John and I rode down in the elevator so I could make sure Marcus was alright. If we needed to let him rest in the building, we could always use my guest room.
John looked like he was in shock. He was a little pale and didn’t seem that alert.
“You’re okay to drive home?” I asked him
“Hmm?” the older man said.
“Maybe you should stay here and have a cup of coffee. That was kind of a shock upstairs,” I suggested.
John looked at me and nodded. I wondered if he would listen.
When the elevator doors opened, I saw RaeLynn on the floor, sitting by Marcus. She was talking to someone on her cell phone.
“Amy?” I mouthed at her and she nodded.
John walked over to the Cuppa stand, clearly still not quite himself and started to order.
“She said not to call 911?” the girl at the stand called out to me.
“That’s right. We can help him. Don’t worry about it.”
“He just slumped over like he was going to fall. I put him in a chair but he started slumping further. I was lucky he could help me lay him down or he would have fallen,” the girl said. She looked about eighteen and I was surprised she seemed to be in charge. Usually there was someone who looked at least college age there.
“Are you closing today?” I asked.
The girl nodded.
“I’ll let your manager know that you did what you were supposed to do okay?” I handed her my card. Most of the workers there knew me but in case this young woman didn’t, she’d now have a contact for her manager.
“Thanks,” she said. She went back to assist John with his order.
RaeLynn hung up the phone. “Amy was just closing up the office so she’ll be here soon.”
“Great.”
“I managed to fend off a nurse by telling her I was a doctor and this was my patient,” RaeLynn grinned. “I’m not sure she believed me, but she was definitely careful about asking questions. I think it helped that I started to call someone.”
I shrugged. There were medical offices in the building so it wasn’t impossible that RaeLynn was a doctor. The fact that they were ob-gyn offices made it less likely that Marcus would actually be a patient though. Even if the nurse had figured it out, hopefully she was familiar enough with Whisper to not ask too many questions. Marcus moaned softly.
Kneeling on the ground, I wished I had gotten full carpeting rather than area rugs for the lobby. Of course, here by the Cuppa it was all tile. It had to be cold.
“This has to be uncomfortable,” I said.
“Well, you didn’t build this area for people to sleep here,” RaeLynn said.
“Maybe I should have,” I said.
John came over, carrying a tall paper cup. He still seemed confused but he took a sip which perked him up enough to offer assistance.
“Can I help you get him someplace more comfortable?” he asked.
“We can take him up to my apartment,” I said.
RaeLynn nodded. “If you two can move him, I can direct Amy up there. Is Zari still in the office?”
“Yeah. She’s locked in there. I’ll grab her when we get Marcus settled. She’s probably pretty pissed at being left behind.”
“Well, you didn’t exactly need to do it,” Zari said, clearly listening in on my conversation.
“I can carry the coffee up after you too,” RaeLynn offered, picking up the cup John had set down.
John helped me get Marcus to a seated position. His head lolled but he seemed to have enough control to help us. As we braced ourselves under his arms and lifted him up, he managed to move his feet enough to be of help.
Slowly we made our way across the room. Marcus was doing his best to keep his feet moving but I think John and I carried most of his weight. Fortunately, although Marcus was fairly tall, he was also quite thin.
Once in the elevator, John and I were able to lean back against the wall for a minute which helped take some of Marcus’ weight off of us or at least I tried to convince myself of that.
We did the slow walk out the door to the small alcove before my apartment. I unlocked that door and we went in.
“The guest room is immediately to the right,” I said, moving that way. John and I had to angle ourselves so that we could get Marcus down the hall. Surprisingly enough I had not made the hallway wide enough for three people to walk abreast. I made a mental note that if I ever built another apartment, I should consider that. Or else have the door to the guest room closer to the main door. You never knew when you might be carrying a body up.
“You are getting rather punchy,” Zari said.
“Ya think?” I thought back.
“I am waiting for you to come get me,” she announced. “It is not very interesting here.”
“I’ll be down when I can. Or I’ll send John.”
“I do like him. He can hear me, although he doesn’t want to notice it. He does like it when I tell him where to scritch. He thinks we are just on the same wavelength. He likes cats but doesn’t have one now. He had a big orange Tom named Pert but he died about a year ago. He keeps hoping another cat will show up.”
“Perhaps you can guide one there?” I suggested.
“There’s a rather nice looking sleek black cat that is in the area. He was dropped off along the mountain about a month ago and is not doing well. He’s a fine cat. Next time I sense his presence I shall send him that way.”
“Should I tell John to be on the lookout?” I asked.
“I think that might just scare him. I expect he’ll do fine with that black cat. He had a black cat once that he was quite fond of, so I expect this guy will have a good home in no time at all.”
John helped me get Marcus onto the bed. I took off his shoes. Amy came into the apartment with RaeLynn as I was doing that.
“John, would you mind getting Zari A?” I asked. “I usually just carry her down there so you don’t need to bring anything else up.” I held out my office key.
He nodded, willing to be of assistance and looking a little relieved to be able to help with something that made sense to him.
Amy waited until he was out the door to say anything, although she was already touching Marcus, feeling for any injuries.
“What happened?” she asked softly, glancing around once more to be sure there weren’t any other hidden people in my guest room. There weren’t many places to hide in my guest room, as I’d kept it pretty spare. I had the bed with drawers beneath it and an empty chest. I used the walk in closet to store a few odds and ends but it was really just ready for someone to come visit. The colors in here were olive green and a deep purple for accents.
I told her about Gaia.
Amy nodded before I explained further. “Marcus knew about her. He knew he needed to guard himself if that ever happened. He talked to me when Peter told him about the linking. It’s not something I ever expected, especially not here. I doubt Peter ever expected it either. Too bad Marcus wasn’t at home. I think he said that distance would help.”
“So this was a perfect storm?” I asked.
“Yeah. Peter can become anything, even merge with the other earth spirits but Marcus is human, not fully air spirit so he can’t do that. He’s a little like Meg in that he doesn’t get lost inside them but the merging is beyond what his brain can handle. I guess it’s also like the energy of his body wanting to follow the other spirits, even though it can’t”
I nodded at her. “Can I get you anything to help him?”
Amy shook her head. “He feels scattered. His energy is really low too. I need to build that up. I’ll probably be hungry and thirsty when I’m done.”
“I’ll go get started.”
RaeLynn left with me. Once in my kitchen I started looking around for food. I had some cookies that I kept for snacks. I wasn’t sure how long Amy would be, so I didn’t know if I could actually cook up some dinner.
“I’ll call the pizza place,” RaeLynn said. “They’ll deliver and I expect Amy will need more than sushi and tempura after healing. It’s probably faster than anything you can whip up here too.”
“Great. Get a couple of larges. I can always eat left overs. That way if anyone else shows up we have plenty of food.”
“I’m on it. Should I use the company card?”
I thought about it. This was really company work so I said yes.
John came back in with Zari riding on one arm. She was tucked next to his body and he had carefully held her toes between his fingers as if he worried she’d try to run. Zari seemed pleased to be carried that way although I suspected if I tried the same thing, she’d be miffed.
“Of course I would,” she said. “You know I am not a cat. He does not.”
John started scratching her head.
“RaeLynn is ordering pizza if you want to stay. I don’t know what else is going on so we’ll see who all shows up. Peter may be here later.”
“I doubt it,” Zari said. “I cannot sense him.”
“He’s okay?” I asked her.
“I do not think that you can ask that sort of question about a spirit,” Zari said. “But he should return if that is what you are asking. Don’t expect that he will eat here tonight.”
“I really ought to get home,” John said. “I want to make sure my daughter is fine. I hope that I got everything out of the house.”
“I expect you’ll find you did,” I said, confident that Gaia and any helpers she might have was cleaning up everywhere.
John nodded before leaving. I made sure he had his coffee. I suspected he’d need it to keep himself alert on the short drive home. Zari sighed.
“What?” I asked.
“I like him. He knows how to treat a cat. I may be just a little jealous of the cat I sent to him.”
I frowned, annoyed. So apparently I wasn’t even number one in the cat parent book. Of course I appreciated knowing that the old man would be okay for a while. I’m sure Zari would have told me if he were in danger.
“You do okay but I did have teach you things he does naturally,” Zari purred. “And you are mine so you shouldn’t worry about things like that. Even if you are flawed.”
RaeLynn started to laugh so clearly Zari had not made that last comment private. I couldn’t do anything else but laugh with her. I hoped we didn’t disturb Amy as she did her work.