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A couple of hours later, Helia and I were sharing a hospital room. My mom was downstairs with the youngest niece, Ariel, who apparently was the only person that got skipped in the wing department.
While Helia and I were discussing these newfound appendages, Bill came up. Aurora was sharing a room with his youngest, a six-year-old with lung damage from the inhalation of the silver shavings.
“I hear you’re working on the case,” he said.
“I’m helping Remiel with the case,” I corrected.
“Tomorrow, Camilla and I are buying you all dinner for saving us. If you hadn’t noticed that package and come to check on us, we’d all be dead,” he said, coughing.
“I can fix that for you,” Jerome said from his spot in the corner where he was doing homework.
“What?” Bill asked.
“The residual silver left in your body,” Jerome answered. “I offered to fix Becca, but she said I’d have to ask you. She was afraid it would hurt, and she liked that they brought her Jell-O whenever she asked for it.”
“Seems kind of risky,” Bill said. “I remember you throwing up silver in my front yard.”
“It’s a bit gross, but not risky,” Jerome told him.
“Thanks, Jerome, but with some rest, and obviously lots of Jell-O in Becca’s case, we’ll all be fine. I don’t want to risk your health. By the way, if you want a ride home before the angels leave, you can ride home with me,” Bill said.
“Soleil?” Jerome asked.
“It’s fine. I’m not allowed anything until after surgery tomorrow morning, and I’ll be home by the time you get out of school. Duke, Tabitha, and Walter are staying at a hotel close by, but I’ll send one of them to check on the neighborhood later.”
“You’re having surgery in the morning and you’re making me go to school?” he asked, looking stunned.
“They are just going in to remove the wing sacks because I’m an adult and they put pressure on my spine and ribs. It is a very minor operation. I’m nephilim; I’m not at risk on the operating table, unless they take a chainsaw to my newly-discovered wings.”
“But can someone at least call the school when you’re done and let me know so I don’t worry all day?” Jerome asked, getting up and coming over to hug me. I nodded. Jerome and Bill walked out.
“Are you really going to make him go to school tomorrow?” Helia asked. “He seems concerned about it. He isn’t going to retain anything he learns before finding out your surgery went fine and you’re okay.”
“I’m letting Ariel skip tomorrow.” Helia added suddenly after we’d both been silent for a long time. It made me jump, and I bumped the table with my wing.
“This is going to get old really fast,” I said.
“It’s a lot harder to get used to things like wings as an adult,” Helia agreed. A few hours later, a nurse wheeled Aurora in and she, Mom, and Dad took seats in the room.
“I will pick up Jerome in the morning on the way here,” Dad told me.
“I was going to make him go to school,” I said.
“No, you’re not,” my mom responded, her voice holding a note of anger. “One mom has cancer, the other is having major surgery in the morning. You will not punish him by sending him to school to worry about you in that environment.”
“Okay. Hey, if something happens to me, will you guys take over as Jerome’s guardians?” I asked them, a knot in my stomach.
“Of course,” Dad said. “We were going to ask you about that. Not just for tomorrow, but long term. Do you have a will? Have you considered what will happen to Jerome if something happens to you?”
“Honestly, I was hoping if something happened to me, Valerie would go ahead and let Michael heal her. It’s what he wants, and Jerome would keep his mom that way.”
“Honey, I know it tears you to pieces thinking about Jerome losing both his parents. I love your heart. But Valerie couldn’t live with the knowledge that her curse killed Michael but allowed her to live,” Mom said. “No matter how much Michael says he wants to die, that’s a huge burden for her to carry. It wouldn’t be much of a life.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I love Jerome and Valerie. I want her cured, and I don’t want either of them out of my life. I have to keep telling myself these things, so I don’t lose hope.”
There was suddenly a flurry of activity outside our hospital room. Nurses and doctors were running around like crazy and there were people shouting. Dad got up and stuck his head out.
“Oh shit,” Dad said, his face pale when he came back into the room. He took the seat he’d vacated. “Something bad has happened.”
A police officer from Chesterfield ran into my room. He looked terrible and smelled worse. We all stared at him.
“Miss Burn?” He asked. Mom, Helia, and I all answered. Then I heard Jerome’s voice behind him, and I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Jerome came in with his cheeks streaked with tears.
“Jerome,” I said, holding out my arms and pulling on the crap attached to me. I jumped out of bed, knocking over the IV stand.
“Soleil,” Jerome sobbed. “We saw them in the lobby. MOM.” He gasped out the last word and I felt my heart break. Bill came in behind him; he’d also been crying.
“Miss Soleil Burn?” the officer said. I nodded, grabbing Jerome and wrapping him in my arms. I hugged him as tight as I could, my wings folding around the boy.
“Miss Burn, I don’t know how to tell you this, but we were dispatched to a house fire. When the fire department arrived, the house was already engulfed in flames. The fire department is still trying to put the fire out. Your neighbor, Lyzette Bond, rushed into the fire screaming there was a sick person inside. She returned with a lady who has been identified as Ms. Valerie Dussain. She’s in the ER now. I’ve been asked to prepare you.”
“My house burnt down with Valerie inside? Is Lyzette okay?” I asked, my thoughts wanting to vomit themselves onto the floor, so they could all be visible at once.
“Mrs. Bond is being treated for smoke inhalation and some burns, but I understand she’s a vampire and will make a full and speedy recovery,” the officer said.
“But Ms. Dussain is human,” I said finishing his thought for him. He looked at the floor grimly.
“How did it start?” I asked, continuing to hold the sobbing boy into me.
“We don’t know yet,” he answered. “Your neighbors are offering up security cam footage to see if we can pinpoint when it started and how it got so bad so fast.”
“How bad is she!?” I screamed at him and felt my knees give way. I took Jerome to the floor with me but kept him wrapped in my new wings.
“Soleil,” my dad said my name quietly, and I felt arms encircle me from above, another warm body joining us on the floor.
“I don’t know, ma’am. I wasn’t told. Another officer and a doctor will be up in a bit to talk to you. I understand she was your roommate and that this is her son.”
“Oh my God!” I broke down. The tears poured down my face and the top of Jerome’s head. This couldn’t be happening! Valerie was supposed to beat her curse and live happily ever after with her son. How could she possibly die in a fire?? This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. I screamed wordlessly at the ceiling and felt Jerome shiver in my arms. I had to pull myself together. It was his time to grieve, not mine. I shut my mouth and my crying turned into small sobs.
I rocked with Jerome in my arms and felt my father envelop both of us within his wings. I could think of nothing soothing to say. I could think of nothing but our mutual despair. My legs were starting to cramp by the time Jerome tried to stand up. He stood, wiped at his eyes and then mine. Then he held a hand out to me.
“The surgery will have to wait. I need to be with Jerome tonight,” I told everyone in the room. They all nodded.
“Mine too. Maybe I’ll get pissed off and they’ll just come out like Soleil’s did,” Helia announced, starting to yank on the wires and IVs. “I need to be with my family tonight.”
“I’ll get a doctor,” Remiel announced, leaving the room.
The police officer escorted us downstairs. I only bumped my wings six times from the fifth floor to the ER on the ground floor.
“We’ll have to get you a sign saying you’re still getting used to your wings,” Jerome told me as I got them stuck in the automatic door that led to the ER. Our police escort found a detective and a nurse and brought them to us. The nurse led me, Jerome, Helia, and my parents into a small conference room. Remiel took Aurora and Ariel to get snacks. Helia had decided to reschedule Aurora’s surgery as well.
“Valerie Dussain is critically injured,” the detective said after all of us had sat down. “But for now, she’s still alive. The doctors are pumping her full of morphine and adrenaline. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but she’s not going to make it. If she wasn’t already sick, she might have had a small fighting chance, but since she’s in an advanced stage of cancer, the best they can do is keep her out of pain. Do you have people you want to call?”
“No, this is our family,” Jerome announced. “My mom had Soleil made my legal guardian after she started healing treatments five months ago. They’ve been working on the full adoption papers for a month now.” I looked at him, not realizing he knew Valerie had insisted we start on that while she was still alive, going beyond just legal guardianship to full-fledged adoption so that there could and would never be a question of who Valerie wanted Jerome to live with if she died.
A doctor entered the room, looking as grim as I felt.
“This is the Dussain family?” He looked at the detective and nurse doubtfully.
“Yes,” Jerome answered.
“Yes,” the detective echoed. “This is Miss Soleil Burn, Jerome’s legal guardian and adoptive mother, and her parents Sophia Burn and Raphael Archangel, and Soleil’s sister, Helia.”
“I’m very sorry to have to tell you this. Mrs. Dussain received second- and third-degree burns to more than 90 percent of her body. She also received third-degree burns in her lungs from breathing in the flames, as well as smoke inhalation. Even if she wasn’t battling stage four breast cancer, her chances of survival would be nearly non-existent. She’s awake, but probably not for long, if you would like to see her for a few minutes. After you’ve spoken to her, we’ll sedate her. We are giving her the maximum amount of pain relievers we can, so she isn’t in much pain. As soon as she woke up, she indicated she wanted to see both of you.”
“Well, let’s get to it, we can talk later,” I told him, standing up and putting my hand on Jerome’s shoulder as he stood. They didn’t make us take any precautions, letting us into her secured room without a cap, gown, or mask. Valerie motioned for Jerome and I to come to her. The detective was still with us.
“Finish adoption,” she choked out. “Jerome, love you. Good for her.” She took in as deep a breath as she could. “Sole, don’t let my sister get him.” She tried to hug Jerome, but we could all see it hurt. Instead, Jerome leaned down and kissed her cheek, which somehow was untouched, despite everywhere else being burned. Her blood pressure shot up a moment later as did her heartbeat.
A nurse rushed to the bed and pushed something into her IV. Her eyelids fluttered but remained closed. The nurse looked at us. I didn’t know whether we should go or stay.
“I love you, Mom,” Jerome whispered. “I’ll be good for Soleil.” He looked at me and the tears had returned to his eyes but weren’t spilling out. A lump formed in my throat as I fought my own grief.
“I’ll take good care of him, Valerie,” and her heart rate and blood pressure dropped back to a more normal range. “I’ll make sure to finish the adoption as soon as possible.”
The nurse tried to force us out at that point, but Jerome refused, saying he was going to stay with his mom until the end. The end didn’t take long. We were there maybe 20 minutes when the screen started to flash, and alarms started going off. I took hold of Jerome and steered him out of the room.