Chronicles Of The Keeper - The Long Hot Summoning Part 24

Dean removed his gla.s.ses and polished them against the hem of his T-s.h.i.+rt. "I'm not going there."

"Probably wise."

Struggling up through a pounding headache and the kind of nausea that made even breathing seem like a bad idea, Diana opened her eyes. The ceiling, a long, long way up, didn't look familiar. Where was she? Mattress and pillow under her. Blanket over. She was obviously in a bed. In her underwear. So she'd been here for a while.

Her head flopped to the left and she could see a row of beds stretching off across a ... store?

To the right, baby and toddler pajamas were twenty percent off.

Okay. Got it now. Otherside. Mall. Meat-minds. Mall elves. Battle. Wand. Ow.

The two nearest beds were also occupied. She identified Colin by his pale hair but didn't know who the second wounded elf was.

Raising her head, she could see another row of beds facing the first. Since all the beds were made, bedding, aisle fifteen, she a.s.sumed the elves were using it as a dormitory slash infirmary.

"Hey. You're awake."

"Claire!" A strong hand behind her back helped her sit. The world tilted. "Bucket!"

A bucket appeared with an efficiency that suggested this was not the first time.

Legs crossed, Diana grasped the turquoise plastic sides firmly and bent over.

"I can't believe you've still got that much in your stomach," Claire murmured worriedly when Diana finally sat up.

"I don't. We're on the Otherside, remember?" Diana gratefully took the offered water, poured some into her mouth, rinsed, and spat. "I could be channeling it from anywhere. why is everything on an angle?"

"I'm guessing that when you sat up, the world tilted. It's been happening every time you vomit, but don't worry, it settles down."

"I hurl and the earth moves?"

"I know, just what you need, more ego reinforcement." Eyes averted from the contents, Claire set the bucket into the lower cupboard of the bedside table and closed the door.

Diana thought about that for a moment and shuddered. "Uh, Claire . . ."

"Do you want to deal with it?"

"Well, no, but . . ."

"Well, I don't want to deal with it either and that means we don't have to. Next time it comes out of the cupboard, it'll be a new bucket. Okay, once it was a new cauldron because a couple of the kids were hanging around, but, mostly, it's a bucket."

"Cauldron?"

"We're wizards."

"Right. Don't cauldrons go with witches?"

"I suspect the kids were a little confused by that wand trick." Arms folded, brow furrowed, Claire walked almost all the way to Baby and Toddler Pajamas, returned, and reluctantly continued. "And they were also impressed."

"I get the impression you're less impressed," Diana sighed.

"When you used the wand to destroy the dark elf, it didn't pull power from the possibilities, it pulled it from you."

"No sh . . . kidding, Sherlock." Throwing back the covers, Diana cautiously swung her legs out over the side of the bed. The world wobbled a bit but went no farther off center. "That certainly explains why I feel like I've been puked up and left to dry on the sidewalk. Do you think the wand was a trap?"

"No, I think it was thrown together for the tourist trade with no real thought. It'd have little effect on a Bystander and a Bystander would have less effect on it, but a Keeper . . ."

". . . it sucks dry."

"It's why you collapsed."

"Yeah, I got that." She glanced around for her clothes, saw them folded neatly on the end of the opposite bed, and sent a pleading look toward Claire.

"Are you sure you're well enough?"

"My head's pounding, but I don't actually want or enjoy the feeling of my brain being ground between bricks, so I should be better soon." It wasn't until Claire picked up her shorts and T-s.h.i.+rt with her left hand that Diana realized her right arm was held tight against her chest. "You okay?"

Claire followed her gaze, flexed the fingers, and nodded. "I took a hit from one of those tote bags when the dark elf realized what I was doing with the pepper. It's almost healed."

"How long was I out?"

"About four hours." Three words. A whole lot of feelings.

Diana reached out and touched her sister lightly on the shoulder. "I'm okay."

"I know."

"And if I wasn't okay, it wouldn't have been your fault."

"I know."

"I'm an active Keeper now, and I'm my own responsibility."

"I know."

"Okay, that last one sounded like you actually believed it." Diana would have grinned, but it hurt to move the muscles of her face. "So give me a hug and let me get dressed. Since we seem to be stuck with him, I'd just as soon not appear before the Immortal King in my underpants and a sports bra."

"You saved his life, he wouldn't mind." Claire pulled her into a fiery one-armed hug. "And you haven't seen what his elves consider party wear," she added, as they separated. Scrubbing away a tear, she nodded toward Diana's clothes. "Although we do have the dignity of the Lineage to uphold."

"Right. Dignity." Carefully, she pulled her shorts up over her hips. "So. Four hours. Big delay in our plans to close the segue. That's not good."

"No. The darkside may have lost the battle, but it won time, and it has to be pleased about that."

"What about Colin and the other kid?"

"Colin took a tote bag to the forehead while he was dragging Alanyse to safety and Stewart got pounded against a wall." Claire walked around to the end of the next bed and lightly laid a hand on the blanket covering Colin's foot. "They'll both be okay, though."

"How do you figure?" Diana demanded, emerging from the T-s.h.i.+rt with teeth clenched. Dragging the reinforced neck over her head had done nothing to help the brick-grinding-brain problem.