Oh no, oh no, oh no.
The floor of the known world really has dropped away out this time.
I had no idea what those skittering thoughts meant, but my heart beat uncomfortably loud in my ears. I heard a whimpering sound and realized it came from my throat.
“I’m here, Anna. It’s okay,” Evan repeated, his anxious gaze glued to mine. I don’t think it was possible for him to look pale, per se, but he looked more washed out than I’d ever seen him beneath his tan. Drawn. He reached around the nurse, touching the side of my face, stroking me. I gasped at his touch, so warm and solid against my skin.
“You’re in the emergency room at Barton Memorial Hospital. You’re going to be fine. They were just waiting for you to wake up and getting you hydrated with the IV.”
“But… what happened?”
“You were drugged. Ketamine. The doctor was telling me just before you woke up. The lab results had just come back. It’s a powerful, very fast-acting drug. You don’t remember what happened?”
“No, I can’t seem to make sense of it—”
“Ketamine causes memory problems,” the nurse said. I realized that she’d let go of my shoulders, now that I wasn’t struggling anymore. She’d removed the IV completely and stepped aside. Evan saw the blood on my arm for the first time.
“Jesus. Is she going to be all right?” he demanded of the nurse.
“She’ll be fine. She was disoriented and pulled out the IV. I’ll be right back to get that bandaged up. Can you stay with her for a minute, Mr. Halifax?”
“Of course.”
Evan and I were alone in the little cubicle. There was something in his eyes I’d never seen before. Anxiety… yes, I recognized that. But there was something else. Wariness, I realized.
“Evan, what happened? Please tell me.”
“Noah Madaster happened.”
In my mind’s eye, I saw a bank of windows in a circular room flooded with sunlight. I inhaled sharply at the vivid abruptness of the memory.
Why the hell had I ever gone there?
“I found you in his suite. He drugged you. Do you remember the letter he sent you?” Evan asked me.
“Yes. He sent me a letter,” I said slowly, remembering Madaster’s large, bold script. I blinked, refocusing on Evan. “You found it?”
He nodded. “I came looking for you, and couldn’t find you anywhere. I got worried, and started going through some of your things, to see if anything was missing… if you’d taken anything, and then left Les Jumeaux. That’s when I found the letter.”
I strained to recall more, but the memories were isolated patches, a mosaic of separated pictures on a mostly pitch black background. I had a vision of Lorraine Madaster’s frightened face as she opened the door of the South Twin. I tried to force more memories, but the effort made me feel like I’d vomit. I pressed my fist against my stomach.
Against my will, I remembered Noah Madaster’s ugly, triumphant smile. I shuddered.
Who had he triumphed against? Evan. I was somehow sure of it, but I couldn’t recall why.
I didn’t want to.
Evan’s hands opened at my back, stroking me. He reached for my hand. After a few seconds, I realized his eyelids were narrowed. I looked down, to see what he was looking at. My thumbnail had turned an ugly purplish black color.
“Oh, Jesus.” Pure fear swept through me at the sight. I jerked my hand out of his, gasping.
“Anna? What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, gasping for air. I wasn’t lying. I didn’t have a clue why I’d cringed when I’d seen the blackened nail, or why I’d jerked my hand from Evan’s touch as if it repulsed me.
Oh no, oh no, oh no. The feeling again of the world dropping out from under me. Nausea so strong, it was like a wave of overwhelming pain rather than a stomachache… like my whole body could vomit.
Another memory struck me with the strength of a two-by-four to the temple.