Chapter 40
COLD
Early Morning Day 24
The cold was endless and my body shook uncontrollably.
"I've taken over your body's systems. You're hypothermic." Keiran's familiar voice calmed me. "I thought I lost you."
"What happened? Where am I?" I asked in my head.
"I saw you go into the water and our connection stopped. I got it back as you landed on the dock."
What. The. Fuck. I closed my eyes and tried not to panic. My body was numb as I lay on the cold, wet, hardwood. The vivid green of Nen's hair glowed behind my closed eyelids, the sparkly green scales of his mermaid tail burned in my memory. His beautiful visage was interrupted by the nash of sharp, shiny, teeth.
Keiran saw it too. "I told you not to go in there." He looked at the scar on his hand. A flash of his memory as a child, searching for the biggest fish and finding a Nixie instead.
"Cherry's down there." I relayed the gruesome image of her swollen eyeless face to Keiran.
"Damn." He winced.
The mental meld between us was wide-open and I could tell he had nothing to do with Cherry's death. I saw him breaking up with her. In a surprisingly gentle way. Not like he did with me in high school.
"We can discuss that another time. For now, I'm going to draw some of the coldness into my body."
Unsure how he was going to do that, I shivered on the dock. My heart beat a sluggish and faint flutter in my chest. The space between each gentle thud grew more and more with each passing second.
"She's here," someone shouted, rushing to my side. They checked my pulse. "She's too cold. I can't get a pulse."
A woman shouted over me, "Get the Sheriff back here!"
A car horn honked repeatedly from the direction of the parking lot.
The man leaned over my mouth to check if I was still breathing.
I couldn't feel my body so I was unsure myself.
"Her breathing is too shallow. Someone needs to do CPR." The old man stood.
"You're too cold, your temp is still dropping. Where the fuck is my Uncle? You should have told Jonny to let me out of this fucking closet." Keiran shook violently, unsuccessfully trying to loosen the straps pining him to the gurney. "Who's around you now?"
"It's just some neighbors, I think." The couple working on my body were much older, maybe retirement age. They were dressed in bathrobes and I could sense their nervous energy.
My body paused from the violent shaking and the man felt for a pulse again.
The honking stopped and a small boat engine turned off as it pulled up to the dock.
Bishop's voice, "Pulse?"
The man shook his head. "Too slow."
"Fuck." Bishop felt for my pulse. "I feel it, barely." He checked to see if I was breathing, leaning over me.
I shivered again, my body convulsing against my control.
"Who's called the ambulance?" he asked.
"Our daughter," the man answered.
"Blankets," Bishop ordered.
The woman rushed off.
Bishop leaned in, close to me.
The chattering of my teeth made it almost impossible to speak but I managed to squeak out one word, "Keiran."
"Give me your phone," he ordered the old man.
He handed it over to Bishop with shaky hands.
Bishop dialed a number and held it to his ear. "Jonny, goddammit answer your fucking phone for once."
A beep signaling the start of a voicemail played.
"Let Keiran out you fucking asshole. Jane needs him." He hung up and handed the phone back to the old man. He checked my pulse again. "Fuck this. We can't wait." He picked me up and carried me to his boat.
It was difficult getting through the narrow passageway but Bishop practically jumped down the steps with me in his arms. He rushed me to his bedroom and placed me on his bed, he removed the wet shirt completely and covered me with blankets. He moved a space heater closer to me and dug around in his closet for more blankets.
I stopped shivering and watched through Keiran's eyes as Jonny released him from the straps and muzzle. "What's wrong with her?" he demanded Keiran tell him. His face was black and blue with swollen bruises.
