Keeper of Crows (Keeper of Crows #1)(62)

Her touch, the taste of her. I would hold onto the handful of memories I had until she came to me. Until then, I would have to work.

I would bide my time on Earth, where it seemed to pass slowest. Unwelcome in Heaven, unable to return to Purgatory.

I hoped Carmen could somehow feel my love for her through the realms, through time and space. She was strong. She could do this. And so could I. Forever was waiting for both of us.



CARMEN

Purgatory somehow looked brighter. The longer I spent here, the more I was able to clean it up. The Meat Market? Obliterated. The outskirts? No longer needed. Destroyed. The wall? Not necessary. It was the last to go. Most of the souls who survived the invasion were now rested. Many were gone, but new ones arrived each day. An ebb and flow had been established, peaceful and teeming with purpose.

The crows couriered them back and forth across the boundary. Other than to stroke their silken feathers and remember him, I didn’t even have to tell them what to do. It was innate. They were made for this.

I walked through the city, waving at the souls who greeted me. I doubted most knew they were even in Purgatory now. They went about daily life as they would have on Earth, with the exceptions of the manna provided and the cleansing every day.

Nothing threatened them now. They could rest.

I could rest.

So I did.

Perhaps that was my lesson: Patience.





28





Beeping, whooshing, a song whistled sweetly, expertly. My eyes fluttered open and I stared at the speckled drop ceiling above me, the same one I’d hovered above when this all began. Something was gagging me. The beeps from the machines beside me became frantic. A nurse rushed in. “No wonder the machines are chirping! Look at you. You’re awake!”

She was a sweet, middle-aged woman with skin the color of dark chocolate. It looked as soft as her hair, pinned in waves along her scalp. “I didn’t expect you to wake up today. I’ll get the doctor.”

My chest hurt. Something was... I was choking. I gagged.

“Easy, honey. There’s a tube down your throat.”

I gagged again. My eyes watered as I fought against the intrusion. “It’s okay. It had to breathe for you for a while. I’ll check with the doctor and see if he wants to remove the tube, but for now…” She bent over and scanned a syringe with her machine, waiting until it beeped. Staring at the computer, she smiled. “This should make you relax. You’ll feel better soon. You’re very lucky to have survived such a crash.” She patted my hand. “Be right back.”

The medicine was fast. It relaxed my muscles and I stopped struggling against the tube, relaxing the muscles in my throat. The window blinds were pulled, but I could see the sunshine peeking in between every vertical piece of plastic. Two chairs next to my bed sat empty.

My muscles were sore. Everything hurt. I tried to reposition myself, to find a comfortable way to lay, but couldn’t move. The nurse strolled back into the room with a smile.

“Doctor Bragg is on his way. He’s going to evaluate you and see if we might be able to get rid of that tube.”

Doctor Bragg? He was the same doctor who helped me after the car wreck.

I nodded, tears welling in my eyes, blurring her for a moment.

“We called your father, but he isn’t here yet. I’m sure he’ll come as soon as he can. Is there anyone else I can call for you?”

What the hell was happening? This was enough deja-fucking-vu.

She waited, eyebrows raised until I shook my head no.

The clock on the wall opposite my bed read three forty-five. The same time I woke from being in the… wreck. But that was so long ago… I’d spent two thousand years in Purgatory. He warned me that time worked differently, but this was time reversed altogether. That wasn’t possible. This didn’t make sense at all.

The doctor, a middle-aged man wearing royal blue scrubs, a stethoscope, and a frown stepped into the room. He pumped the hand sanitizer and rubbed it in, staring at me as if I were a waste of his time. I’d had two rounds of his shitty bedside manner.

He was none too gentle about poking and prodding me. “We can remove your tube, but you aren’t well enough to leave the unit. You’ll be here for a while, and you have to take it easy. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

He typed a few things into the rolling computer and then motioned for the nurse to help him. As the intubation was removed, I gagged on plastic, confusion, and spit.

“Try to speak,” he instructed coldly.

I opened my mouth and rasped, “Where… where is he?” The medicine was working too well for me to keep my thoughts straight.

“Where is who? Your father? Probably in the cafeteria or grabbing a shower,” the nurse answered. “He’s been by your side since the accident.”

“What accident?” I asked, wincing when I tried to push myself up. My foot was in a sling. I cursed Dimitri again for putting me in this place, but smiled as I remembered where I sent him.

“A motor vehicle accident,” the doctor answered in a bored tone. “Do you recall the night of the crash?”

“I’m not here because of a crash. Not this time.”

The doctor’s bushy eyebrows furrowed. “Why do you think you’re here?”

“I’m here because I was beaten half to death, asshole. You need to grow some compassion before you talk to any more patients today.”