“That big black blob disappeared,” Marcus said.
“Yeah, we know,” Simon responded.
I was too tired to look, but took their word for it. My eyes ached, and I wanted nothing more than to close them, to sleep. But I was terrified I would never wake up if I did. I focused on their voices, on the thumps and bumps I felt through Marcus’s arms as we descended Bell Rock, trying not to let my mind wander, trying not to let my eyes close. As he navigated down the steep trail, Marcus’s face was stern and determined, maybe disapproving. He couldn’t know what had been happening here, but in thinking of Simon’s earlier words, I wondered if he would believe his little brother was somehow responsible for the chaos.
“The car’s over there,” he said.
I tried to feel some triumph at that, but all it meant was a ride to a hospital that probably didn’t know how to do anything to save us. Marcus and Simon took a shortcut, scraping past bushes and cutting across ditches. I hoped Alek and Temi were still with us, but Alek hadn’t spoken, so I couldn’t be sure.
“Sorry, Delia,” Marcus said. “I have to set you down to get the keys out.”
My lips moved, but nothing came out. Words had grown too hard a while ago.
I was aware of myself being propped against the side of some rental car, but couldn’t feel the cool metal beneath my back, and I struggled to focus on the people around me. Alek was there with Temi. That was good.
A moment later, I was being set in the back seat.
“Good thing they upgraded me to the SUV,” Marcus said, eying our party, especially Alek. “Simon, you’re going to explain what was going on up there soon, right?”
“After we get to the hospital.”
Alek ended up in the back with Temi and me, with Simon and Marcus up front. My head lolled back against the seat of its own accord. Doors shut. The car started. Despite my fight, awareness started to slip away.
Before I could pass out, Marcus threw on the brakes, and we all pitched forward. Someone had thought to buckle me in, so I didn’t go flying, but the belt was the only thing that prevented that. I couldn’t feel my own arms.
“What the hell?” Marcus demanded, then leaned out the window. “Get out of the road, man.”
“Wait,” Simon said. “That’s Eleriss.”
“Who?”
“Just pull over. Maybe…” Simon glanced back at us. “Maybe he can help.”
“I thought we had to get to the hospital,” Marcus said, but he didn’t stop Eleriss from opening my door.
“This is not the conveyance I expected you to enter,” Eleriss announced.
“They got hit,” Simon blurted.
“Yes.” Eleriss looked through the door at the three of us, all injured in some capacity. Did he look sad? I couldn’t tell on him. “I feared this was inevitable.”
I wanted to ask where he had been, where Jakatra had been—he wasn’t anywhere in sight—but couldn’t manage the words.
“Can you help them?” Simon gripped the seat back.
Marcus frowned at him, his hands flexing on the wheel. He probably doubted a strange guy in black leather could be more useful than the hospital. He might be right. But I looked up into Eleriss’s green-blue eyes, silently imploring him, pleading him to help us if he knew a way. The flashes on top of the butte might have died with the disappearance of the portal, but there was enough ambient light that his eyes didn’t glow. I was glad of that. I didn’t need weird alienness right now.
“There is no room for me to enter,” he announced.
I wanted to laugh and say that I’d gladly get out and lie on the sidewalk if room was all he needed. Alek climbed past me and stepped out of the car. It was probably a strange time to notice how perfectly he was following along with English-spoken words.
Eleriss slid past me. If I were able, I would have moved to make things easier on him…
“I examined several of the injured humans at the hospital,” Eleriss announced, dipping a hand into his pocket.
“And are they better now?” Simon’s fingers tightened on the seat. He looked like he wanted to strangle Eleriss, who was calmly assembling something, as if there was all the time in the world. I hoped there was.
“To interfere would be unacceptable, especially given that my portal authorities may still be in this world.” He tilted his head and gripped Temi’s wrist lightly, pushing up her sleeve. “However, those with healthy immune systems should survive.”
Simon stared at him. “Does that mean you didn’t help? Or you did?”
Eleriss smiled, admitting nothing. “I found a creature with immunity to the poison and created a serum suitable for humans.” Eleriss pressed his circular device against Temi’s bare forearm.
“Was the creature you?”
“Possibly,” Eleriss said brightly.
Simon eyed whatever Eleriss was doing to Temi’s arm. “So you’re interfering, but we’re all pretending you’re not?”
“I trust you will not inform the portal authority of my presence here.”
“No, not me…”
Marcus’s dark brown eyes were visible in the rearview mirror, shaking his head slightly as he watched and listened. He had broader features than Simon and shorter, tidier hair. He wasn’t humorless, I knew from past encounters, but he was… responsible. A disapprover of crazy schemes and those who perpetrated them.
Eleriss looked down at me. I realized how far down in the seat I had slumped, because his head was well above mine. I didn’t have the strength to do anything about it. “Less of the poison has entered your bloodstream.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I tried to say. It came out more like, “Thsspt.”
“I will attend you second,” he added.
That sounded promising.
“It is a strange poison. Did you know that a similar compound is sprayed on your agricultural crops?” Eleriss said to Simon.
“Yeah, I’ve heard.”
“This seems unhealthy.”
“Especially when it’s shot directly into your veins,” Simon said. “Will they be all right after you do… whatever it is you’re doing?”
“Administering the serum. I am not a doctor, but our… network—yes, you have a network?—has informed me wisely, I believe.”
“Simon?” Marcus asked. “Who is that nut?”
“The jury’s out. Elf, alien. Both. We’re not sure.”
Marcus gave Simon a long, long look. Eleriss removed the device from Temi’s wrist, then pressed it against mine. A tiny prick made its way through my muddled consciousness, and my eyes locked onto his. I couldn’t imagine that he had any reason to lie to us, but then again…
“Where’s Jakatra?” I whispered. It came out in an unintelligible jumble.
“Yes, your blood will be purified, as well,” Eleriss said.
So not what I had been asking, but I was glad to know. And I hoped he was telling the truth.
I wasn’t sure if I could tell anything was happening. I was too tired and wanted nothing more than sleep. Before I had regained the ability to speak, Eleriss removed his device, put a hand on my shoulder briefly, then slipped over me and out the door, scarcely stirring my clothes. It looked like I wasn’t going to get an answer to my question, not now. I didn’t know when.
Alek didn’t climb back in right away. He exchanged a few words with Eleriss in the Dhekarzhan language. They walked away together, out of my view.
“Uh,” Simon said. “Are they coming back?”
“You tell me,” I mumbled, too low in the seat to see much of anything.
“Oh, I think maybe he’s healing Alek too. Either that or Eleriss couldn’t resist the appeal of Mr. Sexypants and wanted to haul him off into the bushes to ravish him.”
I closed my eyes, too tired for Simon’s wit, such as it was. A few minutes might have passed. The world had grown fuzzy to me, and I had a hard time maintaining a grip on reality. Eventually, Alek climbed back into the car.
“All right,” Marcus said. “Where to, Simon?”
Simon looked back at me. “The hospital? Or a hotel? Campground?”
My head lolled to the side, and I found Temi’s eyes open slightly. She gave me the faintest nod. A nod that meant she would be okay? I hoped so.
“Hotel,” I rasped, deciding I trusted Eleriss. Jakatra… was a question for later.
“Hotel?” Marcus asked. “Which one?”
“Are you paying?” Simon asked.
“If I don’t, will we end up in a campground?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m paying.”
“I hear L’Auberge de Sedona is nice,” Simon said. “Five stars.”
Marcus squinted at him. “How about the Best Western?”
“Fine. Cheapskate.”
I caught the faintest smile on Temi’s face before slumping down further in the seat and passing out.