My Little Dove

Chapter 20

 "Now what do we do?" Teresa asked, breaking the silence.

Alexie didn't respond right away. His heart slowed slightly. "Wait until the doctors clear up and then find what room James is in."

"How do we find him?" Teresa asked, still whispering. "We don't even know where he is." She moved her head from his chest, and looked up at him.

Alexie looked down to her. "Yes, we do." He spoke softly. "I saw him being wheeled into a room down the hall." Alexie slowly took his arms back from around Teresa. She shivered. Alexie was smiling as he moved to lean against the door and put a finger to his mask where his lips were.

Teresa froze not daring to move, she held her breath and listened. Then she heard voices and footsteps. Doctors or nurses were laughing as they walked past the janitor door.

Alexie dropped. His hand from his mouth and let out a quiet sigh. "They're gone," he whispered.

Teresa let out her breath and looked at Alexie. "We need to go," she whispered, "we need to get to James."

Alexie nodded and put his hand to the door, he took another deep breath and opened it a crack. He peeked out and nodded. "Ok," he said, "it's safe." He slid out, and Teresa caught the door before it could slam shut, then she too slipped out.

Alexie was plastered against the wall, as if that would make him invisible. "Come one," he said, "he's in the room just down there." Alexie pointed to a door that was across the hall, only four rooms down.

"Ok," Teresa whispered, "let's go then."

Alexie peeled himself off from the wall. And went ahead of her. "Here," he said, pointing at a door with the numbers 219 on the front. He slowly put his hand to the knob and opened it quietly.

Teresa looked around the hall, she strained her eyes to try to hear if any voices were coming closer. "Hurry up," she said impatiently.

Alexie peaked inside, then looked back at Teresa. "It's just him," he whispered. He slipped in, and Teresa caught the door again. She rolled her eyes. "Ya ok," she said to herself, "I'll go in, you stay here." She slipped in after him.

The room was a normal hospital room, the bed in the middle of the room and two chairs and a side table. Teresa rushed over to James and sat beside him on the chair near the bed. He was still pasted out, he was laying on the bed, the sweat from his forehead was gone, and he looked as though he was in less pain than he was when Teresa and Alexie were dragging him around. "What now?" she asked Alexie. "We can't just stay here until he gets better."

"And we certainly can't leave him here." Alexie added. "We need a Mender."

Teresa looked up. "We need a what?"

"A Mender," Alexie repeated, "they fix things, bones, objects. You name it, they fix it. We can't stay here like you said, but we also can't have him on crutches while running away from Rangers."

Teresa stared at him. "Why didn't you say anything about Mender sooner!? There might have been one on First." She stood up and walked toward him.

"There's none on First that don't work with Goldenwien Sieren," Alexie said, running his fingers through his hair, just like Peter.

Teresa looked at James then back to Alexie. "There are some here? On Second?"

Alexie shook his head. "I don't know. Menders are rare." He looked at Teresa and shrugged. "Maybe... Actually probably, some Menders have a thing against Goldenwien. Once there were a bunch that tried getting down to Second but most of them were caught, punished, and the ones who still refuse work in the dungeon or are being brainwashed."