Downfall - The Incorruptibles #1 (COMPLETE NOVEL)

Chapter 20: Renunciations

The next day was all about dressing changes and prescriptions. Cain was there for every moment of visiting time and I don't think he went far when they closed the ward outside of those hours. In the afternoon he got a text message from Owen asking us to come see them at Gaunt House ruins when I was out of hospital. Cain looked worried as he read it aloud to me.

"What do you think he wants?" I asked.

He didn't reply for a moment, reading the text message over to himself again. "I'm not sure," he said at length. "But I don't know if I trust them, Francesca."

That threw me. "You don't trust them now? Why not? What do you think they might do?"

"They've been sending me messages for a few days now, trying to convince me to abandon you and to find another place to meet so you can't find me."

I bristled. "I'm the one who's been trying to get you to do what's right. I told you to leave me. And they're worried I'll try to find you?" I hmphed for emphasis and Cain smiled.

"I am doing what's right," he reminded me. "But they're afraid. They're worried my visions won't come back. I've told them I'm sure we'll be back at full power before we know it, but ... they're not cool with it."

I was worried, too. Now that I'd taken the low road with Cain I needed to feel okay about us choosing one another over his divinity. I didn't need guilt trips from Owen or anyone else.

"I suppose we'd better find out what they want," I said.

"You're not well enough yet."

"The problem won't go away if we ignore or delay it."

"Then I'll go to the ruin," he said. "Alone. I'll tell you what they want."

"No. Reply to Owen. Tell him we'll come next week. What can they do to me, Cain? Bump me off?" Cain's face blanked and I stared at him in astonishment. "That's honestly what you think? That they would dispose of me to get you to do what they want?"

"No," he said, but I could see it was close enough to what he thought.

"That's insane," I declared. "Maybe Nadine would be up for that but Owen wouldn't allow it. Liz wouldn't allow it. Jude wouldn't allow it! He's known me since I was in kindergarten." I trailed off as I remembered Jude coming to Uncle Max's and trying to physically drag me away so I could help them find Cain. How far were they willing to go to look after their own? "Okay, if that's really what you think, tell Owen he can come see me in here. He's hardly going to murder me in a hospital full of witnesses."

I won. Cain replied to Owen, who turned up early in the evening with a fruit basket, of all things. Cain murmured to me to shout out if I needed anything and gave Owen what looked like a cautionary glance before leaving the room to sit in the hallway, still in my line of sight.

Owen drew the armchair up to my bedside. "I need to talk to you, Frankie."

"Go on." I awaited the exhortations I'd just stopped making to myself.

"Jude and Nadine have been talking about your saints idea. It got them thinking you could be right. Nadine was sceptical but scared. Jude just thinks you're too smart to be wrong." I watched him, slightly hostile but also curious. "I looked into it," he went on. "The idea of saints was a great lead in terms of research. I found a lot more information by searching on 'saints' than I had by searching on our abilities alone. There's plenty online about saints from the past who shared the kinds of gifts we have. I have to say, your idea sort of resonates for me."