The faint moonlight streamed through the gaps of the window blinds, softly touching Alex’s untroubled face as she lay in the hospital bed. Her arms rested straight by her sides. The only part of her that moved was her chest. She would have looked healthy if it wasn’t for all the tubes sticking out of her, giving her the necessary nutrients and fluids to keep her alive.
Link had been visiting her every night for the past two weeks, and over everything, what wounded him most was her immobility. It was unnatural for him to witness his hyper little sister lying so still. Before the accident, even when Alex was asleep she’d continuously be tossing or turning or throwing her arms about. Some nights Link would even find her sleepwalking, rummaging through jars in the kitchen in a rampage like she was the Cookie Monster.
To Link, witnessing her laying there so motionless just wasn’t right. She should have been bouncing around the room, making jokes at other people's expense, using her sarcasm so often you didn’t know whether she was being serious or just making fun of you—not in a coma because of her older brother’s carelessness.
A female nurse with short, pixie-cut hair and kind blue eyes entered the room, no doubt to do some more physical examinations on Alex or to monitor her hygiene. Alex had recently been moved to a High Dependency Unit. That way they could watch her more vigilantly and give her the constant care she needed.
The nurse smiled at Link courteously and asked how he was as she made her way to Alex’s side. It was their duty to do things like brush her teeth, groom her nails, and unfortunately to change her diapers. If the nurse's jobs weren’t already hard enough, they also had to reposition Alex every few hours and do motion exercises to keep her muscles from deteriorating. Link tried to help them out as much as he could, but a lot of the times they stubbornly refused and told him, “It’s what we get paid to do.”
The pixie-haired nurse was combing Alex’s blond hair, struggling to break through one of her tangled tresses. When she was done, she grabbed Alex’s limp hand and cleaned underneath her fingernails. A tear rolled down Link’s cheek as he watched. It was agonizing for him to see her like this, so helpless and vulnerable.
He still hadn’t told his little sister yet. Link could never find the right combination of words to say. In fact, he didn’t even think the right combination of words even existed. How do you tell your own sister she is in a coma? But regardless, he knew it wasn’t his secret to keep. Sooner or later he’d have to bite the bullet. He just hoped it was later rather than sooner.
At that moment, Nadine walked into the room holding two cups of takeaway coffee and some potato chips tucked underneath her arm. Link couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten. For the first time in a long while, he smiled. It felt unnatural, like using a muscle for the first time. “Thanks, babe.”
In all his life, Link had never been in the presence of someone as amazingly beautiful as his girlfriend. He would tell anyone who would listen that, and not because he wanted brownie points or because he felt obligated to as her boyfriend. He truly meant it.
Nadine had these piercing, jade green eyes that could level you if she looked your way, a cute little button nose, and wavy hair that cascaded down to the small of her back like a glorious, golden waterfall. But for Link, hearing her speak was the sweetest of all. Her voice was so warming and full of vigour it could bring a smile to his lips on even his worst days.
Nadine wasn’t Link’s first girlfriend, but he knew she would be his last. Because when he looked at her, he knew, as they say in the rom-coms, she was the “one.” He could see his kids having her cute button nose, her fair and flawless skin, her intense eyes—the whole shebang. And Link wanted it all with her: the picketed white fence, the Labrador, the reliable Nissan they used to take their kids to basketball practice and games. (According to him, their kids didn’t have a say in what sport they wanted to play.)
“What?” Nadine asked, chuckling. “Have I got something on my face?”
Link had forgotten he was staring at her with a goofy smile, oblivious to her staring straight back at him with her fair eyebrows raised.
“No,” he said, “you’ve got something on your neck, though.”
“What?”
“An ugly head.”
“Hmm, funny,” she said, looking unimpressed. “You know, I have a right mind to pour this coffee all over you.”
Link shrugged. “Do it. You paid for it.”
“With money out of your wallet,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “What’s yours is mine, right, Honey?”
“Touché.”
Nadine handed him his coffee then sat down on his lap. Link clenched his teeth to stop himself from groaning. His quadriceps muscles were screaming out in agony. For the past week, he had been trying to perfect the Spells that were written on the scrolls. The day before, he had drawn too much of the Eternal Source. So much so that his muscles were sore to the touch and agonizing headaches had been terrorizing him throughout the day.
Link knew it was stupid of him to channel that much of the mystical energy. But it’s what he needed to do for them to survive. In their book, Deonis and Taytora were far more advanced than Link and Alex with their magic. And there was no way Link was going to let them fall behind.
Not everything was looking pear-shaped, though. Alex had finally unlocked her Gates in Nocera. She was so ecstatic when she had accomplished it, sprinting down the Sleeping Willows staircase to tell Link, only to get halfway down before her feet failed her and she toppled down the remainder of the way. Link had warned her to be careful. That even if you don’t cast a Spell, opening your Gateway uses a tremendous amount of the Source and depletes your strength.
Alex had rubbed the lump on the back of her head and rolled her eyes at him. Telling him how he was just jealous she was going to be a better Mage than him. And sure enough, when Link had awoken from Nocera, the lump on his sister’s head was there on her in the real world.
So far Link had been lucky. Besides the slashes to Alex’s calf, the lump, and a few cuts and bruises here and there, she had been fine. And further down the track, when she bolstered her knowledge of the Source, she could study the art of Healing and make Link’s job substantially easier.
Thankfully, there hadn’t been any hiccups in Nocera so far. They were still safe and sound at the Sleeping Willow. And the very next morning, they would buy the horse from Vardis’ stables and set off for Iralda. Link just hoped everything went to plan from there onwards.
Nadine nestled her head in the crook of his shoulder and neck. Like always, her hair smelt like pomegranate and mandarin—she had a never-ending supply of the unique conditioner in her bathroom cupboard.
Link yawned.
“Sleepy?” Nadine asked.
“What gave me away?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Our relationship has just developed to the level where I can read your mind.” She lifted her head and found his eyes. “Seriously, though, those bags need to go. When was the last time you had a good night’s rest?”
“Before the crash,” he answered.
Back to when I wasn’t being shadowed by a mysterious man in an overcoat, he thought.
Link hadn’t seen the fedora-hatted man since the last time he was in Nocera, almost a week ago. If he ever did find him, though, he had a million and one questions lined up, and Link wouldn’t let him leave his sight until he answered every one of them. Link knew he was behind all of this, or at least knew what was happening to him. How else could he have switched between both worlds like he could?
Link just wished things could have gone back to normal. Before the car crash, before they even wrote the book. It felt like he was drowning in the ocean, trying to swim to a shore that was just a mirage, and every time he rose for a big gulp of air, he was smashed back under by another crippling wave. When Link closed his eyes at night, he wanted to actually dream. Not be fighting for his life in a parallel universe against bloodthirsty gorlacs and horriks. He wouldn’t wish the torture he was going through on even his worst enemies.
“What are you thinking about?” Nadine asked curiously, pecking Link on the cheek. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer.
“Alex,” he lied.
Nadine chewed the bottom of her lip nervously, looking over at Link’s little sister on the bed. Neither of them spoke for a while.
“What do you reckon she’s dreaming about?” Nadine asked after a few minutes.
“My bet is Nocera,” Link said.
Nadine raised her button nose at him. “I’ll take you up on that bet, sir.”
“Is that so? Well, what’s your guess then?”
Nadine smiled at him sheepishly. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Shamus.”
“Stop it,” Link said, letting out an involuntary snort of laughter.
“Why are you laughing?” Nadine asked, pinching his nose playfully. “I'm serious. Alex has always had the hots for him. This can’t be news to you?”
Link shook his head at her as he took a sip of his coffee. Shamus was a year younger than him, played running back for their high school football team, and had been known to be a womanizer. He had bad news written all over him. Link knew Nadine was just trying to rile him up.
“No, Shamus wouldn’t dare,” he said.
“Oh yeah? And why's that?”
“Because he knows I’d kill him.”
Nadine threw her head back and laughed. “You can’t protect her from boys forever, Lincoln.”
“I know,” he said smiling. “But I’ll die trying.”
Nadine tilted her head forwards, resting her forehead on his. They stared deeply into each other's eyes.
“No, don’t stop,” she said.
“Stop what?”
“Smiling,” she said. “I love it when you smile.”
“Like this?” Link asked through gritted teeth, toying with her.
Nadine clutched his jaw with her hand, squishing his cheeks together. “No, not like that, goofball. You always have to ruin everything.”
She sprung off his lap and headed for Alex’s bedside table. Link liked what Nadine was wearing that night: Skin-tight jeans that complimented her curvy figure, a loose tie-dyed t-shirt, and navy blue Converse shoes on her feet. Her hair was swept across her left shoulder, and he noticed she wasn’t wearing any makeup. Just the way he liked it. No fake eyelashes, foundation, contoured features. Just the pure, raw and unfiltered Nadine.
Tonight was only one of a handful of times he had met up with Nadine since the accident. She had wanted to go out and catch a movie, but Link couldn’t bring himself to leave Alex’s side. Especially not at that point of time in the book. Although they may have seemed safe in Vardis, they could have been attacked by inebriated soldiers, rowdy sellswords, more unknown creatures—the possibilities were endless. Especially in Nocera.
Nadine was flicking through something on the table. Link assumed it was one of his Mom’s gossip magazines. Then he realized all his schoolwork was there. All the schoolwork he hadn’t even started. Nadine came from an extremely proud and academic family. So much so that her parents threatened to kick her sister out of the house for getting a B minus . . . her sister was fifteen at the time.
When it came to Link’s schoolwork, Nadine had been his major driving force, lashing at his back whenever he slacked off. If it wasn't for her, he wouldn’t have been sitting on the grades he was. Nadine’s back was to him, but he could almost sense the disappointment on her face.
She sighed, her eyes scanning through the paperwork. “Link, c'mon this is simple. It will take you twenty minutes tops. You know you can’t fall behind in math otherwise your GPA will drop substantially.”
GPA, GPA, GPA. It was all Link had been hearing from his parents these past few weeks, and now his girlfriend had joined the choir.
Nadine took a swig of her coffee and cast him a sympathetic look. “Look, I know it’s not my place to say, but I really think you should come back to school.”
“I’m not ready to go back yet,” he said flatly. “I told you that.”
“But you’ve got that physics paper due in—”
“Are we really doing this?” Link interrupted. “My grades are seriously the last thing on my mind right now.”
“I know that—”
“Just drop it, please,” he said, massaging his eyelids in frustration. “I don’t have the energy to argue with you.”
“Who said anything about arguing?” Nadine asked. “I don’t want to argue. I’m just saying. Do you really think it’s wise to put your life on hold, Link?” She took a mouthful of her coffee then gave a sidelong glance at Alex. “You know she wouldn’t want that.”
“And how the hell would you possibly know what Alex wants?” he shouted.
“I’m only trying to help you,” Nadine whimpered, clearly shocked by his outburst. “How can you not see that? Everyone's worried. You’re sleeping all day, and when you’re not in your room your here and-and-and . . . .” Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Link clenched his jaw so tightly it clicked. “And what? Is it such a crime to be by my sister's side while she’s in a coma?”
Nadine looked at him startled. “No, that's not what I’m saying. Y-You’re putting words in my mouth.”
“Well, what are you saying?” he asked, annoyed.
“I just don’t understand why—” she stopped mid-sentence, playing with the ends of her hair like she always did when she was nervous. “I mean, they’ve got nurses looking after her twenty-four seven and—”
“I don’t care about the nurses,” he snapped. “I’m her big brother. I need to be here, right by her side. You wouldn’t understand.”
Nadine wiped her glistening eyes. “I do understand, baby.”
“No, you don’t,” Link snapped. “You honestly have no idea what I’m going through right now.”
“Then tell me,” Nadine spluttered, “talk to me.” She took a shuddering breath, her eyes searching his frantically.
Link hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether he should tell her about what had occurred to him those past few weeks. The words were almost on the way out of his lips when he stopped himself and shook his head. He wasn’t in the mood to explain the whole Nocera situation in depth, and he didn’t want her to look at him like he belonged in a mental institution—just like his parents had.
“Forget it,” Link ended up saying.
“You’re right, Link,” Nadine yelled, suddenly slamming down her coffee. “I don’t know what you’re going through because you won’t freaking tell me! It’s not healthy to bottle everything up.” She walked over and took both of his hands in hers, lowering her voice to a pleading whisper. “Just talk to me, please.”
Link pulled his hands away from hers and cleared his throat, caught off guard by her sudden change of tone. “No, it's not that easy.”
“I can’t read your mind, Link,” Nadine sobbed.
“I’m not asking you to,” he said.
Link stared at his feet in silence for a few minutes, hoping this argument would somehow die down.
Nadine crouched down so her jade green eyes were level with his. “I love you. You don’t have to go through this alone, babe; I’m right by your side.”
Link turned away from her gaze. Because he knew if he were to look at her any longer, he’d burst into tears himself. But she grabbed the bottom of his chin and nudged it up, forcing him to look at her again. “Hey, I said I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said back, and then the tears came out of nowhere. Without even realizing, he was in her arms, his face resting against her chest, sobbing. Like always, Nadine had found a way past his guarded emotions, and everything he had suppressed over the past few weeks poured out of him like open floodgates: The guilt of causing his own sister to be bedridden, the stress of entering his story every time he slept, the resentment he could sense from his parents for what he had done to their daughter. He released everything.
The whole time Link wept Nadine stayed by his side, crying with him, offering him soothing words and holding him close. When the pixie-haired nurse came back in to inform them visiting hours were over, Link had to look at his wristwatch twice, barely believing how fast the time had gone.
“C’mon, Link,” Nadine said, running her fingernails through the back of his hair. “You can sleep at my house tonight if you want.”
Link rubbed his teary eyes with the collar of his shirt then nodded at her wordlessly. They both headed for the door, but then Link noticed he had forgotten two things: One, the coffee cup he had left on the bedside table; and two, the routine kiss on Alex’s forehead he always gave her whenever he left. As he walked over to grab the coffee cup, something caught his attention from outside the window. Link parted the blinds and looked out into the street across from the hospital.
Standing underneath a street light, illuminated by the glow, was the man in the fedora hat: Xavier. His head was cocked up, looking straight in Link’s direction. He even had the nerve to give him a wave.
In an instant, Link had pushed past Nadine and headed out the doors. He didn’t have time to wait for the elevators so he headed for the stairs, leaping down them three by three. Nadine’s voice called out to him as he neared the bottom of the staircase, but there was no way he was stopping. He had tunnel vision for only the man in the fedora hat.
Patients and nurses parted on the ground level when they saw Link sprinting towards them, which he was thankful for, because he had no intention of braking. Link pushed through the hospital’s revolving doors, darting out into the street and toward the direction where he saw the street light. But when he arrived at the spot where the man had been standing, he was gone.
Has he pulled the same disappearing act he did in Nocera? Link wondered.
He spun around, hoping to see him running off in some direction. If only he could have opened the Gates to the Source and enhanced his eyesight, then he would’ve been able to spot him.
There was a whistle from across the street. Link’s head snapped in the direction of the noise. The man called Xavier was standing in an alley fifty yards away, casually resting against the side of a building, puffing on a cigarette. His fedora hat was tilted forwards on an angle, concealing his eyes. Link’s heart raced as he slowly approached, putting one foot cautiously in front of the other.
“Took you long enough,” the man said, his voice calm and measured. “A basketball prodigy with two left feet. That’s a first.”
“Who are you?” Link asked, chest heaving, “And why have you been following me?”
Xavier didn’t reply. Instead, he just cocked his head back and blew a puff of smoke into the night sky. He was looking directly ahead at the opposite alley’s graffitied brick wall, barely even acknowledging Link’s presence.
“Answer me!” Link shouted, clenching his hands into balls.
“Meet me tomorrow, Layla’s Café, nine AM,” he said. He flicked his cigarette butt into the pavement and ground it out with his heel, then turned his back on Link and said, “And, Hunter, do use those sleeping pills I gave you; you’re starting to look like a malnourished zombie.”
“What? Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Link shouted as the man walked away. “I want answers now! Hey, are you even listening to me?”
Link’s anger suddenly got the best of him, and he raced towards him. He reached out to grab Xavier’s shoulder, to yank him around to face him, but Link’s hand only clutched thin air.
What was supposed to be the man’s shoulder had turned into black wisps of smoke, unfurling around Link’s fingers like tiny snakes. He couldn’t believe his eyes. As he looked down at his hands trying to comprehend what was happening, Xavier’s whole body dissolved into the dark smoke. Link watched on in shock as, from head to toe, the man in the fedora hat blew away with the wind and faded into the night sky.