The Hammer - Cor Series Book I

Final Chapter

Corvan stood at the Fenwood hospital window watching the remnants of a prairie sunset fade over the western hills. He was glad the day was finally over. The harsh sunlight glaring off the stark white walls Kate's hospital room had been unbearable.

Footsteps approached, then retreated to answer the jangle of the nursing station phone. He hoped it was a long call. The nurses would not be happy to find him back in Kate's room again.

Streetlamps began flickering to life around the empty parking lot below. His parents should be returning at any time to take him home, but it didn't' feel right to leave Kate here by herself. Kate's mother would certainly not be coming to see her. Just a week after he and Kate had disappeared, she had taken off with the man she had met at the roadside diner.

Turning away from the darkening sky, he moved toward the clunky metal bed where Kate slept beneath a fuzzy white blanket. She looked somewhat comical with her hair sticking up in swatches through the bandage that had been wrapped around her head.

He studied her for any sign of movement. He had heard the whispers of brain damage from the nurses—how Kate might never wake up again or, if she did, how she might not remember anything from before her injury. He refused to believe that would happen. They had come through so much together and he would not give up on her now.

The steady drip of Kate's IV had been doing its work, and her face was no longer drawn and thin. The cut in her cheek had been carefully stitched back together and they said it was healing incredibly fast. She would likely end up with a scar similar to the one that Tyreth would have for the rest of her life down in the Cor.

At the thought of Tyreth he turned back to the window.  Up here, with the vast prairie sky overhead, the daughter of the High Priest seemed like a figment of his imagination, and the Cor as far away as another planet. He gazed above the trees to where a few stars struggled to outshine the city lights. A surge of pity for the people of Kadir tugged at his heart. It was like they were all locked away in a dark prison, paying eternally for some ancient crime.

"The stars are beautiful."

Corvan whirled about and went to the bed.

Kate smiled faintly, then winced as the stitches tightened on her cheek. "What happened to me?" She tried to sit up, but Corvan put a hand on her shoulder.

"You need to lie still and rest. You fell and hurt your head. Don't you remember?"

She stared blankly at him. "I think so. Did I get hurt bad?"

"You've got a cut on your head and on your cheek. You'll be okay but you need to rest for a while."

"I guess I shouldn't have been climbing on the Castle Rocks in the dark," Kate said.

"The Castle?" Corvan asked.

"I remember was going out there and falling down but I don't even remember what I was doing out there at night. I had my mother's outhouse flashlight with me." Her eyes crinkled in a teasing smile. "Maybe I was trying to catch your imaginary lizard so Billy wouldn't pick on you anymore."

Corvan nodded slowly but his mind was racing. Kate didn't appear to remember anything from their adventure, but it would be best to not say anything for now. "You don't need to worry about the lizard. I won't be talking about it anymore."

Her eyes drooped. "I'm tired."

"Try to sleep. I'll sit with you until my parents come to take me back home, but I'll be back tomorrow, I promise."

She nodded and Corvan pulled a chair in close to the side of her bed.

Kate reached her hand out from under the covers, exposing what the doctor referred to as "that mysterious star shaped burn" in the center of the palm. How could they know that the small star was from where the red seed had sent its power coursing though her body. Corvan reached out and held her hand in his own.