Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series (14 page)

TWENTY-SEVEN

That place was dark and frightening, just as Carolyn had described, but the sound of Hunter’s voice calling my name pulled me out of there. 

‘Don’t give in,’ he said.

I started trembling as I realized that I was not within my body.  I stood there, watching Hunter asking over and over that I don’t give in… that I open my eyes.  My first thought was that I was dead.  That was when I realized that I was still breathing, which was good, other than me having no clue what was going on.

‘Hunter – Hunter, can you hear me?  Please tell me you can…. I haven’t given up.  I’m fine.’  Well, I wasn’t technically fine….

I approached him and realized that he didn’t seem weak like he was before; in fact, he didn’t seem weak at all.  I remembered what had happened and frantically looked around, but Benjamin was just gone!

“Please, Kayla,” he whispered.  I was surprised to hear the desperation in his voice.  I wondered why he had yet to get a doctor.  That was what I needed, a doctor just had to find a way to get me back.  Whatever Benjamin was up to now, couldn’t be good.  I had to stop him.

“Hey,” said the voice behind me.  Startled, I looked around, and assumed that he was looking at Hunter, but he was staring right at me.

“You can see me?”  I asked.

“Of course.”

“What is happening to me?”  I asked.

He shrugged.  “It is complicated… I’m Chase by the way.”

“Okay, well… great.  So, Chase, how complicated exactly?  Am I dead?”

He smiled.  Glancing at where Hunter was.  “Looks to me like you are breathing, so that would be a ‘no’.”

Before I could say anything, he asked me if I needed to talk to Hunter.  “With that, I can help you,” he said.

“So, are you a ghost?” 

He nodded. 

“And I’m not dead?” I asked.

“That would be right.  Look, I know he can see and hear me if I want to contact him, so do you need help or not?”

“Why are you so willing to help?”  I asked.

“Jeez girl, you sure ask a lot of questions!  Let’s just say that Hunter helped me through some things.  I just wanted to do something for him… and it kinda looks like he is very concerned.”

I nodded.

“Hunter… Hunter!” he finally yelled.

Hunter looked up at him.  “Chase!”  He said surprised.  “I – I don’t know what to do.  I was going to call the doctors, but something just feels off.”

“You are right, you can’t do that, dude.”

“I just don’t know what to do!”  Hunter said, frantically.

Chase looked at me and than back at Hunter.  “She is here, if you need me to help you talk to her.”

Hunter looked shocked.  “…but she is not dead!”

“You are right,” Chase said. 

“Tell him that he needs to call a damn doctor!”  I said.  “Or call my mom or dad.”

Chase smiled.

“What?  Tell me what she is saying… Is she okay?”  Hunter asked.

“She says you need to call a doctor, or her mom, or her dad… She is right about that last part.”

“But—“
Hunter was interrupted.

“No, dude.  Not that dad… you need to call her real one.”

I froze in place.

“She would hate me for that,” said Hunter.  “HE would hate me for that.”

Chase faced him.  “Dude, I’m pretty sure you would prefer to have them both mad at you for that, then for her being trapped where she is about to go very soon if you don’t.”

“He sent her to the Otherworld…”  Hunter said as if he had just realized it.

“Yes, but somehow you are pulling her back here and there is no way to tell for how long that will last.  You need to get out of here and take her with you. I mean… you know… her body.  However you are keeping her here, it may be broken if you get separated and you know just how difficult it will be to get her back if she is gone.”

Hunter sighed.

“So, I’m in a coma… how exactly can my biological father help?”

Chase faced Hunter.  “She wants to know how her father can help… should I tell her?”

Hunter avoided his gaze and glanced at me… the ‘me’ that he was holding.    

“Is that the only way?”  Hunter asked Chase.

Chase faced him.  “Yes, that is the only way to bring her back.  You will need their help.  That is where she needs to be anyway.  As much as I hate that place, that is where YOU need to be, Hunter.”

Hunter looked down… looking lost.  “Tell her what she needs to know… ONLY what she needs to know.”

“I guess that is up for interpretation, so just tell her yourself… she can hear you just fine.”

“Where exactly is she?” asked Hunter.

“Right next to me.”  Chase said, looking to his right.

Hunter hesitated.  “Kayla, your dad, he can help me get you in the place where you can be healed.”

“What place would that be?”  I asked, followed by Chase repeating my question.

“The Academy,” he said.

“Okaaay,” I said confused.  “The Academy you told me about?  How is my—how is he of any help?”

Hunter froze.

“Dude, just tell her,” said Chase.

Hunter shook his head.  Looked at Chase.  “You know, the condition for me leaving me Academy…  he asked me to keep an eye on her.  He saved me and I failed him.”

I was completely lost.

Hunter looked from Chase to where I stood, almost as if he knew exactly where I was.  “Just answer her question,” he told Chase.

Chase met my gaze.  “They refer to it as Academy of the Fallen, and you dad, well… he runs the place.”

“Huh?”

My phone rang, scaring us all, Chase included.  Something like that, scaring a ghost, would have been amusing if we weren’t in this situation. 

The phone had fallen from my pocket and it was lying on the floor.  “It is her dad, Hunter said.  Feeling the need to clarify, he continued,  “Mr. Gallagher.”

Chase shook his head.  “Look, we have to get moving.  We need to get her body out of here, find a car, and get to the Academy… I’m thinking right now the biggest problem is going to be getting her out of here without anyone seeing her.”

Hunter sighed.  “This is not going to go well at all!”

I honestly didn’t think it cou
ld get any worse.  I was scared and confused.
I had a million questions and I just wanted my mom and dad… Kelly and Andrew that is…

Hunter stood up, cradling me in his arms.

He looked at Chase.  “There is just no way to get her there without anyone seeing me carrying her.”

“Well, sounds like you have two options.  You can call one of ‘
them’
to help her or you can use the abilities you have and project that to her.  I know you have done it before.  You can do it again.”

That was when we heard the footsteps, but it was too late. 

A doctor and a nurse showed up and immediately rushed to where Hunter was… still holding my motionless body.

“What happened?!”  The nurse asked Hunter.  The doctor had already taken me from his arms and was walking down the stairs with us following him.  None of us was sure what to do.

“She just … fell down the stairs.  When I got to her, she was unconscious,” Hunter said, his voice trembling.

“How long has she been like this?” asked the nurse.

“I—I’m not sure,” said Hunter.

“What is her name?  Were you visiting someone in the hospital?  The both of you shouldn’t even be up here.”

Hunter avoided her gaze.  “I’--I’m sorry.  Her name is Kayla Gallagher… her mom is here, she just had a baby.”

The doctor rushed me to the first available examining room, requesting the nurse to find Andrew, and ordering her to take Hunter out of the room and to make sure he did not go anywhere until they had some questions answered.

The only problem was… as soon as Hunter was sent away; I started to be pulled back into the
Otherworld
.

HUNTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

“She is gone, dude,” those were Chase’s words as soon as they were kicked out of that room.

Hunter tried to go back.  He wanted to see if they could get Kayla back and somehow keep her there, but the nurse kept pushing him out.  So it turned out, security was already on their way, along with Andrew.

Andrew looked as frantic as Hunter was, yet, he wasn’t mad.  He told the security to back off and as calm as he could possibly be in a situation like that, he asked Hunter what had happened.

Hunter told him exactly what he had told the nurse and doctor, that Kayla fell and was unconscious when he got to her.

“Mr. Gallagher, please let me go in and see her.  Just for a minute.”

Andrew looked as if he was considering it, but the Doctor came out at that moment, ordering MRI’s and a bunch of other tests, and requested to talk to Mr. Gallagher in private.

While the doctor took Andrew to his office, the nurse went to get things ready for the tests, getting another nurse to move Kayla to the
test
area.  The nurse, who looked as if she had just graduated, walked by Hunter and whispered, “Come on.  I don’t think I will last here another day anyway.  You can see her, but just for a second.”

Hunter looked at her, puzzled, but only for a split second before he was already in Kayla’s room, right by her side.

The nurse was in the room too, so he lowered himself by Kayla’s bedside, putting his hand over hers and whispered, “Kayla, please come back.  You have to fight it.”

Hunter looked up at Chase who was also in the room, but he just shook his head.

The nurse walked near the bed.  “Sorry kid, I really do have to take her now and you need to go before I get into even more trouble than I’m already in.”

Hunter nodded.  “Thanks for doing this,” he told the nurse.

“No problem.”  The nurse paused.  “You know, it must be nice to have found someone you love.”

“I don’t -- She is just a friend.”

“Oh,” the nurse said, looking embarrassed for saying it, but mostly like she didn’t believe what Hunter was saying.  “Okay.  Like I said, you are welcome, but you really need to go.”

Chase followed Hunter into the waiting area, but said nothing.  He just looked as if he was deep in thought.   Hunter sat down, and just wondered how in the world he was going to manage to take Kayla out of there and get her to the academy.

Chase looked at Hunter.  “Sorry dude, I don’t think you will be able to get her out of here without help.  Just go to the Academy and get help.”

Hunter just stared at him.  He couldn’t exactly respond to Chase, not where there were people watching him.  He just shook his head, then got up and walked into the bathroom
, giving Chase a look that indicated he should follow
.

As soon as the door was locked, Hunter turned to Chase and in a low and determined voice he said he would not leave Kayla alone at the hospital.

“So, you do love her?”  Chase said.

Hunter glared at him.  “We don’t have time for nonsense.  I was supposed to be watching her, keeping ‘them’ away from her.  That was the only thing her dad asked me to do after he basically saved me, after teaching me everything I needed to know… one little thing and I was not able to do it.  I wasn’t even sure what Benjamin was at first…what kind of
demon
he was…  I suspected, but I wasn’t sure.  I should have known.”

“It is not exactly your fault.  You may know a lot, but you are not exactly an expert on those things.  Besides, how could you have known their little family secrets?”

“What do you mean?” asked Hunter.

Chase sighed.  “Benjamin is Kayla’s half brother.  Before Mr. Daniels and her mother met, her mother
was pregnant with the son of a d
emon.”

Hunter was speechless at first.

“I can’t leave her, Chase.  What if they move her somewhere else?  We don’t even know what the doctor will say, what if Benjamin wasn’t the cause--?”

“We both know he was the cause.  Look, I can’t exactly go back to the Academy, we both know that.  You go and if they move her, I will follow.  I will find a way to contact you if anything changes.”

Hunter punched the mirror out of frustration.  “The Academy is the last place I want to be… that is the last place where she should be.”

“Well, you can always send a message to the Academy...”

Hunter shook his head.  “No, it has to me, she is my responsibility.  Besides, if she goes, I go.”

“Well, then, I guess you better hurry up before they hold you up for more questions.”

Hunter hesitated.

“I will watch out for her, you know I will.”

Hunter gave Chase a nod, and then vanished.