Untamed

seat over here," he said.
    "I'd rather stand," I said. Then I tried to give him an apologetic smile. "I'm too nervous to sit."
    His smile was more successful, and I was glad to see such kindness in his face. "Very well. Your grandmother has been in a serious accident. She sustained head injuries, and her right arm is broken in three places. The seat belt bruised her chest, and the airbags deploying burned her face, but both saved her life."
    "Is she going to be okay?" I was finding it hard to speak above a whisper.
    "Her chances are good, but we'll know more after the next twenty-four hours," Dr. Ruffing said.
    "Is she awake?"
    "No. I've induced a coma so that—"
    "A coma!" I felt myself sway. I was suddenly flushed and hot, and there were bright little specks around the edges of my vision. Then Darius's hand was under my elbow, and he was guiding me to a seat.
    "Just breathe slowly. Concentrate on catching your breath." Dr. Ruffing was crouched in front of me, and he had my wrist between his large fingers, taking my pulse.
    "Sorry, sorry. I'm okay," I said, wiping the sweat that was beading my forehead. "It's just that a coma sounds so terrible."
    "It's actually not so bad. I've induced the coma to give her brain a chance to heal itself," Dr. Ruffing said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to control the swelling that way."
    "And if you can't control the swelling?"
    He patted my knee before he stood up. "Let's just take this one step at a time—one problem at a time."
    "Can I see her?"
    "Yes, but she needs to be kept quiet." He started leading me toward the patients' rooms.
    "Can Aphrodite come with me?"
    "Just one at a time right now," he said.
    "It's okay," Aphrodite said. "We'll be right here waiting for you. Remember—don't be scared. No matter what, she's still your grandma."
    I nodded, biting the side of my cheek so that I didn't cry.
    I followed Dr. Ruffing to a glass room not far away from the nurses' station. We paused outside the door. The doctor looked down at me. "She's going to be hooked up to a lot of machines and tubes. They look worse than they are."
    "Is she breathing on her own?"
    "Yes, and her heartbeat is good and steady. Are you ready?"
    I nodded, and he opened the door for me. As I entered the room, I heard the distinctly frightening sound of bird wings.
    "Did you hear that?" I whispered to the doctor.
    "Hear what?"
    I looked into his completely guileless eyes and knew beyond any doubt that he had not heard the sound of the Raven Mockers' wings.
    "Nothing, I'm sorry."
    He touched my shoulder. "It's a lot to take in, but your grandmother is healthy and strong. She has an excellent chance."
    I walked slowly over to the side of her bed. Grandma looked so small and frail that I couldn't keep the tears from slipping from my eyes and washing down my cheeks. Her face was terribly bruised and burned. Her lip was torn, and she had stitches in it and in another place on her chin. Most of her head was covered by bandages. Her right arm was completely swathed in a thick cast that had weird metal screw things sticking out of it.
    "Do you have any questions I can answer?" Dr. Ruffing asked softly.
    "Yes," I said without hesitating and without taking my eyes from Grandma's face. "My grandma is a Cherokee, and I know she'd feel better if I called in a Medicine Man." I did pull my gaze from Grandma's broken face to look up at the doctor then. "I don't mean to be disrespectful to you, and it's not for the medicine part. It's for the spiritual part."
    "Well, I suppose you could, but not until later, when she's out of intensive care."
    I had to stifle the urge to scream at him, It's while she's in intensive care that she needs the Medicine Man!
    Dr. Ruffing was continuing to speak quietly, but he sounded very sincere. "You have to understand that this is a Catholic hospital, and we really only allow those—"
    "Catholic?" I interrupted, feeling a flood of relief. "So you'd allow a nun to sit with Grandma."
    "Well, yes, of course. Nuns and priests often visit our patients."
    I smiled. "Excellent. I know the perfect nun."
    "Good, well, are there any other questions I can answer for you?"
    "Yeah, could you point me to a phone book?"

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

    I don't know how many hours passed. I'd sent Darius and Aphrodite back to school—under protest—but Aphrodite knew I needed her to be sure everything was okay there, so I didn't have to worry about it while I was here, worrying about Grandma, and reminding her of that