Hurricane - Book 2

Chapter 13

TW in the description
Thank you to rare.Candy kale.art for this art!

This is getting published a little early because I will soon be without WIFI and I wanted to make sure I got this out to you guys.

Luca POV

Luca and Eshe helped carry Alberto into the house, an arm around each of their shoulders. He was coughing up water so violently he couldn't stand. At the sound of them crashing through the kitchen, Mattias ran to meet them.

"What happened?" He said, immediately guiding them to the medical room. They lay Alberto down on the bed. His chest continued to convulse as he spit up water, taking in gurgling breaths.

"He jumped in the water, and... he didn't change," Luca said breathlessly. In his haste he knocked over a tray of medical instruments.

"Go sit down!" Mattias barked at them, and the Sireno and Rusalka sat in the corner of the room, watching with baited breath.

"Damn it. I told you it was a bad idea!" Mattias yelled as he worked. The first thing he did was place an oxygen mask over Alberto's face. Then he covered him with a heated blanket.

"What's wrong with him?" Luca asked in a panic. He had felt Alberto's fear in the water. Knew that Alberto felt trapped again. Luca could hardly stand it.

"I don't know!" Mattias said in a very flustered yell. It was rare to see Mattias lose his composure like that.

He nearly tripped as he began taking Alberto's vitals, working fast. Alberto continued to cough into his oxygen mask.

"All I know is that I have to treat this like a human case. And humans can't jump in a nearly frozen lake!" He yelled, checking Alberto's temperature. "Damn. He is hypothermic. If I don't get him heated up quickly, he will have a seizure-"

Mattias barely finished his sentence before the worst possible scenario played out before them. Luca watched Alberto's eyes roll into the back of his head as his body convulsed.

"Alberto!" Luca said, already moving to him, but Eshe caught him, holding his shoulders. A sharp pain drove its way through Luca's chest. Like a knife, cutting away at his insides. He clutched his chest, groaning, but still, he tried to reach Alberto.

"Keep him back!" Mattias yelled, plunging two syringes in Alberto's leg at once.

The convulsing slowed until only an occasional shudder moved Alberto.

All at once, the stabbing pain stopped, and Luca took a gasping breath of relief. Mattias briefly took off Alberto's mask to wipe away the saliva that accumulated down the sides of Alberto's mouth.

"Is he ok?" Luca said through tears.

"No. He is not. But at least now he is stable." Mattias said, looking at the monitors and checking Alberto's pulse with his fingers. "What the hell happened out there?" He said, now working to pull Alberto's soaked clothes off him.

Eshe turned around, and Luca stepped up to help Mattias maneuver his body. When he was warmly tucked into the sheets, Luca answered.

"We just jumped—First Eshe, then Alberto. I was the last in the water. But then I felt something was wrong. Alberto was... he was terrified." Luca croaked out.

"And?" Mattias pressed. He wasn't as delicate as he usually was. He was visibly upset.

"He didn't change. His body stayed in its human form. He started to sink." Eshe finished.

"Damn it," Mattias said, shaking his head.

"Do you know what went wrong?" Eshe asked. "Was it the cold?"