Chapter 43: Delirium

I’ve always hated hospitals.

Maybe it was because I’d never gotten sick enough to need one long term, so my clearest impression of them came from visiting grandparents in the weeks and months before they died.

Or maybe it was because if I ever did need to sample the hospitality of Swedish Medical Center, I’d have to declare bankruptcy afterwards. Every time I saw a doctor or nurse go by with a piece of paper that looked like it could be a bill, it made me flinch.

Nobody accosted Lena or I as we made our way through the antiseptic blue and white halls to Miguel’s room, with a bill or otherwise.

He’d insisted we drop him off and drive home, which turned into an adventure in its own right since I hadn’t driven since high school and I wasn’t sure Lena ever had. By driving slightly slower than I could walk, I managed not to wreck Miguel’s Prius. In retrospect, though, I probably shouldn’t have chauffeured around a guy with a concussion.

Apparently it hadn’t made Miguel worse, because, an hour after we left him and dragged our asses back to our apartment, he’d called to let us know his preliminary assessment showed no complications.

Damned if we were going to wait deep into visiting hours to see for ourselves, though. Once the hospital opened for visitors, we’d piled back into the Prius and I’d poked my way over.

Now we stood before the desk in his wing.

A nurse looked up at our approach. He smiled as he shoveled paperwork. My fight or flight reflex kicked in, but instead of trying to bill me, he asked, “Who are you here to visit?”

“Miguel Herrera,” I said, like a normal person and not a trapped animal. I don’t know why Lena gave me the side eye.

“Our most popular patient.” The nurse clapped his hands, stood, and waved for us to follow. “Right this way.”

He led us to a room half the size of my and Lena’s living room, in which a night’s stay probably cost more than our entire apartment did for a month. Miguel reclined on his hospital bed, his head and back elevated, a brace around his neck.

“Visitors, Mr. Herrera,” the nurse said.

“And me not even dressed yet,” Miguel said.

The nurse chuckled. “Shall I make them wait?”

Miguel cupped his chin. “No, they’ve come all this way. I suppose I’ll let them in. I did need to talk to them.”

The nurse’s chuckle built to a full on laugh as he motioned for us to go inside.

Lena took the chair beside Miguel’s bed.

I sat down on the couch across from him. “How you holding up, man?”

He gave a flat wave. “I still feel like shit.”

I frowned. “Whoa, what’s wrong?”

“They popped my shoulder back in, confirmed I did indeed have a concussion, and pumped my lungs for good measure. Oh, and of course, they treated me for hypothermia. But what’s wrong?” He spread his hands. “Nothing. As of this morning, I’ve got a clean bill of health.”

Lena shifted in her chair. “Sounds... good?”

“It could certainly have been worse.”

“Look, man,” I said. “I’m really sorry we dragged you into all this shit. You’re not even playing the game and it got you hurt.”

“Dragged me?” Miguel raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah?”

“I drove you two over there. Then I chose to go in with you. I did it because I was curious, and I can’t say that I’m less curious after what we saw.”

His smile drained away. He looked down. He rolled his shoulders and winced.

“Although,” he said at last, “my curiosity notwithstanding, I think you should stop playing.”

Lena drew back. “Huh?”

“I think you should stop playing Third Eye.”

“Yeah, no,” she said.

“It’s too dangerous to keep going until we know more about what it’s doing.” Miguel gripped the sheets of his hospital bed. “Knowing more may not make it seem any less dangerous.”

Lena flicked a glance at me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Miguel said, “What happened down there was not – normal.”

“You mean,” I asked, “the part where your ass freaked out and fell over a railing because the sound effects for some fake water were too good?”

“As opposed to your ass,” Lena asked, “who stole my first Reactant because the sound effects for some fake water were too good?”

She didn’t even sound pissed. Miguel’s injury had put my transgression into perspective.

Which only made me feel worse. I hung my head. “Point.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Fell,” Miguel said. “That’s what you think happened.”

“That has to be what happened,” Lena said.

He tried to shake his head. The neck brace stopped him.

“Is it okay for you to try that?” I asked.

“Probably not.” He tried to grin. “I’ll have to be more careful.”

“Seriously, though, Miguel.” I stood up and gripped the bed’s metal-pipe footboard. “What do you think went down in that tunnel?”

“I didn’t fall,” he said. “I was pushed.”

“By who?” Lena asked.

“Not who. What. The water you’re calling fake. I’d swear on my Nana’s grave it was real.”

“First of all,” I said, “I’ve met both your grandmothers. They seemed healthier than either of us.”

“They’re doing fantastically. However, we have a family plot on my father’s side,” Miguel said. “Just because Nana is not in her grave doesn’t mean she doesn’t have one.”

I mostly managed not to laugh. I needed to finish what I’d started to say. “Second, that’s idiotic. It was, what, real water, right up until I sucked it all into my phone? Spoiler alert, my phone still works fine.”

In fact, in one sense, it worked better than ever.

I had Water.

I’d just begun to experiment with it, partly because it didn’t feel right to do so with Miguel in the hospital, partly because I didn’t want to piss Lena off by doing it in front of her.

Even my first experiment, conducted by nightlight after we stretched out the room divider and collapsed into our beds, had left me itching to try more with it.

Air moves.

Water changes.

“I know. It’s crazy.” Miguel lay back and closed his eyes. “I know what I felt.”

“You felt a concussion,” Lena said. “You panicked, you fell, you wandered around down there in the ditch. I’m sorry, not trying to bust on you when you’re hurt, but doesn’t it make more sense that you were just disoriented?”

“It makes a lot more sense,” he said. His tone conveyed that he didn’t believe it.

“So,” she said, “what’s your theory?”

He cracked a smile. Briefly. “Actual magic.”

Lena and I laughed.

You had to.

What was the alternative?

Thinking that our friend had suffered a more serious brain injury than the doctors had identified? Or at least than he’d told us about. Maybe he’d gotten the diagnosis and was trying to hide it so we wouldn’t worry. He seemed weirdly committed to not upsetting us, or at least Lena.

Or thinking that Third Eye could extend its effects beyond AR? That it could actually alter reality, no game required?

That was ridiculous.

It was. Had to be.

Right?

Even when I thought about the moment when I got Water, and I’d looked down at Lena and myself and seen us both as our avatars. Even though I didn’t see how I could’ve been looking through my phone if I saw us from that angle.

That was my brain backfilling what it expected. False pattern recognition. The only light had come from our phones, so either I’d seen us through mine or I hadn’t seen us at all.

So why did my palms feel so clammy on the hospital bed’s footboard? I let go of it and shoved my hands in my jeans pockets.

Lena coughed and looked away. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Get me a smoke,” Miguel said.

“Ooh,” Lena said. “I’ve never been kicked out of a hospital before.”

“If not that,” he said, “then you can get me out of the hospital.”

Lena rubbed her hands. “Hey, I didn’t say I wouldn’t try”

I cut that line of thought off. “Have you been discharged?”

“As of this morning. I’m going to feel terrible whether I stay here or not, and in two weeks I’ll have to consult my regular doctor for a checkup on my concussion. But the only reason they even kept me overnight was to make sure I overran my deductible and they could start billing my insurance.”

“Right. Insurance.” I shook my head. “I keep forgetting you’re a fatcat.”

He made a sound I wouldn’t have recognized as an attempt at a meow if I hadn’t heard him use it for a feline NPC in one of his roleplaying games.

“Wait,” Lena said. “If you’re getting out of the hospital, does that mean I get to push you around in a wheelchair?”

“I don’t need a wheelchair,” he said.

“I dunno, it sounds like you’re still disoriented.” She clasped her hands and grinned over them. Terrifying. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Is this one of your fetishes or something?” I asked.

She wiggled her eyebrows. “And me without my sexy nurse costume.”

“I suppose I can tolerate a wheelchair,” Miguel said, “for my health.”

Maybe I should’ve found the exchange annoying, especially after he’d insisted last night he wasn’t hitting on Lena, but they both acted so ridiculous I couldn’t parse it as flirty.

“Is your stuff in the closet?” I asked. “I’ll grab it for you and then we’ll clear out so you can get dressed.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“And I’ll get the nurse to bring us a wheelchair,” Lena declared.

At least she seemed happier than she had since I stole the Water from her and Miguel got hurt.

A knock on the open door interrupted us. The nurse leaned in. “Couple more guests here to see you, Mr. Herrera. You want me to send them in?”

“Of course,” he said. “You put me in one of these hospital gowns and suddenly no one can keep their eyes off me.”

The nurse laughed. “You do seem to be quite the popular guy.”

I expected to see Yvonne and Big Charlie. I wouldn’t have been surprised to meet more of Miguel’s extended family; every time he introduced me to one of them, it seemed to be a new face.

When I didn’t recognize the woman who stepped into the room, though, I wasn’t sure who she was to Miguel.

She was a put-together thirtysomething in a sleek blue suit with creases so sharp they should count as lethal weapons. Blonde hair about as long as Lena’s but swept back so it less framed her face and more pushed it into the face of the person she looked at. A frown and the first hint of lines suggesting it wasn’t the first one.

A new girlfriend we hadn’t been introduced to yet? That would make twelve in the eight years I’d known Miguel. Had he not corrected me last night?

Or was this his boss?

I figured I could tell with a glance at his face, but he just looked confused. Seriously, how bad was his concussion? Was it really okay for him to leave the hospital? He stared at the woman like he’d never met her before, although the smile spreading across his face told me he was happy to correct that oversight. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss?”

“I’m just the chauffeur today, Mr... Herrera, right?” She swept pale blue eyes over Lena and I and her lips quirked up. “Although I must admit, it’s turning out to be interesting.”

I knew that voice. Why couldn’t I associate it with a face? I glanced at Lena and saw she’d turned even paler than usual.

“I’m the one who wanted to come,” said the person behind her. “The one who had to come.”

She stepped around the blonde and bowed all the way to the waist. Her tight cornrow braids flopped forward, and she had to scramble to keep her coke bottle glasses from falling off her nose.

“Mr. Herrera,” Erin said, “I am so, so sorry.”