12
She put the phone up to one ear and a hand over the other to help her hear over the rush of the shower. “Dad?” She held in a sob.
“Tell me everything. Start at the beginning.” Her dad’s gruff voice gave her a sense of calm and sureness.
She told him everything she remembered, which was almost nothing. “I’m sorry I let you down. I deserve this. What happened is totally and completely my fault.”
“No it isn’t. You are a victim, and I plan to show the royals that.”
“Dad. It’s okay. I’m willing to be accountable for my actions. I deserve to go to jail.”
“Marisa, you’ll be tried for treason. If you’re found guilty, you’ll be executed.”
Marisa swallowed hard. “I know. I deserve that, too.”
“Absolutely not. I will not allow it.”
“There’s nothing you can do, Dad.”
“Yes there is. Listen. I’m going to send someone for you. When they come, do whatever they tell you to do. Understand?”
“Dad, no. I’ve accepted my fate. In the end, the right thing will happen.” She wanted to show her dad that despite her failings, she was honorable.
“You grew up in my home, and you are living in a fairyland now? Nothing good will come of this. We need to find the person who did this and clear your name.”
It was like she’d been punched in the gut. She had worked so hard to be independent, to prove that she could make it on her own in the castle guard where he had no influence at all, but now he was swooping in to save her. “It will never be clear.”
“You will never work for the royal guard again, but you will become a functioning citizen of Monterra who will do the best she can at whatever she ends up doing. No daughter of mine will rot in prison, not if I have anything to say about it.”
His words stung, and really all she wanted to do was turn back time and start yesterday over. Since that was impossible, she was willing to give in to her fate. Not even her father could save her from her own stupidity.
“You will do as I say. Be ready to go at a moment’s notice.” The line went dead.
As she showered, she made up her mind that the right thing to do was to stay and face her punishment. She would not go with whomever her father sent. She would not return to being his baby.
She dressed and pushed the button for help. As she bent over to pick up her discarded hospital gown, she got dizzy and her head plowed into the door. She hit so hard, she knocked herself out for a moment. When the door met her body smashed up against it, it roused her. She slid out of the way as the doctor entered.
“You fell?”
She handed him the phone, and he slipped it into his pocket. “Apparently, I’m unable to get things from the floor right now.”
He helped her to her feet. “Yes. Leaning over is not advised at this early stage in your recovery. Let’s get you back into bed.”
He led her over to the bed and hooked her up to some monitors. Marisa watched, confused, as he stuck a needle into a few different cords and then changed some dials. The machine beeped loudly. The doctor swore. “Excusi,” he said.
He pressed some more buttons on the machines and still they wailed. “Not good. We need those machines hooked up to you, but we can’t have that obnoxious noise either. I’ll turn them off for now and see what can be done.” He pressed another button and the screeching stopped. He left the room.
While waiting for him to return, she fell asleep. She dreamed she worked in a mine as a slave for Tara. She woke with a gasp. Both Nurse Falco and Doctor Bellandi were in the room talking to the guards. Actually, they were arguing.
“No,” Doctor Bellandi said. “For her safety, she must be moved. You can help with the process to make it easier for everyone, but I will not let you block the action. She could die, and we wouldn’t even know it.”
“What do you need moved into the room?” The taller of the two guards asked, his thin lips barely moving as he spoke.
“The patient and her belongings. That is all. Nurse Falco, please retrieve her personal belongings.”
“We will bring the patient and her things,” the other guard with tree-trunk biceps said, stepping toward Marisa.
“Whatever you need to do,” Doctor Bellandi said. “That’s fine, but do it now. We need her on the monitors.”
Marisa was moved to the new room.
“Are you comfortable?” the doctor asked.
“I am. It is very important that you do not get up.” He gave her a meaningful look. “Without assistance. We can’t have you falling again.”
Only then did it dawn on her why he had used that needle on those hoses and why he had changed the dials. He needed her to be in this room, in this bed for some reason. The only reason she could come up with is that someone was going to come and get her. Whoever her dad was sending was coming. What her dad didn’t know was that she was going to refuse their help and remain to face her punishment. She hated that the doctor had to ruin his machines for a rescue that wasn’t going to happen.
She was tucked in nicely into her new room, monitors attached. She figured she had the entire day to wait it out. Certainly the escape would happen under the cover of night. She finally received her Tylenol with a bit more broth and crackers and fell off to sleep, her headache still raging and feeling slightly uncomfortable with the idea that two prison guards were watching her every move. Again, she dreamed of mines and money and was engulfed with the desire to flee.
She woke to Nurse Falco taking her pulse and inviting her into the bathroom to relieve herself. The nurse walked next to her this time, Marisa not feeling dizzy or weak as she went. When she reached the bathroom, the nurse pointed out the emergency button again and then slipped her a note. “I’ll be right outside the door if you need me.”
Marisa read the note first thing:
Push the green button. A door will pop open. Get dressed in the jumpsuit inside. Do not zip it up all the way and do not put the hoodie on. Put your hospital gown over it. The nurse will offer you a blanket when you call her. Tell her you’d love a blanket, and she’ll know you are ready to leave the room. She will drape the blanket over you to hide the suit.
Marisa furrowed her brow, but pushed the green button anyway. A panel next to her popped open. A black cat suit fell out onto the floor. She scrambled to pick it up and tried to shove it back in, but she couldn’t get it small enough to allow the compartment to close. Exasperated, she looked for somewhere else to hide it, but there was nowhere. Her throat was dry and it felt like little knives were stabbing into her gut. If she left the suit in there on the floor, the guards might see it and then she’d get the doctor and nurse in a lot of trouble. She wasn’t willing to do that. She couldn’t hurt anyone else.
She growled and closed her eyes before sliding it onto her body, careful not to topple forward and hit her head again. Just because she was wearing the suit, didn’t mean she’d have to go with her rescuers. She pressed the button and did as instructed, the nurse wrapping her up as she left the bathroom. She kept the blanket snuggled around her as she climbed into bed and then pulled the covers up to her neck. The nurse did not hook her up to the monitors. Another meal came. This time broth with some vegetables and a few noodles. She even got a thick slice of bread. Her head still pounded, but at least her belly didn’t ache with hunger. Not that it would matter when she was executed.
She tried not to focus on that. Instead, she started focusing on what had happened after she met up with Tara outside Murazzi’s. She could only get to the point of getting into the car with Tara. She thought of the strong drink Tara had ordered her and how they had chugged their drinks before leaving. She must have put the drug in the drink while Marisa was in the bathroom.
Frustration set in, and she wanted to get out of the bed, but she remembered she had the suit on and couldn’t. Sounds of crashing and banging accompanied with a heavy dose of shouting filtered into the room. The guards looked at each other and immediately moved to the end of Marisa’s bed. They pulled out their guns and pointed them at the door. A chair flew by the window cutout in the door. The noise intensified and more voices screamed and shouted. The next thing she knew, four cables fell from an opening in the ceiling, like arms reaching down to grab her. The arms grabbed onto a thin, narrow section of mattress that was only as wide and long as she was and began to lift her. Her sheets and blankets went with her. There was so much commotion outside the room that it masked the noise of the cables attaching and lifting her up into the ceiling right behind the guards.