Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

feeding clear fluids from two different bags into one vein and blood into the other. The oxygen mask had been exchanged for nasal prongs. Three wires led from electrodes on Bo’s chest to a heart monitor sitting on a shelf beside the bed. A fourth wire ran from the monitor to what looked like a bandage around the end of Bo’s finger. Sam stared, wondering if it was even possible to attach more equipment to one person.
One of the nurses clustered around Bo’s bed caught sight of Sam and Dean at the door and made her way over. “Is one of you Sam, by any chance?”
Sam gulped. “I am.”
“Good. He wants to talk to you before surgery.” She nodded toward Bo. “Go on, but be quick.”
Sam edged his way through the crowd to the side of the stretcher, dimly aware that Dean had stayed behind to talk to the nurse. He gently brushed a lock of wet hair from Bo’s face. “Bo? It’s Sam. I’m here.”
Bo’s eyes fluttered open. The panicked look in them sent a jolt of fear through Sam’s blood. “Sam,” Bo whispered, his voice rough and raspy. “I think I know. We have to stop it. Have to…to figure out how to stop it.” His hand clamped onto Sam’s wrist, fingers digging in with surprising strength. “It could happen anywhere, Sam. Anywhere with the right conditions. It’s in me, and we have to stop it.”
Sam wasn’t sure what exactly “it” was, but he’d already decided that whatever had caused the portal to form that night, it had something to do with Bo. Bo must’ve come to the same conclusion, then taken it a step further to theorize that whatever it was in him that had caused the gateway to open, it could happen anywhere with the correct conditions.
They didn’t have any clue how or why Bo had brought the portal into being. And if they didn’t know what it was, how could they possibly control it?
Dread flowed like ice water through Sam’s veins. He opened his psychic senses, and swiftly shut them down again under the barrage of living human energy. Overwhelming, but entirely normal.
“It won’t happen here,” Sam said, hoping he was right. “Just let them get your back fixed, and we’ll figure it out after you wake up, okay?”
Bo shook his head. Before he could say anything else, another nurse leaned over to pat his hand. “Let me have your arm, sweetie. I need to give you some medicine to make you sleepy for surgery, okay?”
A quick flash of irritation crossed Bo’s face, and Sam smiled. Bo despised being talked to like a child.
As the nurse slid a needle into one of the rubber ports in Bo’s IV tubing, Bo tugged Sam closer. Sam leaned down until his ear nearly touched Bo’s lips.
“All these electronics produce an electromagnetic field,” Bo murmured. “Probably all well-shielded, but still, it’s there. Don’t know if that’s all they need. Probably not. But what if it is?”
Sam’s heart stilled for a second. He knew that, of course, but had never really thought about how the electronic gadgets they all took for granted might interact with the interdimensional gateways. Could the EMF produced by the electric appliances all around them form the right conditions for a portal to open? The possibility was terrifying.
“If that were going to happen, it probably would’ve happened already,” Sam speculated, keeping his voice low so no one else would hear. “EMF can’t be the only factor needed for a portal, otherwise one would’ve opened at the house. Right?”
Bo smiled, clearly relieved. “You’re right.” He blinked, his gaze going unfocused. “Oh. Sleepy.”
His hand relaxed around Sam’s wrist, and his eyelids fell shut as the drugs hit him. Sam kissed Bo’s brow, then straightened up. Too late, he realized what that relatively innocent kiss might tell the people around them.
He glanced at the people gathered around Bo’s stretcher. No one seemed to have noticed, as they were all busy with equipment or paperwork. Sam backed away from the stretcher and reluctantly left the room.
Outside the little cubicle, Dean still stood talking to the nurse. She glanced at Sam. “All done?”
He nodded. “Yes. Do you need us to sign anything for him?”
“No. He woke up and was clearheaded enough to sign his own consents for surgery and blood transfusion, luckily. You couldn’t have signed for him anyway, you’re not next of kin.” She stepped aside, motioning Sam and Dean to come with her as three nurses wheeled the stretcher out into the hallway. “You two can