Halt's Test (Gone Wrong)

Chapter 11

Halt woke around mid-afternoon, gasping desperately for breath again, tears running suddenly down his cheeks. He hurriedly brushed them away, and glanced at Crowley, hoping he hadn't noticed.

Crowley hadn't noticed. He was relaxing on his bed, boots on the sheets, legs crossed and leaning against the wall. He was studying a piece of paper – probably his infernal paperwork, but when he noticed Halt awaken, he put the paper down.

"The water nightmare again?" Halt just nodded, and Crowley sighed. "Well, at least you slept way longer than last time." Halt rolled his eyes, but found he had to clear his throat before speaking.

"I thought you were supposed to sleep too."

"I tried. But I couldn't. Next time Adriel comes around, I'll ask him for some sleeping medicine for you." Halt nodded reluctantly. He disliked being forcibly put to sleep, if something bad happened then he would not awaken, but he was feeling weaker than he had earlier, and small movements made him tired. His head was throbbing, and he wasn't enjoying himself at all.

"Eat the soup and sleep, Halt." Crowley told him, rubbing his eyes again, and Halt narrowed his eyes.

"I don't see you trying to sleep, hypocrite." He snapped, his head aching worse as he spoke.

"I'm not sick."

"Yet."

Crowley groaned and sat up. "Just eat the soup and sleep, Halt." He was tired of dealing with Halt, especially when Halt was sick and in a very bad mood, and Crowley hadn't got much sleep. He could feel a headache beginning to arrive, and he was worrying because if he had to wait for Halt to recover, then there would be a large amount of paperwork for him to deal with at the castle. But he couldn't leave Halt, no matter how annoying he was.

Halt was eating the soup, using a spoon this time, with some semblance of manners, though it would never pass at Castle Araluen. Strangely, at Araluen, Halt had perfect manners, and knew more about how to behave than Crowley did. Crowley could only imagine that maybe back in Hibernia, he was the steward's son, so he'd have grown up around the castle, if only as a servant.

With another loud sigh, Crowley picked the paper report back up and continued studying it, and was so distracted by it, he never heard Halt quietly thank him for the soup and begin to try to sleep again. He looked up nearly five minutes later and was relieved to see his friend asleep once more and turned back to the next report that needed reading and signing.

Nearly an hour later, Crowley looked up from the slowly growing set of reports on the bed next to him. He was glad he'd decided to bring them, even though he hadn't expected Halt to get ill and him to have nothing to do.

Halt was moving around on his bed, not tossing and turning as if he was awake, but just wriggling around with no seeming purpose. "Halt?" Crowley tried quietly. There was no response. "Halt?" He said louder, so loud that there was no way Halt could have missed it. When there was no response again, Crowley began to get worried.

He carefully put his quill pen and the paper down, moved his legs to the side of the bed and got up, moving closer to Halt.

Halt's eyes were open, but they were staring unseeingly at the ceiling, a detail which disturbed Crowley greatly, making him move even quicker to Halt's side. People only looked like that when they were dy – but Halt was moving, he couldn't be dead.

As Crowley watched, Halt's right hand began moving up and down, hitting the bed, with each hit increasing in force. Then his left hand joined in, and both hands were pounding the mattress irrhythmically.

This was no nightmare.

Crowley grabbed Halt's shoulder to wake him, and recoiled in horror as his hand came away wet, not damp, but soaking wet. After a moment of shock, Crowley realized that Halt was sweating heavily, and tried once more to shake him awake, to no avail. Halt would not awake.

With growing horror, Crowley put his hand to Halt's forehead and found it burning hot. He instantly recalled Adriel's words about Halt taking a turn for the worse, and quickly turned and ran for the door.