I turned, expecting to see Mary.
A man stood in the doorway. He was shaggy, a little dirty, unfamiliar, and staring at me as I stood there in my bra. My eyes bugged, and I quickly folded my arms across my chest. I opened my mouth to tell him to leave but didn’t get anything out.
He moved in a blur, knocking me backward. My breath whooshed out of me as I landed on my bed. He fell with me, pinning my crossed arms between us.
Before I could register what was happening, he reached up, fisted his hand in my hair, and pulled my head to the side. The move exposed my neck. Fear gripped me. A desperate cry ripped from me, and I bucked under him. He darted forward, his mouth open.
“No!” I wailed as his teeth pierced me. Distantly, I wondered what had happened to Winifred’s promise.
He bit hard. It was as if he thought his Claim would have a better chance of sticking the deeper his teeth sank. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I did the only thing I had left.
Instead of trying to grab his will, my will surged from me, a thick unyielding cane comprised of a single thought: get off me. I hit him right between the eyes with it. To my shock and pain, he flew backward, his teeth ripping from my skin. I gasped and whimpered as he hit the dresser with a crash.
My shaking hand automatically went to my neck, trying to ease the pain there. I was making weird noises that I couldn’t seem to stop. The man stirred.
My door crashed open, and Winifred flew in. Her eyes widened at the sight of me on the bed.
She didn’t pause to address the man but came to me and gently lifted my hand. I focused on her, desperate for someone to help make the pain stop.
“Mary, your sheets,” she said.
There was a slight rustle, and Mary appeared at Winifred’s shoulder with the sheet from her bed. Winifred grabbed it and pressed the material against my neck. Something crunched sickeningly.
God, he broke me. I struggled to think past the pain.
It took a moment to realize the sound hadn’t come from me. My eyes wandered a bit, and I saw Thomas, his face twisted in anger. He had a hand wrapped around the throat of the man who’d bitten me. He opened his grasp and dropped him. The man’s head lolled on his shoulders, his eyes open and vacant.
“Thomas, we need to get her to a hospital,” Winifred said.
I shifted my attention back to her worried face. She didn’t meet my eyes but focused on the sheet she held to my neck. That scared me.
Thomas moved closer and stared down at me.
“They will ask questions,” he said softly.
“I know.”
They shared a look. I sobbed a little. They were going to let me die to keep their secret. I wanted to tell them they didn’t need to worry, but I couldn’t talk. My throat didn’t want to work.
“I’ll carry her,” he said. Surprise and relief made me sob again.
Winifred nodded.
“Mary, hold the cloth. Keep moderate pressure on it. I’ll get the truck.”
“Truck?” Mary said, bending to take over.
“We can’t run with her. It would hurt her more. The truck is the best option we have.”
Thomas picked me up, holding me gently. Mary walked with him, keeping pressure on my neck.
“Stay with me, Charlene,” he whispered as we moved.
If they would just stop biting me…
****
Voices pulled me from the dark place. My neck hurt so much my eyes watered; the sensation of those tears trickling down my cheeks woke me further. I was lying flat but felt like I was moving.
“… animal attack…”
“… form of ID…”
The conversation danced around me, and I couldn’t focus fully enough to understand it.
“Help me,” I rasped.
A hand gently touched my shoulder.
“We’re going to fix you up, honey,” a strange voice said. “Can you open your eyes?”
I tried and couldn’t quite manage. Was I dying? I thought of my mom and her request to call her when I could. Would she have to live the rest of her life never knowing what became of me?
“Help me.” Tears and my torn throat made it hard to speak.
“We are, honey. Can you tell us your name?”
The moving stopped. I heard counting, a quick moment where I felt like I was floating, then I settled on a solid surface again. I didn’t know what was happening, and it terrified me.
Behind my eyelids, I focused and found three strands of will near me. I gently reached out and touched each one. I wasn’t imposing my will, rather feeling their wills. One of the wills was a doctor. He remained focused on examining me. He wanted to stop the bleeding. The two nurses were there to help the doctor and comfort me.
Someone put something cool on my neck. It stung and tears started streaming in earnest.
“This will hurt for just a moment, and then you shouldn’t feel a thing,” the doctor said.
I breathed through the pain until it, and the stinging, eventually faded. A relieved sigh escaped me.
“All right. I need you to hold still for a bit.”
I held still and drifted.
****
In that odd place between sleep and awake, I was only vaguely aware of the next few hours. After the doctor stitched me up, they brought me to another room. I wasn’t sure why and was a bit too tired to care.
They gave me a pill to swallow, and it was a hard task to complete. Though my throat didn’t hurt, it didn’t quite want to work the way I thought it should. After I sputtered and choked a bit, the pill went down, and the nurse let me be.
I dozed awhile, happy with the quiet. Then the doctor was back with a man in a uniform. What were police called in Canada? I liked his hat and smiled at him.
“Miss. Can you tell me your name?”
My name. I almost answered but then remembered why I couldn’t. Penny. I had to stay hidden. I touched his will. Suspicion, worry, and impatience lay there. I soothed them away and replaced them. The girl looks tired. Poor thing. She should be resting, not trying to speak.
I barely shook my head to answer his spoken question. The man sighed and patted my hand.
“I understand. Your throat must hurt. I’ll try back later.”
I nodded ever so slightly and watched him turn to leave.
“Are you able to speak, miss?” the doctor asked, eyeing me with concern. “The bites weren’t too deep, and missed your—”
“I can speak,” I said slowly. “But everything is spinning.”
He nodded. “You lost quite a bit of blood. Nothing that should require a transfusion, but your blood pressure is low, and we’re keeping an eye on it. I made the stitches as small as possible. Between that and your age, the scars will hopefully fade into nothing with time.”
I didn’t care about scars. “Can I leave?”
“We’d like to see your blood pressure improve before we send you home.”
He left, and I dozed again. When the nurse came to check on me, I woke and asked for another drink. She returned with a full cup of water then took my blood pressure.
“Your blood pressure is holding steady. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake again. I’m sure there are a few people who need to speak with you if you’re up for it.”
Her will was too cloudy to read. So I grabbed it. “Tell me what you mean.”
“Administration will want to talk to you. We’ll need your social insurance number to submit your stay for reimbursement. And the Mountie is waiting.”
I knew what the Mountie wanted. I also knew I couldn’t afford to stay any longer.
“I need a few things so I can leave,” I said. “Medicine if this becomes infected, bandages, creams, salves, or whatever else you think might help. Please get everything and bring it back here as fast as you can.” I could feel her resistance as she nodded slowly. “After you give them to me, you will forget me entirely. If anyone questions why you can’t remember, you work a lot and need a break.”
I held firm until she gave in.
****
With a small paper bag filled with supplies, I slowly made my way out of the room I’d occupied. Lightheaded, I had to keep a hand on the wall so it didn’t feel like the room was spinning so much. Any staff member who moved to question me, I turned away. The effort and the constant struggle of wills exhausted me more than walking.
When I made it down the hallway, I came to a set of double doors and peered through the small windows into the waiting area. Winifred and Mary tensely sat on the couches near the entrance. Across the room, the Mountie was having a friendly chat with one of the staff. I lightly touched everyone’s wills to gauge the situation.
The Mountie wanted to speak with me again. A woman behind the reception desk wanted to question Winifred about who I was. I delved deeper and understood that Winifred had claimed to find me on the road and had given everyone a false name. I influenced the woman to forget Winifred and Mary’s association with me and did the same with the Mountie. No one else in the room really cared about us.
Winifred spotted me and stood as I pushed open the door. My knees wobbled unsteadily with each step, and I felt cold and dizzy. I kept my focus on the exit and the people around us. Winifred hovered beside me. Mary wrapped her arm through mine and let me lean on her. It helped. But I hoped they would catch me and run if I passed out.
No one paid us any attention as we crossed the room. They wouldn’t remember us leaving.