Unhinged (Splintered, #2)(16)

Jeb and I meet gazes and I smirk.

“Sponge bath?” he mouths in my direction, waggling his eyebrows. I roll my eyes and try not to burst out laughing. His teasing is a good sign. It means he’s trying to forgive himself.

Nurse Terri comes to my bedside. Her eyes are gray behind the glare of her glasses. There’s a sadness there that makes me want to do anything to cheer her up. Within minutes, I’m standing for the first time. The floor chills my bare feet. Every muscle in my body aches from my fight to swim against the flood. My legs tremble, and I hold the back of my gown, embarrassed about the tubes running in and out of me. Jeb winks, then goes into the hall to look for a courtesy phone.

After he’s gone, I use the bathroom, then brave a glance in the mirror. A part of me fears Morpheus will be behind me in the reflection. When he’s not there, I’m relieved, until I see the red streak that stands out like flame from the rest of my platinum blond hair—the one reminder of Wonderland’s hold on my life that Mom can’t ignore. We tried bleaching it, but it won’t fade. We tried cutting it, but it always grows back the same vivid hue. She’s basically accepted it.

But she would never be able to accept my emotional connection to that place. To accept that, even now, I sometimes miss the chaotic netherling world. If I told her, it would make her crazy with worry.

Fresh guilt simmers inside my chest. Morpheus may have tried to fool me with a fake crumbling Wonderland, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something very wrong going on. I can’t just turn my back on that world; I can’t let it fade to decay and ruin under Queen Red’s thumb. Yet I can’t abandon the people I love here, either. I don’t know how to follow one side of me without leaving the other one behind.

I splash my face with cold water.

Get better, get out of the hospital, and find out the truth. Then I can decide what to do about everything.

Once I’m back in my bed, Nurse Terri returns to offer a handful of herbal cough drops. I pop one in my mouth without hesitation, just to see her smile. The vanilla and cherry sweetness soothes my throat.

She draws some blood for tests. I hold my breath, worried that my essence will come alive like when I’m making my mosaics. Once three plastic vials are filled and capped without incident, I breathe easy again, and Nurse Terri promises to return with broth and crackers.

While I’m waiting for Jeb to get back, the wind picks up outside and whines through the glass panes—a sound I’m used to here in Texas, yet which leaves me uneasy tonight. I stare at the IV in my hand, watching a thin red strip of blood back up into the clear plastic tube. It flutters like a kite string. I’m about to push the nurse’s button so I can ask when the needle’s coming out, when Jeb steps inside.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey.” He closes the door.

Once he’s seated, he laces a hand with mine and props his elbow next to my pillow. His free fingers play with my hair where it spreads across the mattress. A spark of pleasure races through my achy body. I’m enjoying being the recipient of his undivided attention so much, I hesitate asking my next question, but I need to know.

“What happened with your interview?”

“We rescheduled,” he answers.

“But the two-page spread, that was a big deal.”

Jeb shrugs, though his forced nonchalance is transparent.

I bite my lip, searching for a subject change. Something positive. “You and Dad. You’re on his good side again.”

Jeb winces. “Yeah, but now your mom hates me more than ever.”

I study the window behind him. “You know how overprotective she is.”

“It’s not helping, you lying for me. I heard what you said …”

I frown. “What did you hear?”

“That you covered for me. Told her I didn’t ‘choose to be there.’ You and I both know I did choose to be at the storm drain. I took you there without even considering all the rain or what could happen.”

I squeeze his hand, partly out of frustration and partly out of relief. “That’s not why she’s mad.”

“Why, then?”

I glance at the stuffed animals on my window ledge: a bear, a rather large clown with a boxy-checked hat that covers the top of his head, and a goat eating a tin can with Get Well on the label. The clown looks familiar in a sinister sort of way, but I decide it must be the lighting. Shadows drape across all the toys, making them appear to have missing eyes or limbs. It reminds me so much of Wonderland’s cemetery that my stomach flips.

“Al.” Jeb nudges me. “Are you going to tell me why you guys were yelling when I came in?”

“She just wants me to concentrate on my career, to not get sidetracked. She feels like she lost her shot at being a photographer after being committed. It’s not you specifically. It’s about anything she perceives as a distraction.” I fidget under my covers. A lie shouldn’t be so easy to spin.

Jeb nods. “I’m not a distraction. I’m helping. I want you to succeed just as much as she does.”

“I know. She just doesn’t see it that way.”

“After my meeting with Ivy Raven tonight, I should have all the money we’ll need to get started in London. That will prove how much I want to help.”

My fingers jerk in his. So that’s why he shaved and dressed up. To make a good impression on his new heiress client. My mom’s warning of betrayal surfaces in my mind, but I push it down. I know I can trust Jeb. Still, I can’t seem to control what comes out of my mouth next.