Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Twenty-Five | A

I opened my eyes against the weak light coming from the bedroom window and immediately squinted, letting out a pained groan. My head was heavy, and my neck and legs were stiff. I tried to roll over and bumped into Mad Hatter, the doll looking out of sorts with his over-sized head slumped between spread legs.

I drew him to me. The peacock feather on his hat tickled my throat. The bed felt empty and cold, like its size had grown overnight. I touched the vacant spot beside me. The fitted sheet was crumpled from someone else being there, and dark with sweat where I was. I ran a wrist across my forehead, wiping at the clamminess.

"Micah?" I took in his after-storm scent still clinging to the sheets.

I focused on the pale sunlight again. Was it Wednesday?

Jeepers, how long had I been out of it? I didn't remember much of last night, except that it happened. My recollection was all out of sorts, like I hadn't been inside my own body. I struggled to prop myself up on an elbow, and my head fell back against the pillow with a grimace. Weakness and dizziness. Great. My hair was braided into two long, elegant ropes.

I must...get ready for school. I kicked down the covers and grabbed for the edge of the mattress, pulling myself and my braids to the end. I ached all over. The effort it took just to get upright was shocking.

I sat there for a moment while the room spun, waiting for it to settle. Get ready for school, some inner voice insisted again. I have to get dressed. I frowned, staring down at myself. When had I stripped to just my bra and underwear?

The voices coming from the kitchen were hushed when my foot finally found the bottom of the staircase. I eased off the last step to stand on the floor, and then drifted away from the support of the banister, shivering in my school skirt and blouse and hugging my Hatter doll.

"So it was a pretty rough night then?" Indy asked.

Micah responded. Just the sound of his voice injected strength into me as I swayed in the direction of the kitchen.

"I don't know how you could have expected her to make it through that on her own. So, you admit the stuff you gave her was a detox," he said over the opening of a drawer. Silverware tinkled as it was shifted about and I heard him asking, "A detox for what exactly?"

Approaching the kitchen archway, I watched as Indy chose her words carefully, taking a fork from the drawer and closing it as she replied, "Oh, you know, this and that. Mostly for impurities that could be keeping her body from functioning at its full capacity. It seems to have worked. She was going into transition when you found her."

"You say that as if you were expecting the reaction out of her." He glared at the tall, lank woman as she moved about the kitchen.

"I wasn't expecting her to go running off into the woods, if that's what you're getting at."

"You should have told me about the detox. Hell, you should have told her. We were lucky I got back when I did. And then after I got her to the house..." He grimaced and shook his head. "That was her transitioning?"

"She's through the worst of it then?"

"I think so." His sigh was weary. The smell of scrambled eggs and bacon pulled at me as I stood in the kitchen archway and watched him lean against the counter. "I'll have to keep a good eye on her today. In trying to expel the impurities from her body, you've caused her to lose a lot of water. She's going to be weak and possibly prone to aftershocks of what seized her time and time again. Her pulse sounded stronger this morning. More accepting of its new, faster pace. But still..."