The Grim (Ravens #3)

v. victim

The following Saturday morning — when she had not returned to her apartment the previous night until her pounding headache threatened to crack her skull and the letters on her computer screen fuzzed together so that she could not discern one word from the next — the last thing Doctor Maya Warren wanted to hear was a pounding on her front door waking her up. She rolled over in her small bed to check the time; it was past noon already. She had gotten a solid eight hours of rest. Her dreams had been horrific, and her heart was still racing, but her body had craved every second of that sleep. As the week persisted, she only became more and more stressed as less progress was made.

A groggy mess, she hesitantly opened the front door when the visitor refused to stop knocking. Her hair was unkempt, and she'd fallen asleep without taking off Friday's clothes or make-up. She wouldn't have been surprised if her entire bra was hanging out, but in this state, she could not care less.

"Tony?" she asked, surprised by the visitor. It was Tony Harlem, her boyfriend's younger brother who had always mildly resented her. She could not recall another time he'd swung by her apartment alone, and definitely not a time without a warning.

"Hi," he said, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," she muttered, "No, no, I just overslept. Come in."

"How are you holding up?" he asked, his voice soft and comforting. He closed the door behind him, blocking the light that pierced her temples and keeping their words confined within her apartment walls.

"Take a look," she groaned, but quickly added, "I'm sorry. I'm just exhausted. This week has been..."

Although her voice trailed off, Tony did not need the end of the sentence to understand. "Do you need anything?" he asked, "Coffee, maybe? I could scramble up some eggs, that's about the most impressive thing I know how to cook."

Maya smiled lightly, casting her gaze to the ground, "A coffee would be great, thank you. It's in the kitchen."

About five minutes later, with two steaming mugs of coffee in his hands, Tony returned to the living room, taking a seat on the soft gray chair opposite Maya on the couch. "How's he doing?"

"I knew you'd ask that," sighed the doctor, "He's not well. And by the looks of it, he won't be getting much better if we can't find some goddamn cure."

"But you've been talking to the other cities, right? Somebody has to know something, someone must have come up with some antidote."

"Not yet," she said, "The Western cities are the only ones left unaffected, but the rest of us are clueless. I've hardly slept since Adam got sick, but nobody is picking up the pace. It's like they don't even care that people are dying."

"Shit," Tony said, "It's been, what? Four days now? Five? They won't even let me go in to see him."

"I know," said Maya, "The other doctors don't even want me going in. I guess since I'm working on the communicative side of this epidemic, I no longer qualify as a medical professional."

Suddenly, Tony's spine straightened and he said hesitantly, "Adam's still alive, right? It hasn't killed my brother yet."

"He's still alive," Maya nodded, "In and out of consciousness, at least that was the last I've heard."

"Okay," the younger brother said, "We can figure something out, find a cure. There's got to be a cure."

"How's Destiny?"

"My mom?" Tony asked, stifling a tired laugh unsuited for the discussion. "How do you think she is?"

"A mess, I'd imagine," said Maya, "I don't know why I asked. You know, Tony, this might be the perfect time to bring your family back together. She needs you right now, she needs her sons."

"Her golden son is lying in a hospital bed."

"But you're not. And Sebastian's not. She needs you both. You all—you all can heal."

Frowning, Tony pushed himself out of the chair and kicked its wooden leg in frustration. "This family's not gonna heal," he snapped, "She blames Seb. Blames the whole Wild Crew, says the 'savages' brought in disease. That bitch—"

"Tony, stop," said Maya, her voice more assertive now, as though she was talking down a disruptive child in a kindergarten classroom. "She's your mother."

"Adam is sick!" he yelled. He grasped the back of the chair as though it was his life-raft in the unruly ocean around him. He stood there for a brief moment, heaving breaths racking his lungs, eyes clenched shut so that perhaps he could wake up from this bad dream. Slowly, he regained composure, lowering his voice to the proper volume, a weaker sound than before. "Adam is sick, and all she can do is blame Sebastian. She can't even find it in her bitter heart to support her oldest son, any of her sons. All of us are suffering and she's too busy making these pointless accusations."

"She's trying to cope, Tony," Maya said, "I know she can be off the rails at times, unstable, but she's suffering too. I hate to give her sympathy too, but you need to try."

"What happens if we lose Adam?" he asked, brown eyes widening as he lifted his head away from the chair. "She already blames Seb for losing Emma, and now this..."

"Emma's not dead, you know that."

"She wasn't dead four months ago," he said. Maya could see the tears filling his lower eyelid, the slight quiver in his bottom lip. "But Destiny doesn't even know she was ever here. She's considered her gone since the moment Sebastian arrived. She can't blame him for this too, she just can't."

"We won't lose him, alright?" Maya assured the younger man, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "I won't let them lose him."

"Thank you," he whispered, his words hardly even audible as his voice cracked.

Maya took a step back, a sharp breath shooting up her lungs, "You have told Sebastian, right?" Tony took another seat, cradling his forehead in his hands, a heavy shame falling on his shoulders. "Tony, you have to tell him."

"I can't do it."

"Adam is his brother too, he needs to know what's happening. I mean, you would never forgive him if he kept this from you."

Tony shook his head, "He already blames himself for what happened with Emma. He can't take another heartbreak."

"He's stronger than that, Tony. It'll only hurt him more if you keep this from him."

"He'll hurt himself. Losing Emma broke him, he's only just starting to put himself back together again. I can't do that to him."

Maya sighed, "You all get lunch together on Tuesdays, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"I've been dating your older brother for almost two years, of course I know his schedule."

Tony took a deep breath, understanding her suggestion. "That poor kid. He's taken too much shit."

"I know."

"But we won't lose Adam. We're going to find a way to stop this. He'll be alright?"

"They'll both be alright."