Maddie entered the hospital and the paramedics spoke behind their hands, doubtless informing the doctor about her odd behavior. Orderlies wheeled her grandma away. A nurse directed her to a nearby room and ordered her to wait.
Settled in a navy blue plastic seat, Maddie palmed her chin and stared out the window. Guilt hammered through her. But before she could sink into its ocean, a woman in professional garb settled in the chair beside her. She crossed her long slim legs, swinging her high-heeled pumps through the air. “Miss, may I speak with you?”
“Yes.”
“The lady they brought in, she’s your grandmother?”
“Great-grandmother, yes.”
“We have some paperwork we need to fill out. Do you think you could help with that?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, let’s begin. Her name?”
“Draoi Casey-Brennan.”
A smile touched the woman’s face. If her makeup was any more perfect, her face would crack. “Ah, Mrs. Casey-Brennan. I believe she may have visited us in the past. I’ll just pull her chart for the information. Before I go, though, maybe you can shed some light on what happened this evening.”
“Well.” Maddie shifted uncomfortably. The guilt rose higher. “Last night I was out with a friend and I came home and Grandma Draoi was lying on the couch, but she got up and ate breakfast and acted fine, but she said she was too tired to go to church. So I left and when I came back, she was back on the couch and unresponsive.”
“I see.” The lady flashed her a disapproving glare.
Ignoring the look, Maddie asked, “What do you think is wrong with her?”
“We won’t know until we run some tests.”
Her heart broke into so many pieces, they could probably hear them falling all over the massive building. “Please don’t let anything happen to her. She’s all I have left.”
The lady patted her hand and offered reassuring words before leaving Maddie alone.
****
After the family dinner, Chase raced to his room and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Maddie’s number, but there was no answer. He frowned, puzzled. They had made plans to talk on the phone, so why wasn’t she answering?
His chest tightened and his throat constricted. Something wasn’t right. But he didn’t feel like he was changing. No, the feeling was different.
Downstairs, he grabbed his truck keys and raced outside. He would call his parents after he got there.
He pulled up in front of Maddie’s house and honked his horn, expecting to see her bubbly self bound down the steps any minute, but he saw nothing. Long seconds passed. She didn’t appear.
Chase left the warmth of the truck, walked to the front door, and knocked. Minutes ticked by and he pressed the doorbell. When there was still no answer, he strolled around the house and peered in the windows. If Mrs. Casey-Brennan had any close neighbors, he might have been confused with a peeping Tom. But even with all his nosiness, he found nothing. The house remained deathly quiet.
Back in the truck, he dug out his cell phone and called home. His pulse echoed in his ears and his breaths were shallow. Dad answered on the first ring.
“Chase, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Has Maddie called?”
“No. And where are you? We went up to your room and you were gone.”
“I called her and she didn’t answer. Now no one is home and I’m afraid something is wrong.”
“Why don’t you come back here and we’ll try to find her.”
The will to fight drained out of him. Help; that was exactly what he needed. He murmured, “Okay.”
The undercarriage of the truck bounced along the rutted driveway. On the highway, he attempted to focus on Maddie’s feelings, but he got nothing.
Chase entered his house to find Dad on the phone. He lifted his finger and Chase waited.
“Okay. Yeah. Thanks for returning my call.” He talked a moment more then hung up, his brows drawn together.
“What is it?” Chase asked, fear knotting his gut.
“Now, don’t get upset, but Maddie’s at the hospital.”
Instant nominee for the most useless advice in history. Chase fell back into a chair. “At the hospital? But how? Why? What happened?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that 911 received an emergency call for an ambulance at the home of Draoi Casey-Brennan.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s all the police department knows. The only way to know more is to go to the hospital. Let me get ready, and we’ll go together.”
“You’re going with me?”
“Yes.” And Dad ran up the stairs without looking back.
They traveled in the family car. Sick to his stomach, Chase was in no condition to drive. He clenched his fists in his lap while random thoughts about what might have happened rushed through his mind. Who had called the ambulance, Maddie or Draoi? Was the reason he couldn’t sense Maddie because she was injured? The unanswered questions were driving him crazy.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Chase was ready to crawl out of his skin. They strode into the emergency room and he grabbed the first person he saw.
“Where is she?”
The startled nurse jumped. “Excuse me?”
Dad placed a restraining hand on his forearm. “Forgive us. We’re looking for Madelyn Clevenger.”
“One moment, please.” The nurse clicked a mouse beside the terminal. “Sorry, we’ve no one by that name.”
Chase slammed his palms on the counter. The nurse jumped again. “We know she’s here! She arrived in an ambulance. Now, where is she?”
“Excuse me, sir, but as I said, there is no patient listed by that name.”
Dad glared at him and Chase fisted his hands to his sides. “Try Draoi Casey-Brennan.”
The nurse tapped more keys. “Yes, there is a Mrs. Casey-Brennan in ICU.”
“Where is that?”
She gave directions. Chase practically ran to reach the elevator, then stood in front of the closed doors and tapped his foot. “What is taking this thing so long? I could have run up the stairs quicker than this!”
Dad stopped beside him. “You need to calm down.”
“How can I? She must be terrified. Her grandma is all she has. There is no one else.”
“Did she tell you this?” A vertical crease wrinkled between Dad’s eyebrows.
Chase paused, thinking back. “Not really. She doesn’t say that much about her family. I know what she said at dinner, that her parents died and that she lives with her grandma. And she never mentions anyone else.”
Dad shook his head. “But how do you know for sure?”
“I just do.” There was no other answer. Chase knew in the core of his being, but where the information came from — well, it could be osmosis.
“You’re linked to her,” Dad whispered, his shoulders drooping.
Chase blinked. “What?”
“Are you feeling her feelings, sharing her dreams?”
He couldn’t deny the way their hearts had beaten in sync. “Yes,” he admitted.
“The journal explained a similar link between Cian and Arin.”
“How can something like that even be possible?” He threw out his hands. “Wasn’t Cian a beast all the time? That’s kind of gross.”
Dad shoved his hands in his pockets. “While you were gallivanting around with Maddie last night—” Chase cocked a brow, daring him to continue the thought “—I found an interesting passage in the family journals. It seems that when a gryphon of either color, black or gray, finds his one true love and that love is reciprocated, then he’s able to take either form at will.”
It felt like a light bulb lit up inside him. “Are you saying that if a gryphon loves and is loved by a human, then he can change to a human or gryphon and back again?”
“Exactly.”
“Kind of like that old saying, ‘love conquers all.’”
“You could say that in this case, love makes it possible for the couple to be together.”
“So you’re saying I was right?” asked Chase.
“Yes, and I’m beginning to see why you feel the way you do. Without her, you can never be permanently human again.”