The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 3: The Pendant of Death

Chapter 23: Sherman Locke

Chapter 23

     “You sneaky git!” Sky Heart snapped at Star and the other young girls. She pinched Star in the arm and shook her head at the young vampire witch. “Fox told you to stay behind!”
     “You should know me by now,” Star interjected, “You can’t keep me away!”
     “Yes, but for Godric’s sake,” Sky Heart exclaimed, “You brought more than just yourself along, remember? You like putting your friends in mortal danger?”
     “Hey!” Ignatia shouted, “We can handle ourselves, you know?”
     “Besides,” Luminara added, “We’re at a hospital. How much danger can we be in?”
     “You really didn’t just say that, did you?” Nymphara asked sarcastically.
     Sam, Dan, and Bria laughed. “You know you’ve just jinxed the whole thing,” Bria spoke.
     “Let’s just get in there and find Parth and Sherman,” Rain Fox finally spoke up. “I need the truth about all this.”
     The group marched over a few blocks down Churchill Way only a few short steps away from the famed Salisbury Cathedral. The hospital was a fairly new building; a large parking lot surrounded a long and broad three-story building. Small planted trees dotted the grass around the walkways that encircled the place. The building was an off-white building with tinted windows and a helipad on the roof.
     “I’ve never been in a Muggle hospital before,” Nymphara spoke.
     “Neither have I,” Dan concurred. “How different are they?”   
     “Dude,” Star chuckled, “They can be very different.”
     “Just make sure you don’t make a scene or anything,” Rain Fox told the group.
     “And whatever you do,” Teller added, “Do not touch anything. I swear, I’ll hex you and your families if you so much as give a vending machine a sideways glance.”
     “What’s a vending machine?” Iggy asked.
     “A machine that vends, duh!” Spirit laughed.
     “Oh Lord,” Teller shook his head and turned to Rain Fox. “Why do I get the feeling that this won’t be a good time?”
     “Oh, cheer up, Teller!” Bria piped, smiling at him, “Think of this as a learning experience, mate.”
     “I’ll try harder to forget this ever happened,” Teller replied.
     The group walked up to a pair of sliding doors and the doors opened automatically.
     “Hey!” Luminara shouted, “Who opened the doors? Did you do that, Iggy?”
     “That wasn’t me!” Iggy answered, “I didn’t do it!”
     “Oh, for goodness sake,” Star said to them, “They open on their own! Haven’t you guys seen automatic doors before?”
     Bria, Iggy, Nymph, Luminara, and Spirit all shook their heads.
     “Really, Spirit?” Sam asked. “I’d a thought you’d seen a pair of auto-doors before.”
     “No, never,” Spirit replied.
     “Do Muggles use magic that we aren’t aware of?” Nymphara asked. “Are those doors magical?”
     “You guys are killing me,” Star shook her head.
     “Come on with it,” Rain Fox gestured to them to enter, “You’re holding us up!”
     “Sorry,” Star answered. “Move it, girls!”
     The group walked into the lobby of the hospital where a portly, cherub-faced woman was seated behind a long circular desk that looked more like a kiosk.
     “Top of the morning to you,” Sky Heart greeted the woman. “We’re here to see a couple of friends of ours, Parth Patil and Sherman Locke. Do you know what room they’re staying in?”
     “Hold on, love, just a second,” the woman answered as she looked at a chart on a clipboard. “I don’t see anyone under those names.”
     “What?” Rain Fox asked, “That can’t be right. They would have been admitted some time within the past day. A pair of young men, one is an Indian.”
     “Oh, there is one man that fits that description,” the woman said, “But his name isn’t Parth. I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone under that name here.”
     “Well, that must be him, the Indian man,” Sky Heart said, “Can we see him?”
     “I’m sorry, but family only, I’m afraid,” the woman declared. “Good day to you,” she dismissed them.
     Rain Fox, Star, Sky Heart, Bria, and Teller gathered around.
     “What do we do?” Sky Heart asked.
     Star began to sniff the air.
     “What are you doing?” Sky Heart asked of Star, giving her a curious look. “Are you hungry? Are they donating blood and you’re getting a craving for a snack?”
     Star gave her a cross look. “I can smell chocolate.”
     “Chocolate?” Teller asked.
     “It’s Sherman,” Star answered, “I can smell him. His musty odor, combined with those chocolates he always eats and the funny cologne he wears.”
     “You can smell him from his perfume?” Bria asked.
     “Something like that. Teller and I spent a lot of time in his shop. I can pick out his scent all day.”
     “Well, how do we get past the fat lady?” Sky Heart asked.
     “That was harsh, sis,” Rain Fox said.
     “Sorry, was just being honest,” Sky Heart replied.
     “Leave that to me,” Teller spoke. “Bria, stay down here and keep an eye on the others. I’ll cause a distraction. We’ll sneak through those doors over there and follow Star’s nose.”
     “That sounded funny,” Bria said.
     “Focus!” Teller grunted.
     “Sorry,” Bria said. “What are we going to do down here?”
     “Occupy the lady,” Rain Fox told Bria, “Just give us enough time to find Parth and Sherman and get them out.”
     “Yes, mum,” Bria said. She turned and walked over to the rest of the group, who had sat down and were mostly staring at the television monitor hanging in one of the corners.
     “You ready?” Teller asked the rest.
     Rain Fox, Sky Heart, and Star all nodded. Teller looked at the copy machine in the corner. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching, withdrew his wand, and pointed it at the machine. “Confundus,” he whispered. The copy machine let out a shrill whistle, then began to tremble and beep. Papers began to fly out of the slots on the side, and the glare of the photo flash kept lighting up. The woman behind the desk got up and began to panic, yelling at the machine to stop.
     “There’s our cue,” Teller said. He walked over to the double doors that led beyond the lobby. He pointed at it with his wand. “Alohomora,” he whispered, unlocked the door, and opened it up.
     “Let’s hope they don’t have security in this place,” Rain Fox hoped.
     Star led them, walking briskly down the corridors, passing gurneys and beds and lots of nurses.
     “Don’t look so nervous, people,” Teller whispered to them.
     “I ain’t nervous,” Star said back to him, “I can smell him. He’s up a level.”
     “I saw the stairs over there,” Rain Fox said. She was about to move forward when she spied a pair of guards standing in the hallway. Both were armed and one had a large bag in his hands. She quickly grabbed Star and halted the others. She pulled them all into a room and drew a curtain.
     “What’s the big idea?” Sky Heart asked.
     “Guards!” Rain Fox said to her. “The jig will be up if they catch us.”
     “I got an idea,” Star said. She peered out of the room and looked down the corridor towards the guards. She saw the one that held the bag and pointed her wand. She was about to say a spell when Rain Fox tugged on her.
     “Are you mental?” Rain Fox chided her. “You still have the Trace on you! They may be lax on it in America but they’re strict about it here!”
     “Seriously?” Star snapped back, “I used magic when we fought against Black Agnes!”
     “Yes, in a life-threatening situation!” Rain Fox answered back, “But this isn’t a life-or-death situation. They’ll put you on suspension at Hogwarts and send you home straightaway!”
     “She’s right, Star,” Sky Heart agreed.
     “Okay, fine,” Star grumbled.
     “Here, let me do it,” Teller whispered. He pointed his wand at the guard with the bag and whispered, “Diffindo.” The guard’s bag, which was full of pharmaceuticals of various kinds, spilled out across the corridor. The guards huffed and laughed. They bent over to clean up the mess.
     “Now!” Rain Fox told the others. They walked briskly beyond the guards as they continued to clean up the spill. The door to the stairs was just ahead.
     “Hey!” One of the guards yelled at the group. Star paused and turned to him. Panic was in her face. She could feel her undead heart pounding in her chest.
     “Your shoe is untied,” the guard said.
     “Oh!” Star said with surprise. “Thanks! I’ll get right on that!” She turned and walked to the door where the others had gone, up the stairs to the second level.
     “What happened?” Sky Heart asked, “I thought we were caught!”
     “Me, too!” Star said. “Let’s hurry before we run into anyone else we don’t want to.”
     “Lead the way, Starkid,” Teller told her.
     Star led them down a couple more corridors to a room. “He’s in there,” she pointed to it.
     Teller opened the door and walked in, the girls behind him. There were three beds in the room. The first two beds were empty. The third was occupied by an old man breathing with the help of a respirator. A television was on in front of the old man. The curtains surrounding him were only partially closed. A bureau was between each bed. Star walked over to the first bureau and sniffed. Rain Fox picked up the chart at the end of the first bed and read what was written.
     “John Doe patient,” she recited, “There’s a lot of Muggle medical mumbo-jumbo on here. I don’t know any of this.”
     Teller walked over and peered at the chart. “Looks like he got a concussion and they’re ordering some psych tests and a CAT scan. Funny, it says here that he keeps calling himself ‘Sherlock’ insistently.”
     “They want to scan a cat?” Sky Heart asked. “Whatever for?”
     “Not a cat, they-“ Teller began to explain, “They want to look inside his head.”
     “Ew!” Sky Heart said repulsed. “That’s horrible! These Muggles are cruel!”
     “No, you idiot!” Teller grunted, “They’ll use a machine that gives them a picture of what his head looks like on the inside.”
     “How does it do that?” Sky Heart asked.
     “We don’t have time for twenty questions, people,” Star said. “This is Sherman’s bed. He was here. His clothes are inside this dresser thingy. He’s got to be here somewhere.”
     Rain Fox walked over to the next bed and looked at the chart there. She handed it to Teller, who read it.
     “This one’s for Parth,” Teller noted, “For an Indian man, mid-twenties. Looks like he’s been in and out of consciousness, according to this chart.”
     “How do you know how to read all that?” Rain Fox asked.
     “I’m a lot smarter than I look,” Teller said matter-of-factly. “He’s in ICU right now. That’s probably going to be on this floor.”
     “What about Sherman?” Star asked.
     Just then a nurse walked in and stood startled at the amount of people in the room. “Oh, sorry,” the young lady said.
     “Sorry, mum,” Sky Heart apologized, “We’re here for our friends but they seem to be elsewhere.”
     “Oh, you know the two men from the car accident?” the nurse asked.
     “Car accident?” Rain Fox asked. Teller poked her in the side. “Ouch! Oh, yes, the car accident! Yes, we were worried terribly! We got an owl, I mean, a note that said they might be here! Do you know where they went?”
     “Finally, someone to identify them for us!” the nurse spoke. “The Indian man is in the ICU. He was under observation for a bit. He was pretty banged up. He’ll come around.”
     “And Sherman?” Star asked.
     “Sherman?” the nurse asked.
     “Yes, his name is Sherman Locke,” Star told the nurse.
     “Oh, that’s why he kept saying ‘Sherlock’ to the doctor,” the nurse laughed. “Oh, he’s just got down with a psych evaluation. I think they’re going to transfer him to the psych ward soon.”
     “What’s the psych ward?” Sky Heart asked.
     “Well, I’m afraid the accident must have knocked a few screws loose in his top,” the nurse spoke. “He’s gone a little yampy. He keeps talking nonsense. The doctors want to run a battery of tests to see what’s wrong with him. He’s a little cuckoo, if you know my saying so.”
     “Oh no,” Rain Fox whispered. “Can we see him? Do you know where he is?”
     “Top floor,” the nurse said. “He’s with the doctor now doing another interview.”