Page 58 of Aberrant Monsters
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“August, hey, can you hear me?”
Nandi?
I cracked my eyelids open to confirm it was really her. “Thirsty.”
A hand slipped beneath my head and the lip of a plastic bottle touched my mouth. I gulped down the cool nectar.
“Easy,” Archie said. “Take it slow.”
The bottle was withdrawn, and I lay back and closed my eyes, wincing as full memory of the events at the train station played out in my mind in multicolored glory.
“Shit…” I would not fucking cry.
“You’re okay,” Nandi said. “You’ll heal at sunset tonight. Telarion said so. You just need to rest up for now.” She was silent for a long beat. “He told us what happened. What those humans were trying to do.”
“We should have stayed with you,” Archie said. “Shouldn’t have left you.”
“No.” I opened my eyes to pin him with a glare. “This isn’t your fault. Those fuckers did this. They deserved to die.”
Nandi’s nostrils flared. “Quentin called it in. The Order is cleaning up. He left to go help.”
“Wait… Telarion didn’t eat them?”
“No,” Archie said. “I figure he was more concerned with saving you than filling his belly.”
I attempted to sit up and cried out at the sharp pain in my abdomen.
“Lie down, dammit.” Nandi pressed me back against the pillows. “You need to stay still.”
I sucked in shallow breaths, blinking back tears. “Where is he?”
“Gone,” Nandi replied. “Probably to feed.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost three in the morning.” Nandi smoothed my hair back. “You need to rest. I’ll bring the DVD player in here and we can watch movies all day tomorrow.”
“Today,” Archie said.
Nandi rolled her eyes. “She knows what I mean.”
“I’ll bake cookies,” Archie added. “I mean, if I can join the movie marathon.”
“Once you’re back on your feet, we’ll fill you in on what we found in the archives and we can get back on the case.” Nandi smiled.
I nodded, already sleepy. “Uncle Frederick?”
“Tucked up in bed. I may have drugged him a little, but when he saw you all beat up, I thought he might have a heart attack.”
My uncle was a helicopter parent who’d only just begun to relax, then I’d come home infected with an aberrant and ruined it. This whole situation was probably giving him the mother of anxiety ulcers.
“Thanks.” My eyes drifted closed again, sleep tugging me under, desperate to heal me.
I felt the gentle pressure of a kiss on my cheek, then another on my temple, then there was nothing but blessed darkness.
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