Chapter 5
Lorcan felt a tug at his side. He opened his eyes slightly and gradually regained his bearings. Faye’s face was very close to his as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to lift him up. He opened his eyes wider. She startled, seeing he was awake and her face was much too close to his. If he turned his head sideways, her lips might have touched his own.
Lorcan still couldn’t move. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Put some clothes on. I need to take you out of here, and you’ll freeze to death in this hospital gown.”
He glanced down at his body and said, “I don’t see any gown.”
She dropped him back onto the bed.
“I needed to take the gown off to put your shirt back on. I’m a nurse. You think I’ve never seen a naked man before?”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I can’t move yet, so can you please help me get my shirt back on?”
She glared at him for a few seconds before lifting his shoulders to pull on his shirt.
“I know you can’t move yet, and that your injury isn’t what caused the immobility. It’s the drug they gave you to help you recover.”
“Like a prison without the bars and shackles! Is there a way to neutralize the effect? An antidote?”
Faye smiled. It was the first time he’d gotten a close look at her beautiful face in full view. Porcelain skin, long and wavy sandy hair, large blue eyes. She wore a tight top of thin material, and layers of a soft weblike material spanned the space between her arms and her body. The material clung tightly to her perfectly toned upper body, flattering every feminine curve. She looked just like a mermaid.
That’s no typical nurse’s uniform, Lorcan thought, clearing his throat to be sure he wasn’t unknowingly drooling.
“There’s an antidote, and I’m going to give it to you now that you’re awake. But you have to push it throughout your body. It will free your muscle movement.”
“Push? You mean, with my thoughts?”
She chuckled. “Yes, believe it or not, that’s how it works. Use your mind to circulate it throughout your body.”
“I was just kidding. If I could will my way out of here, I would do that instead!”
“It’s how our medicine works. Your human makeup is very different from ours. If you circulate the drug, your body will take what is acceptable and useful.”
“I take it you’re not human. May I ask where I am? It’s okay if you’re not allowed to tell me.”
Faye smiled. But he hated to see the sadness hidden in her smile.
“I can tell you after we get out of here. Will you take the drugs? I’m not supposed to give them to you, but I disagree with them holding you captive.”
He closed his eyes. “Okay, jab me!”
He felt a prick at the jugular on his neck, and then the sensation of a cool liquid flowing through his veins.
The door of the room slid open suddenly. Faye startled and stepped away from the bed. “Doctor, he was cold, so I took the liberty of giving him back his clothes.”
A seven-foot-tall man with sandy hair, a fair complexion, and blue eyes walked in. He wore a long white coat that reminded Lorcan of a lab coat.
“Yes, I was cold, so I asked her for help,” Lorcan said.
The man looked at Faye, then back at Lorcan.
“She’s supposed to follow my orders, and my orders only.” He approached Faye. She backed away, her back pressing against the glass wall. The lazy fish floating behind the glass scooted away in a hurry. The doctor flexed his wrist and punched a red button on a shell-shaped control panel.
“No…please don’t,” Faye whimpered.
Outside the glass, Lorcan saw the immense shadow of a creature closing in from a distance. It looked like a great white shark swimming toward them. He did his best to circulate the drug throughout his body.
The doctor slammed Faye’s body against the wall and then reached his hand up toward the ceiling. Faye didn’t cry but bit her lip and stared straight into the doctor’s eyes as he lifted her from the ground.
“One day you will pay for what you’re doing!”
“Well, I’m afraid you won’t live to see that day.”
Lorcan scrambled off the bed and landed on the floor. The drug hadn’t made its way to his legs yet.
When the doctor turned around and saw him on the floor, he dropped Faye and, crouching, turned toward Lorcan. “What have we here? Are you so strong that you can snap out of the drug yourself, or did she give you the antidote? Either way, I’ve been thinking my tiger might be hungry. I think he’d be satisfied with you as his lunch.”
A tray of medical equipment rained down on him as Faye grabbed the tray and swung it as hard as she could at the doctor’s head. The strike didn’t cause him significant harm. He winced, more from discomfort than from pain, and turned his head toward Faye.
Lorcan grabbed a scalpel from the ground. Using one hand to prop up his body, he grabbed the doctor from behind with his other hand, pulling him to the floor. In one swift move, he slit the doctor’s throat with the scalpel. Blood spurted from the wound. The doctor toppled over, staring up at the ceiling with dead eyes.
Blood had spattered on Faye’s clothes, and her body shook with fear. Biting her lips and ignoring the tears streaming down her face, she darted toward Lorcan.
“We have to get out of here.”
“You go. My legs aren’t working yet. And I’m too heavy for you to carry.”
Outside the glass window, drawn by the stench of blood, the shark smashed its jaws against the glass over and over, baring its sharp teeth. Unable to bite its way in, it turned around and started slamming the side of its muscular body against the glass.
Lorcan felt the whole room shudder with the impact of the attack.
He heard a haunting sound, and then, from the dark water in the distance, a school of sharks swam toward them.