Heart of The Trident

Eight ~ Cade

A song.

Out of nowhere, a woman’s voice drifts into my ears and clenches my heart. Struggling to breathe, I clutch my chest. Tears well in my eyes.

This song…It’s Nia’s.

“Doctor, are you okay?” the nurse beside me asks in concern.

The patient on the bed looks worried as well, his mouth open as if he’s about to say something.

Well, at least, he seems fine.

“Excuse me,” I mumble as I shove the chart I’m holding at the nurse, barely managing the words. “I’ll be right back.”

“Doctor?” the nurse asks after me but I ignore her, leaving the room.

Wobbling, I get to the supply cabinet and I close the door behind me. I kneel on the floor, my chest painfully tight as the mournful song continues to play in my ears.

Nia.

Strange. Her scream didn’t have any effect on me before but now, her song is overpowering every fiber of my being, every cell in my body. I can feel each note sinking into the marrow of my bones. I can feel sorrow gushing through my veins, threatening to crack me open from the inside so that it can overflow.

Sorrow. And pain. So much pain.

But that’s not all.

With Nia’s image firmly imprinted on my mind, I can also feel heat coursing through my veins, making my skin prickle as sweat breaks out of the pores. It especially tingles in my ear lobes, around my neck and in my crotch, where something other than sweat is on the verge of leaking out. My c**k quivers in my boxers.

Holy s**t.

Then just as suddenly as I heard the song, it’s gone. Like waves returning to the ocean, the tide of pain, sorrow and desire recedes. My heart takes on a steady beat. My breathing and my temperature return to normal.

I stand up on firm legs, wiping the sweat off my brow.

What the hell just happened?

Taking a deep breath, I smoothen the front of my white blazer and go back to my patient. The nurse is still there with him.

“Doctor, are you alright?” she asks again.

I give her a pat on the shoulder before taking the chart from her hands. “I’m fine. So, let’s see…”

--

“Hectic shift, huh?” Dr. Price asks as we bump into each other in front of the vending machine.

“I’ve had worse,” I tell him, punching the buttons for a latte.

“I’m sorry you had to come in to work today. That was unfair of Dr. Rutherford.”

I grab my cup. “Well, I did leave my shift halfway through once.”

“Once.” Randy lets out a sigh of exasperation. “One time in all the years you’ve been working here. And what about all those times you worked beyond your shift or worked other people’s shifts? Did he stop to think of all that?”

“I’m fine,” I assure him, smiling. “Thanks for your concern.”

“No, it’s not fine.” He shakes his head. “I don’t like the way he’s running this hospital. If he continues, I might go into private practice or retire early altogether.”

My eyebrows arch. “What?”

“Enough about me.” He puts a hand on my shoulder. “How’s that patient of yours?”

I frown as I take a sip of my coffee, knowing well who Randy’s referring to. Why does everyone at the hospital seem concerned about Nia?

“Has she found her family? Is she eating and sleeping well? You did refer her to a psychologist, didn’t you?”

I sigh. “Randy, I…”

Our conversation is interrupted by a clatter down the hall. I turn my head, finding a man in his forties wearing just a pair of blue swimming trunks kicking a chair.

“Where is the fiery-haired witch?” he shouts in a hoarse voice.

“Hey!” William, the security guard, calls after him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

He doesn’t answer, lifting a chair over his head. A nurse screams.

The guard pulls his weapon out of his holster. “Stop it!”

I feel a hand on my shoulder.

“Cade, we should get out of here,” Randy tells me, his voice shaking.

We probably should but I can’t just leave the man alone. He has a crazed look in his eyes. He’s not himself. If he goes on like this, he’ll only get hurt and then regret everything later, that is if he lives through this.

I have to get him to calm down and see reason. At least, I have to try.

I hand Randy my coffee cup and leave his side.

“Cade, what are you doing?”

I ignore him, walking towards the man.

“Stand down, William,” I tell the guard. “Let me try to talk to him.”

“Where is she?” the man roars.

I approach him slowly. “Why don’t you try telling us your name first, buddy?”

“Where is she?” he shouts louder.

“Okay.” I draw a deep breath. “I guess I’ll say my name first. I’m Dr. Cade Lennox. I work here at this hospital so if you just calm down, I’m sure I can help you.”

His features soften a little, his gaze falling to the floor. But the chair remains above his head.

“Now, put the chair down,” I tell him.

“Give me the girl,” he hisses.

“Which girl? What’s her name?”

“The girl who can sing. I heard her.”

I tense, a lump forming in my throat. Nia?

“Where is she?” he asks again, bloodshot eyes meeting mine.

I swallow. “Why are you looking for her?”

“Because she cannot be allowed to live.”

My fists clench at my sides.

“Who are you?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“Where is she?” he roars again, lifting the chair higher.

Without thinking, I lunge at him, knocking him to the floor. The chair flies, crashing against a wall. More people gasp and scream.

I sit on top of him, wrapping my hands around his throat. “Who are you? Why do you want her dead?”

“Dr. Cade.” The security guard kneels beside me. “I’ll take it from here.”

Still, I don’t let go, my fingers locked around the man’s neck. “Who…?”

Suddenly, his body starts twitching beneath me. I take my hands off his neck, watching him as he froths at the mouth.

“Shit.”

“What’s going on, Doctor?” William asks me.

“He’s having a seizure,” I explain, turning the man on his side and glancing at the nurse closest to me. “Time it.”

As I hold the man’s body on his side, I see the purplish prints on his leg for the first time.

Jellyfish stings.

At this time of year?

“Nurse,” I call out.

“Yes, Doctor?”

“As soon as he’s done with the seizure, I’m bringing him to the ER. Tell them to get the IV and morphine ready and get Dr. Shore in there.”

She runs off.

A few moments later, the man stops shaking, his body limp. I turn him on his back, finding his eyes half closed and his lips blue.

“No.”

Lifting his body in my arms, I rush to the ER.

“Move!”

--

“I’m not sure when he’ll regain consciousness given the shock he’s endured and all the medications we’ve given him but he’s out of the woods now,” Dr. Shore informs me an hour later outside the man’s hospital room. “Thanks to you, Dr. Lennox.”

I shake my head. “No. It’s thanks to you, Dr. Shore.”

I glance through the window at the man on the bed.

“Have you found out who he is?”

“No ID yet. The police are still working to find out who our John Doe is.” He places a hand on my shoulder. “But hey, he’s alive. He’s lucky, actually. I know they say he was out of his mind but he must still have had some sense since he walked in here. Either that or just plain luck. If he were anywhere else, he’d be dead by now.”

I know, though, that it’s neither. Whoever that man is, he was sent here to find Nia.

And kill her.

“What are your findings on the poison?” I ask Dr. Shore.

“Well, toxicology reports have yet to come back but I do think it is jellyfish poison, as weird as it is. I don’t think we’ve ever had any jellyfish stings at this time of year. Furthermore, we’ve never had any case this severe, which leads me to think this may be a different species, altogether.”

“You think this new species wandered to our waters?”

“Maybe.” Dr. Shore shrugs. “You know how global warming has screwed up our oceans. Anyway, I’ll let you know the results when I get them.”

“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

I watch him walk away then walk off in the opposite direction, my hands tucked in the pockets of my blazer as I bury my mind in my thoughts.

What the hell just happened? Why is that man looking for Nia? And why was his body pumped with unusual jellyfish toxins? Yes, he could have been just another swimmer who got bitten, made his way here and spouted nonsense things in delirium but something tells me that’s not the case.

Something tells me there’s something more sinister at work here and as much as I hate it, something otherworldly.

I can sense magic within her.

Eustus’ words come back to haunt me, raising the most important question of all.

What is Nia?

I thought it was fine for me not to know. I didn’t really care. But if she’s in danger, then I have to find out.

Just then, I hear Nia’s voice again, this time from the phone of a young woman passing me by.

“Excuse me,” I call her attention.

She stops, turning to me with a confused look.

“Can I see that video?” I ask her.

She nods, lending me her phone.

I watch the video of Nia singing on some stage, feeling my heart stopping just by looking at it.

“It’s viral, you know,” the owner of the phone informs me. “In the past hour, I’ve had like a dozen friends share this video.”

I look at her. “Really?”

She nods. “Yeah. It’s on YouTube.”

I return her phone. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

I take my own phone out of my pocket, checking the video-sharing site. I don’t even have to search for Nia’s video. It’s right there, along with related videos. Many of them are about people reacting to Nia’s voice, saying she’s the next singing sensation, but there is one video posted by the local TV station, something about a woman found dead in the mall parking lot just less than an hour ago. It’s horrible, I know, but what catches my attention are the purplish marks on her legs.

Jellyfish stings.

It can’t be a coincidence.

I grab the arm of a passing nurse. “If anyone looks for me, tell them I’ve gone home early. It’s an emergency.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

--

“What were you thinking letting her sing in front of the whole mall?” I ask Catherine in frustration as soon as I get back to my apartment, finding her sitting on the couch. “Now, everyone is looking for her.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Catherine puts her hands on her hips. “What? Were you keeping her for yourself? Is that why you decided to adopt her, huh?”

I sigh. “Catherine…”

“Hey, don’t blame me.” Catherine holds up a finger. “How was I supposed to know that Nia could sing like an angel? Or that she could make people bawl over with her songs? Or that she could give them heart attacks…”

“Did someone have a heart attack?”

“No. But I still gave that old woman a prescription and told her to go home and rest. My point is you didn’t tell me Nia wasn’t supposed to sing.”

“The two of you were just supposed to have fun together. I don’t understand how she ended up on stage.”

“Well, sometimes women like to do that. Sometimes, we just feel like singing and if nobody tells us we shouldn’t, then we just go ahead and do it.”

I place a hand on my forehead.

“Hey.” Catherine touches my arm. “It freaked me out, too, okay? Now, tell me, what’s going on.”

I drop my arm to my side. “What’s going on is that people are looking for her and they’re not all good people.”

“Of course not. Some of them are going to want to exploit her and what not but that’s not my question.” She takes a step forward, forcing me to look into her eyes. “My question is: What’s up with Nia? What are you not telling me about her?”