idea of why, however."
"Oh?" Varvatos said. "And when did you plan on sharing this with Vavatos?"
Zadra gives him a slight glare and continues.
"Chief Advisor Stounos claimed that our people picked up an unrecognizable energy signature. It spikes randomly and has them worried. It has me worried, as well. We should wait for your friends to arrive. They would, perhaps, know more. They are more… involved with the Stone Folk."
"Stone Folk?" Aja and Krel say at the same time. Each of them had furrowed brows and slight, frowning pouts.
"Trolls?" Eli said.
"Yes, the, um, Trolls."
"Why didn't you just —"
"Where are they?"
They all jumped, armed and ready to attack the intruder. Who was Steve. Surprisingly, his hair wasn't perfectly combed, his eyes were a bit wild, and his shirt incorrectly buttoned. One of his shoes wasn't properly tied either.
"Where are…"
Steve's eyes light up when he sees Aja. They rush toward one another and share a rather… close embrace.
Eli looked away, scratching the back of his neck to give them a bit of privacy. Also, it was really gross. Did they have to do that in front of everyone?
His eyes trailed around the room. Lucy and Ricky placed the snacks and drinks down on the coffee table in front of them. Zadra looked slightly interested, though Izita wass smiling and sighing contentedly. Varvatos was gagging. Davaros was too busy eating the snacks to care. And Krel…
Krel was looking around, just like him. He pretended to gag — finger in the mouth and everything. Eli stifled a laugh.
This catches Steve's attention.
"Pepperbuddy!"
Steve looks and sounds like a puppy that is excited to see their human. Eli felt the smile spread across his cheeks as he stood and waited for Steve to tackle him.
It didn't take long, and the pair of them were a laughing heap on the floor. Eli thought he was laughing so hard, one of his ribs might crack.
She jerked awake, legs kicking out unexpectedly as she gulped in a deep breath. It felt like she'd been plunged underwater and held there, with as damp from sweat as her hair was and how heavily she was breathing.
Her eyes glanced frantically about.
Her heart race calmed as she realized she was in a safe, sterile room. A hospital room, lying on a bed that had absorbed quite a bit of her sweat.
"Dr. L?"
She turned her head to see the worried faces of Toby and… Donna? No, that wasn't right.
"Are you okay, Dr. Lake?" the girl said, gently taking her hand. It was warm and dry against hers.
"Yes," she said, feeling her dry lips start to crack. She licked them. "What… what happened?"
"One of the nurses said you had a seizure in the hallway," Toby said. "Jim threatened to come back, and Mr. Strickler doesn't know what to do."
"They're both okay, though? I thought… There was a dream, about Jim." It was already fading from her mind, though the stench of burned flesh still clung to her nostrils.
"They're fine, Dr. Lake," the girl said.
"I'm sorry, remind me of your name again?"
"Darci Scott. My dad's the detective for the Arcadia police force."
"Oh! You broke your arm in the third grade, right?"
"Yep!" Darci gave her a big smile. "Dr. Lake, you mentioned a dream? About Jim?"
"Did I?" she said, raising her brow. She thought about it for a moment, her brows creasing. "I… I think I did. I can't quite…"
"What kind of dream was it, Dr. L.?" Toby said.
"I'm not sure. It feels like, it feels like it was a bad one. But, but I can't —"
"It's okay if you can't remember, Dr. Lake," Darci said, stroking her hand. "I can't remember half my bad dreams either."
"How do you know it was a bad dream?" Toby said.
Darci shrugged. She turned to her, and said:
"Do you remember anything else about it? Besides Jim?"
A sharp knock on the door halted her answer. It was La'Wanda. She stood stiffly in the doorframe, her lips tightly pursed.
"Hello, Barbara," she said. "I'm sorry to interrupt you kids, but, well, um. I'm not quite sure how to say this. Barbara, you're, um, your husband is here to see you."
"Husband?"
La'Wanda moved out of the way to allow the man to enter. He looked just as he did the day he left them. His eyes still blue, salt and pepper hair cropped close to his head, clean shaven. Even in his civilian clothes, one could easily tell he came from some sort of military background.
"Hello, Barbie," James Lake, Sr., said.
"Jim," Claire said through the speaker, "slow down. I can't understand you."
"She's in the hospital, Claire," he said, a pitiful whine pulling at his words. "I don't, I can't —"
"Jim, breathe for me. Or put Blinky on."
"He doesn't know. Claire, I have to go back. She could be really hurt."
"Who?"
"My mom. Claire, I…" His voice cut off and a choking sound crackled through the phone.
"Do you want me to run back to camp?"
There was a sound of movement, as if he was moving his head.
"Jim, breathe with me. Focus on breathing with me." She breathed deep, hearing him take in a deep sigh with her. She exhaled slowly, he did the same in turn. She continued until she was sure he was fairly calm. "Any better?"
"I'm not sure," he said, his voice still quavering over the speaker. "What if something serious happened to her?"
"I'm sure everything will be okay. You're mom's pretty tough. You said you sent Toby to go check on her, yeah?" She shifted on the bed, lying down from her earlier sitting position. One of her legs kicked the book of magic, left open on the page about human souls.
"Yeah."
"He'll update you when he can."
"Do, do you think you can call Mary or Darci or your parents? See if they can check to see her?"
"Yeah. I'll see who can do it in a moment," she said. "Did you want me to call you back when I'm done?"
"I don't… Can you stay on the line?"
"Okay. I'll just text them and see. Is that alright?"
"I, I guess."
"Jim, talk to me. What's going on with the Trolls at camp? What have you been up to today?" She quickly sent out a mass text to the girls and her parents, hoping one of them would respond.
"Blinky has been with the whelps," he said.
"You mentioned that last night. What does he have you doing?"
Mary was the fastest.
d is with tp theyre chekin on dl
"I'm mostly trying to keep them busy. They were napping when Strickler called me."
She nodded as she typed out her response.
Can you get a hold of her? I'm trying to keep Jim talking
"That's good. Did you nap with them?"
"A little bit, yeah."
"Mary said Darci is with Toby. She's going to try calling her to see if she can get any info. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, anything can help." He breathed in deeply. "Thanks, Claire."
"It's what girlfriends do, right?"
"I don't think many girlfriends deal with half-Troll boyfriends and travel across an entire continent."
"Hey, I chose to come with you. You, you're important to me." She turned to her side, drawing her knees up close to her chest. She wanted to hide away, bury herself in the pillows and blankets of the bed.
"You're important to me too." Relief washed over her at his softly spoken words. Her lips turned up at the corners, and she had to duck her face into the pillow — the one he'd used the night before when he lied next to her — to hide the spreading blush. Even though he wouldn't see it.
"Do you want me to go back to camp? This has really got to be bugging you."
"I don't want you wandering around a strange area by yourself. We don't know any safe places around here."
"I'm not completely helpless. I can fight, and I've been learning some defensive spells."
"I don't doubt you can protect yourself. It's just, I'd feel better knowing that you're safe in the room, okay?"
"Fine." She rolled her eyes, knowing that he could hear it in her voice.
"You said you were learning some defensive spells?"
"Yeah. Well, today's lesson wasn't one of those. It—" Her phone buzzed, alerting her to an incoming call. "Hey, Jim, I think either Mary or Darci is trying to call me. Can I put you on hold?"
"Is it about my mom?" The whine started to pick up in his voice again.
"It might be."
"Yeah. Yeah. Okay."
"I'll see if I can do a three way call, alright?"
"Please."
It was Darci — though she got put through to voicemail, and it took a moment for them to get ahold of one another, playing tag as they were.
"You're not going to believe—" Darci said, only to be stopped short by Claire.
"Hang on," she said. "I've got Jim on hold. I'm going to add him to the call real quick."
It took less than a moment before the calls were connected.
"Darci?" Jim said, the whine very evident now.
"Your mom's going to be okay," Darci said, her tone warmer and a lot gentler than normal. It was the voice she used with Darren. "She just has a concussion from hitting the floor during the seizure. They did a CT scan a few minutes ago, and the doctors didn't find any abnormalities that would have caused it."
"So they don't know what's wrong with her."
"They don't, but Toby and I have some theories. We're still looking into it, but we're going to need to get into Blinky's library."
"It was trashed," Claire said. "Gunmar and Morgana destroyed it."
"There's someone who can actually help. He… he actually just came to town a day or two ago. And you're not going to like it?"
"Who is he?" Jim said.
"Jim," Darci said, "you're dad's back."
Author stuff: And that's chapter 5. I totally forgot it ended there. Uh, whoops. I'll try to get some chapters up tomorrow, but it might be the day after.
We will see.