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I closed my eyes as I hung up the phone. It was only luck that Cara hadn't changed her number in the years since I disappeared on her. I guess it was good I hadn't changed mine either. I was surprised she hadn't just deleted my number after all this time.
I forced myself into a sitting position and leaned against one of the long-abandoned machines in the warehouse. I tried to assess my wounds, touching my aching head and coming away with blood coating my hand.
"That's no good…Explains the headache." I laughed but stopped when it felt like someone was stabbing me in the side. "I hope you get here soon, Cara."
"Niko?"
I startled awake when a familiar voice called my name. I must have passed out while waiting. I smiled at Cara faintly as she rushed over to me. "Hey, Cara. Nice scrubs. Looks like you finished that nursing degree, huh?" I tried to soothe her worried look with one of my charming smiles, but her frown only deepened.
"Niko, what happened?" Her eyes moved from one injury to the next.
"Got double-crossed. This is what I get for knowing too much. I don't think we have enough time for me to explain further."
She shook her head as she reached into her bag for bandages, wrapping up my wounds to stop the bleeding. "Probably not. What did you get yourself pulled into this time?"
I coughed out another laugh, trying to ignore the taste of my own blood. "That's what I've asked myself every day since I last saw you. Sorry about just disappearing like that."
She shook her head as she stabilized my clearly broken arm. "We can worry about apologies when you aren't bleeding to death." She frowned at a burn scar on my side. "Why does this look like a handprint?"
I glanced down at the injury. "I had to close that one up on my own before I called you."
"With what?"
I wiggled my blood-drenched fingers at her. "This will be hard to believe, but I used magic."
Her frown deepened. "Magic isn't real, Niko. How hard did you hit your head?"
"Pretty hard, but I'm not delirious. How else you do you think that burn looks like my hand?"
She slung her bag over her shoulder before picking me up as gently as she could. "We can talk about it later. I'm going to bring you to the hospital I work at. They'll be able to actually help you."
Movement to our left caught my attention and I grabbed a roll of bandages to throw at the offender. The skeletal raven dodged my attack with a mocking cackle. "Get out of here! Go tell Riley his plan failed! Tell him I'm coming for him!"
Cara looked at the space that she perceived to be empty. "Niko, who are you talking to? There's no one here but us."
"You can't see it. You don't have a Spark. There's a whole world you can't see." I watched the beast soar out of a hole in the roof.
Cara quickly carried me out to her car and laid me in her passenger seat. "I need you to stay awake, Niko. I'm worried about that head injury." She sped away from my would-be tomb.
"I'll try. Everything feels real fuzzy, though. Maybe I can just nap until...we get...to…" Everything went black as I passed out.
I winced away from the harsh light I woke up staring at. I tried to figure out how long I had been out, but my room lacked windows and there wasn't a clock in sight. There was a small, square button on my bed that had the word help on it. I pushed the button and was relieved when Cara came rushing in. "Hey, stranger."
She gave me a concerned smile. "Hey. How are you feeling? We had to give you a couple transfusions. You lost a lot of blood back there."
I shrugged with another wince. "Not as bad as I could. At least I'm not dead, huh?"
She gently pet my head which I realized they had to shave to stitch up my head. "You had me worried. We weren't certain you were going to make it."
"It takes more than some suped-up thugs to take me out. How long before I can get out of here and get some payback?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. Between the injuries and delusions, it could be a bit."
I looked at her with confusion. "Delusions? Oh, you mean the magic and shit. I'm not delusional, Cara. Once I'm healed up a bit more, I'll show you some of the tricks I've learned since you last saw me."
She sighed heavily. "This is why I brought you to Glennbrook, Niko. Dr. Corialis will be able to help you."
I could feel my limited blood supply drain from my face. "Did you say we're at Glennbrook?"
"Yes, this is where I work."
I stared at her in disbelief. "You don't know what they do here, do you? You can't know. You shouldn't have brought me here, Cara. I need to leave." I tried to get up before realizing my arm was bound by a strap attached to my bed.
"I told them you were pretty prone to running off even when you needed help. Nothing bad happens here. We have helped a lot of people with delusions like yours."
I yanked at the restraint, desperately trying to free myself. "No, you don't understand! This place does experiments on my kind. They're torturing people in here. They're taking away their magic."
She sighed as she stood. "I don't know where you've heard that, but it isn't true. Dr. Corialis only wants to help people. You should try to rest, Niko. I'll be back with your next dose of pain medication in a couple hours." She closed and locked my door behind her.
The gravity of my situation sank in, leaving me shaking from fear and anger. "She can't know...she wouldn't let this happen to people knowingly…She isn't the enemy."
They are all our enemy, Niko.
I growled and shook my head, trying to clear the programming Riley had poisoned my mind with. "No. Not Cara. She's just as much a prisoner, held by their lies." I laid my head back against my pillow and stared at the ceiling, resigned to wait for what this pit of a facility had in store for me while I planned my escape.