Bloodspell (The Cruentus Curse, #1)(3)

"You really should rest," Holly said, not wanting to overwhelm her.

"No, please tell me." Despite her distress, Victoria was resolute. "Aunt Holly, please. I need to know."

"You lost consciousness at school and they called 911 because of all the blood," Holly began, her fingers twisting in her lap. "By the time you got to the ER, you were losing so much of it that nobody seemed to know what to do at first. Something about the color, it was so dark. They said it was overly de-oxygenated. It was black almost." She glanced anxiously at Victoria, who nodded for her to continue.

"At first, they thought some kind of rogue strain of leukemia was attacking the blood cells in your bone marrow. That's what they said was the cause of the bleeding, some kind of infection in your nervous system. It seemed as if you were dying and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Then your heart stopped. They tried to resuscitate, but your heart just wouldn't respond. Just when everyone thought it was over, a miracle happened, somehow your heart started beating again, and somehow by God's grace, you came back to us ... to me." Holly pulled Victoria into a tight embrace. "I almost lost you, Tori," she choked, then turned her face away and sobbed.

"But you didn't, I'm still here, Aunt Holly, I'm fine," Victoria soothed, her mind whirling. Everything Holly had just said seemed entirely too surreal. "I wish I could remember, but it's all so fuzzy. I remember eating breakfast. I remember going to school but nothing much after that. There was no warning, nothing ..."

Victoria stared at the plastic tubing shackling her wrists. From what Holly had said, it was a miracle that she was even alive. Yet again. A sense of despair crashed like a tide against her and she felt the tears she'd been struggling to hold back coming. She couldn't shake the sense that something terrible had happened, something she'd done.

You have to remember! she urged herself. Think!

The memories swirled beneath a black fog in her mind but the more she fought against it, the thicker it became. Her head throbbed, accompanied by a dull ache in her stomach. Her hands pressed against it.

"Something else, Tori. Your monthly came," Holly said, her eyes kindly. "The doctors said it was most likely the trauma."

Victoria didn't know whether to feel embarrassed at the circumstances of having her first period or relieved that she'd finally gotten it. She'd started wondering whether she was abnormal after her sixteenth birthday had passed with no womanly fanfare. A visit to Holly's doctor had only confirmed that the range for young women went from as young as nine to as old as eighteen. He'd assured her that it would come in time.

And now that it was here, Victoria felt nothing, just a peculiar sense of anticlimax. On top of everything else, the one event that was supposed to make a girl feel normal only made her feel more odd than ever. She'd blacked out. Had she gotten her period at school? In the cafeteria? In class? In front of everyone?

A hazy recollection of mocking laughter drifted through her mind. She'd be the Carrie White of St. Xavier's, enacting that awful scene from Carrie in the girls' bathroom. By now everyone would know. Victoria couldn't even begin to imagine what they would all be saying about her. Her stomach heaved.

A clean-shaven young man in a white coat walked into the room carrying her chart. "Ms. Warrick, you're awake. How do you feel?" he said, not looking at her. "I'm Dr. Mills."

I got into a fight at school, bled in front of everyone, almost died, and can't remember a thing. How do you think I feel?

"I feel okay, I guess. A little groggy, and I can't remember anything."

"Yes, well, it's temporary memory loss. The grogginess will wear off; it's the medication. You hit your head quite hard when you fell, so try not to push yourself. It's been a tough few days for that body of yours but you have a very strong will to live."

Victoria glanced from Dr. Mills to Holly's drawn face. Holly's wrinkled fingers were still gently squeezing hers. They were warm, reassuring. Victoria gripped back and voiced the thought at the edge of her mind.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you. In fact, you're a healthy, strong young woman who's recovering very well, but you should try to get some rest." Victoria frowned at the bland response. "Do I have leukemia?"

A glance. "No. Those tests were inconclusive."

"I don't understand. How can I be absolutely fine if I've been here in a coma for five days?" Her voice sounded petulant even to her.

Dr. Mills hesitated, looking first at Holly. "We have different theories, none one hundred percent conclusive. But your complete recovery in such a short time ... well, there is no way to explain that medically." He paused, and then smiled brightly studying her chart. "The main thing is that you're alive, and recovering. You are a very lucky young woman."

The luck of the devil ...

Her muscles tightened with unexpected dread and for an instant, Victoria felt violently ill. The beeping of the heart monitor matched her escalating heart rate. How does a normal, healthy girl have a blackout and end up in a hospital for five days with no memory? And why wouldn't Dr. Mills look at her?

"I just want to go home," she gasped, black spots marring her vision as the cramping feeling in her stomach intensified. The heart-rate monitor beeped erratically.