Several hours and containers of hospital cafeteria food later, the doctor finished up with Sterling and came out to talk.
“Sterling’s a very sick young man,” he said. “There are many things going on. It looks like he was unhealthy before he was attacked by the horses.” He looked at Albert for confirmation.
Albert nodded. “He was. It’s been pretty bad.”
The doctor was silent for a moment, seeming to be struggling with wanting to say something, then changed his mind. “He has several broken ribs, a broken clavicle and ulna, and a perforated lung and liver. We’ve got him casted and bandaged up, but because of his poor health, he won’t be ready to leave for several days. He’ll be coming out of anesthesia soon, if you’d like to visit him. I’ll send a nurse to let you know when he’s ready.”
Albert thanked the doctor, then he and Nicole made small talk until someone came out to get them. The doctor’s “soon” turned into an hour, which didn’t surprise Nicole. Poor Sterling.
Sterling didn’t recognize either of them. He was delirious, and the nurses couldn’t understand why, as from what they could tell, it wasn’t from his pain. They warned Albert and Nicole to keep their distance, since Sterling had tried to hit the last person who’d gotten close to him.
Nicole and Albert both tried to get Sterling to calm down and recognize them, but after sitting near him for thirty minutes, they finally gave up. They promised the nurse they’d be back to visit him later.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, looking at Sterling with pity. “I just feel so bad for the poor young man.” She continued staring for a moment longer, then shook herself and turned back to Nicole and Albert, telling them the number of the room where Sterling would be transferred in the ICU.
Nicole and Albert left the hospital, both feeling dejected. The drive back to the manor was a somber one. Nicole gripped the steering wheel, wondering what she and Albert could do to help Sterling. Was it possible to make the portal grow faster? Was there a way to trigger it?
Nicole’s phone rang, surprising her. She’d forgotten she’d put it in her purse. Albert answered it after telling Nicole that it was Austin.
“Yes, she’s here next to me, but she’s driving. Can I tell her anything for you, Austin?” He paused for several moments, then looked at Nicole. “Austin says hi. He was going to leave a message, but this works better. Apparently, Professor Coolidge figured out who gave the . . .” He spoke back into the phone. “The what, Austin?” Another pause. “The crown. Professor Coolidge figured out who gave the crown to Professor Whitman.” He hesitated, then relayed more. “And the metal it was made from came from the meteor.”
Albert’s eyes widened, and Nicole pulled over to the side of the road. She took the phone from Albert and put the call on speakerphone. “Say that again, Austin.”
“Coolidge says that the metal came from the meteor. One of the ‘authorities’ who ran tests noticed that it made non-Aretes get a slight buzz if they were around it long enough. He thought it would be funny to try to sell it online, claiming that it would turn regular people into Aretes.”
Nicole and Albert looked at each other. “That’s insane,” Nicole said. “And of course Professor Whitman would be the one to buy it.”
“She wasn’t the only one. The man made ten crowns. He’s going to be sued—everywhere the crowns have gone, Aretes have been getting sick, and regular humans stoned.”
“I’m liable for this, aren’t I?” Albert asked. He put his head in his hands. “Goodness gracious, what a mess I’m in.”
“You won’t need to worry about it,” Austin said. “Coolidge got a full confession on tape from the man after finding out where the metal had come from. The man said you had no part in it and weren’t even aware he’d stolen it. Technically, you could sue him too.”
“I won’t,” Albert said. “No harm was done to me. But I’d like to help those who were affected.”
“The effects were minimal,” Austin said. “Everyone who was sick is well again. We caught it early enough.”
Albert slumped in his seat, the relief evident on his face. “Thank goodness.”
“So, what are you two doing? Buying more fruit for the Gardners?”
“No, not quite,” Nicole said. She explained to Austin what had happened.
“Wow,” Austin said. “Give me a minute.” He was silent for several seconds, then came back on. “I just texted Lizzie. She and I are heading out tonight. You have to get those people out of that house, and there’s no way you two can do it on your own. We’re coming to help.”
Nicole felt her shoulders relax. “Oh, thank you so much.”
“Yes, thank you,” Albert said.
After making arrangements for Nicole to pick up Lizzie and Austin at the gate, they ended the call, and Nicole resumed driving.
Albert didn’t say anything for several minutes, but Nicole could tell he was already feeling better about the situation. Knowing that someone would be coming to help did wonders for stress levels.
After visiting Winston yet again to let him and his family know about Sterling’s condition, Nicole and Albert drove the buggy to the barn, where they groomed the horse and put him away, deciding to let him take a break while they waited for it to be time to pick up Nicole’s friends.
***
Lizzie and Austin arrived a bit later than expected, due to an accident that held up traffic for half an hour. Nicole and Albert were about to give up on them when they realized that Nicole’s phone was no longer working, which meant that if Lizzie or Austin had been trying to get a hold of Nicole, they couldn’t. So Albert drove the wagon farther down the drive until Nicole’s phone got a signal. It ended up being almost to the main road, and Lizzie and Austin were there waiting.
Lizzie hopped out of the car, waving her phone. “We called several times! You had us really worried.”
Nicole gave Lizzie a hug, then threw her arms around Austin and buried her face in his chest. It felt so good to be held by him again. Staying there, she turned and looked at Lizzie. “My phone wasn’t working well enough to receive messages, apparently. It was turning on, so it took us a while to figure out nothing was getting through.”
Lizzie pouted when she saw the wagon where Albert sat, waiting. “I thought we were going to be taking a buggy.”
“It’s too small for four people,” Austin said, then quickly kissed Nicole on the lips. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, bringing a hand to rest on her cheek. “It’s good to see you,” he whispered. He gave her another quick kiss, then turned and opened the car to get his and Lizzie’s bags.
Nicole followed him to the wagon, struggling to maintain her focus after the intense expression on his face. She couldn’t believe they were together. She was dating Austin. Weird.
Austin led the way to the wagon and helped Lizzie and Nicole up to the bench, then sat in the wagon bed.
Once they were settled in and moving forward, Nicole turned to Lizzie. “I keep forgetting to ask because of everything that’s going on here . . . but whatever happened with Rob, the guy from Whitman’s class?”
“Hmmm? Oh, he’s fine.” Lizzie smiled.
“How’s he doing?”
Lizzie jumped into a long description of the many texts and phone calls she and Rob had traded, including the cute little smiley faces Rob put in messages and emails to her. Nicole sighed, loving having her best friend nearby again. It felt so good to have just that little bit of normalcy.
She tilted her head, though, watching as Lizzie went pale. “Are you okay?”
Lizzie shook her head. “Feeling really nauseated.”
Nicole felt Lizzie’s forehead. It was hot. “Have you been sick?”
“No . . .” Lizzie bent away from Nicole suddenly and threw up over the side of the bench to the road.
“It’s the meteor,” Austin said. “Albert, we need to go back to the gate.”
Albert didn’t question. He turned around immediately and headed the way they’d just come. Though Lizzie threw up several more times before they got back to Austin’s car, the farther from the manor they got, the better she felt.
“This isn’t fair!” she said. “How am I supposed to help if I can’t even go with you guys?”
Nicole frowned, walking her friend to the car. “Oh, Lizzie, I’m so sorry. We’ll figure something out.”
Lizzie unlocked the doors with Austin’s keys, looking like she was going to start crying.
Nicole gave her a hug. “Why don’t you go to the hospital and check on Sterling?”
“I’m fine with doing that, but I’ve never even met him, and I don’t know what room he’s in.”
Nicole told her the number. “You can check into a hotel—we’ll help pay for it. Go to the library and see the sights in Moses Lake. Have fun and don’t worry about us.”
Lizzie sighed. “All right. I’ll talk to you later.” She got in the car and drove off.
Watching her best friend leave made all of the frustrations Nicole had been feeling come rushing back. Stupid meteor.
Austin came up behind Nicole and put his arms around her. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” Nicole leaned against him. “I wish it didn’t affect her so badly.”
“At least it didn’t make her pass out.”
Nicole chuckled. “She might prefer that to throwing up.”
“True.”
They interlocked fingers and walked back to the wagon. This time, Austin sat up next to Nicole.
“The pulses are pretty strong,” Austin said.
Nicole nodded. “They’ve increased a lot in the past few days.”
Austin leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees, looking back at the other two. “So, how are we going to rescue the rest of the family?”
Albert glanced over. “I’ve been thinking about that. We can’t go at night—I don’t feel comfortable there during the day, let alone when it’s dark. And I don’t think Winston sleeps much at night, so we wouldn’t be able to sneak in and out.”
“Good point,” Nicole said, thinking back to the many times when she and Albert had visited and found him nodding off in the rocking chair. “If he is sleeping, he’s not getting much.”
“All right,” Austin said. “How about we go now?”
“Might as well.” Albert clucked at the horse, picking up their speed. “Unless either of you is hungry?”
Austin laughed. “After watching Lizzie throw up five times? Not even remotely.”
Albert grinned. “Just checking.”
When they got to the farmhouse, Winston was curled up on the couch with a blanket tucked over him. His eyes were shut. Prudence wasn’t in the living room or kitchen. Orson sat at the table in the kitchen, doodling directly on the table with a pencil.
“Orson, honey?” Nicole whispered, rubbing Orson’s shoulder.
He slowly blinked, turning to look up at Nicole. His expression was vacant and a bit of drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
“Orson, where is Prudence?”
Orson shrugged, then resumed doodling.
Nicole looked at Austin and Albert. “Now what?” she mouthed.
Austin motioned for them to go outside where they could talk freely. “We need a plan,” he said once they’d shut the door. He motioned to Albert. “Why don’t you stay with Orson while Nicole and I search for Prudence? When you hear us give the call, grab Orson and we’ll all run out to the wagon and speed away.”
Albert nodded, and the three went quietly back into the house. Winston was still sleeping on the couch.
Nicole waited until Albert sat at the table before showing Austin the way upstairs. She fingered Mrs. Morse’s laminated paper in her pocket as they listened at each of the three doors. They couldn’t hear anything, not even Iona. The rooms were empty, apart from Iona crouching, staring at the wall opposite the door. They went back downstairs and sneaked past Albert and Orson into the kitchen to explore the back part of the house. Past the kitchen was a narrow hallway with three doors leading off from it.
Nicole quietly opened one, finding it to be the bedroom where Winston and Iona slept. It was empty. They moved to the next room. It too was empty. The blue blankets on the two beds and blue drapes at the window said it was probably Orson and Sterling’s room.
At the end of the hall was a back door. Nicole opened it to peek out and was surprised to find that Winston had added another room to the house there. Prudence sat on a bed, gazing out a window. A new back door had been built into the makeshift wall next to her bed.
“Prudence,” Nicole whispered. “It’s me, Nicole.”
Prudence didn’t respond, so Nicole entered the room, motioning Austin to stay back.
She cautiously approached her friend with her palms up in a show of respect and friendliness.
Just then, Prudence turned, her blue eyes milky white. She snarled at Nicole.
“You’re come to take me, sneak me, steal my soul,” Prudence said, her voice rising in volume. “But you can’t have me. You can’t have me!”
She lunged across the room for Nicole, yanking on Nicole’s shirt, ripping it at the shoulder. She screamed and raised a hand to slap Nicole, but Austin grabbed her wrists, holding them together.
Prudence began wailing, kicking, thrashing.
Winston barged into the room, his eyes bloodshot, holding a rifle. “What are you doin’ with my girl?” he shrieked. He cocked the rifle and pointed it at Austin.
Nicole jumped at the man right as the gun went off. The bullet hit the window, and glass exploded, raining slivers everywhere.
Winston dropped the gun and rounded on Nicole, swinging wildly. She dodged the first blow, but the second one caught her in the left ribcage. She fell against the doorjamb, the wind knocked out of her.
Austin dropped Prudence onto the bed and roared at Winston, shoving him to the ground. Nicole gasped, struggling to breathe. She picked up the rifle and grabbed Austin’s arm.
“Let’s go,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“Yes! Go, go, go!” Winston screamed. “Leave my family alone! Leave us be!”
Austin jumped up from on top of Winston and held on to Nicole’s arm. The two ran from Prudence’s room, down the narrow hall, through the kitchen and back into the now-empty dining room.
They found Albert on the floor in the living room. Orson wasn’t in sight, but it was apparent that Albert had been attacked. His left eye was bruising up.
Nicole handed the gun to Austin and dropped to her knees next to Albert, cradling her ribs. “Are you okay?”
Albert struggled to a sitting position. “He punched me in the face.”
“Orson?”
The old man shook his head, his eyes filling with tears, which he tried to hide. “Winston.”
“I’m so sorry.” Nicole put her arms around him, her heart breaking yet again for the man who was watching his friend’s family get torn apart.
“Where’s Orson?”
“I tried to take him to the wagon, but Winston stopped me. Orson is upstairs now and won’t talk to me.” He pointed up the stairs.
Nicole looked up and saw the boy sitting on the top step. She heard someone stumbling through the kitchen and glanced at Austin. “Let’s go,” she whispered.
They helped Albert to his feet, and the three of them rushed out the door.
Austin tossed the rifle into the back of the wagon, then helped Nicole and Albert up. He took the reins and drove them away just as Winston barreled out the front door.
Winston yelled something at them, but Nicole couldn’t understand the words. She couldn’t tell from his expression if he was angry or scared or just totally insane. It was probably a combination of all three.
The ride was bumpy, and Nicole held her arm over her ribs, doing her best not to breathe too deeply, cringing when they hit a particularly deep rut. She couldn’t believe how bad one stupid swing at her side hurt. But at least her bruises would be easier to hide than Albert’s. She had no desire to give Sterling’s nurses and doctor anything else to ask questions about.
“Is what we were trying to do even legal?” Austin asked, slowing the horse down now that they were well out of Winston’s eyesight.
Nicole and Albert both nodded. “Albert has power of attorney over the entire family,” Nicole said. “And Winston’s obviously in no shape to be making decisions.”
Austin chewed on his bottom lip and put his arm around Nicole. She carefully bent toward him, resting her head against his shoulder.
“Should we bring social services in?” he asked.
“No,” Albert said. “I’ve been wondering about that, but I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. I still feel like there’s something more that will convince Winston. And I’d really rather not see the family torn apart.”
Nicole decided not to point out that the family was being torn apart by all of this.
Albert continued, “I say we take a break for the rest of the evening and try again tomorrow.”
“But what will we do differently then?” Nicole asked.
“I’ve got some tranquilizers in my barn,” Albert said. “I’ve had to use them several times for animals, especially when one of them gets sick or injured and I have to transport it safely. If necessary, we’ll use a small dose and knock them all out.”
Nicole’s stomach churned at that thought, but she realized it might be their only choice. She hoped they wouldn’t have to resort to it.
“I’d like to visit Sterling in the morning,” she said. “Before we go out to the farm. If he’s doing better, we might be able to use that as leverage to convince Winston to let us take Prudence and Orson.”
They pulled up to the manor, and Albert and Austin insisted that Nicole get inside and rest while they took care of the horse and wagon.
***
Nicole slept well, and the next morning, Albert opted to stay home from a trip to Moses Lake and nurse his black eye. Since Nicole’s bruised side was easy enough to hide, she popped a few pain killers and went with Austin to Moses Lake to hang out with Lizzie for a while and visit Sterling.
Lizzie was exuberant to see her friends. “I can’t believe how long that night was. I was so bored! And I probably gained twenty pounds. All I did was eat ice cream and Doritos all night long while watching movies.” She grabbed her things and the three of them left the hotel.
Sterling was in much the same condition. While they were there, the doctor stopped by and gave them an update to pass along to Albert.
“Sterling’s case is highly unusual. Whatever happened to him before the horses attacked was really bad. He’s so incredibly malnourished, it’s like his body doesn’t want health anymore.” He knitted his eyebrows. “How is the rest of his family?”
Nicole frowned, tilting her head, wondering what made the doctor ask that question when she hadn’t told him anything about Sterling’s family.
Lizzie saw her confusion and said, “I filled him in on what was going on. He doesn’t believe most of it, but he does get that the family is super sick.”
Nicole nodded, then answered the doctor’s question. “They’re not doing so well. We tried to get a couple more members of the family out last night, but we weren’t successful. However, we’ve got a better plan now and should have at least one person to bring in later.”
The doctor took a deep breath. “We might not be able to save Sterling . . . but we could possibly save the others, if they aren’t this bad yet.”
He motioned to Nicole to have a seat, and he sat on a rolling stool across from her. “The boy is going through withdrawals, though I don’t know what from.”
Nicole and Austin looked at each other. The crown gave Whitman a buzz, and she’d acted stoned. Was it possible that the metal of the meteor, or the stuff that was growing the portal, was addicting?
“That’s actually very helpful to hear,” Nicole said. “It might give us a place to start.” She glanced at Austin again. “Maybe we should bring back some of the water the family has been drinking. They could test it here and see if it has something addictive in it.”
The doctor nodded. “That’s a good idea. If we don’t find any poisons in it, I’ll give some to Sterling. If it is an addiction, hopefully we’ll be able to wean him from it before he has total system failure.”
For the first time in a while, Nicole felt hope. She recognized that it was mainly because they had a concrete plan and the help of professionals. What a huge difference that made.