Chapter 046
CADE
"She's still alive," Jace said in a hushed whisper, even though we were standing outside Hannah's room. Not that she would have heard him anyway, even if we had been next to her and shouting at the top of our voices. She was still dead to the world. "I don't even know how that's possible at this point... She's fighting hard to stay alive."
Yes, she was. But at this point, the question was, how long could she keep holding on? The image of her was burned into my eyes, into my brain.
In my mind's eye, I could see her lying on the bed, pale and still. The only colour on her was of the network of veins, like branches of a tree, which stood out in stark relief on her pale, almost translucent skin, the veins which carried the substance that was poisoning her blood and killing her slowly but steadily.
Every second she lay on the bed, I felt like she was slowly slipping away.
"Maybe since she's held on for this long, she can..."
Jace didn't finish the sentence, but I knew the lines he was thinking along.
I couldn't allow him to hold on to false hopes because, as bad as this situation was, hoping for the impossible would only make it worse, much worse.
I shook my head slowly, sadly. "I really want her to open her eyes. I really do, but then... we also have to face reality. It's Wolfsbane, Jace. That's what is in her. That means it's impossible for her to heal. The doctor would have figured out a way to heal her if there was.”
Jace sucked in an audible breath, but I could tell from the look on his face that he knew I was right. Hannah was hanging onto life by a thin thread that would snap at any moment. Maybe now. Maybe tomorrow. But soon.
"I wish there were something, anything we could do," my brother said.
"Yeah. Me too. When Chase returns from helping Hannah's mum move into our pack, we'll talk more about Hannah's condition."
"Okay. I think-" Jace stopped to look over my shoulder. I turned to see the doctor, who had been examining Hannah, come out of her room. "Well? How is she doing?"
"Is there any improvement at all?" I asked, feeling my heart pounding louder. Despite the odds, I wanted to hear some good news. Anything at all to show that Hannah would still wake up to us.
In spite of myself, my spirit begged for hope.
In reply, the doctor heaved a deep sigh. On his face was an expression of such confusion that it had Jace and I leaning forward. Had Hannah gotten worse? I felt a painful pang at the thought.
"What's wrong?" Jace asked sharply. “Tell us what’s happening to her.”
"I wouldn't say... wrong exactly. I would use the word 'odd' instead. Or strange. I have never seen anything like it."
I groaned in exasperation. Why on earth was he speaking in riddles?
"Anything like what?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair. "What do you mean? You're getting us all confused."
"Yeah. Spit it out already."
"It's Hannah," he said. "I can't believe how hard her body is fighting the poison. It's been three days, and she's still alive. Not only that. Her pulse is strong. It's as normal as that of you and me, who are perfectly healthy. It's almost like she's in a deep sleep, and there's nothing really the matter with her apart from the fact that she just won't wake up."
"How is that even possible?" I asked. "Or..." I frowned as another idea hit me. "Could it be that we were wrong in the first place? Maybe she took another kind of poison, not wolfsbane."
"That must be it!" Jace said, hope dawning in his voice. "That's why she's still alive. We were too quick to conclude it was wolfsbane."
The doctor shook his head decisively. "It's Wolfsbane. I'll be the first to admit that I'm confused about a lot of things as regards Hannah's case, but I'm a hundred per cent sure that she was poisoned with wolfsbane. The symptoms she showed at first are consistent with wolfsbane poisoning. And then there was the discolouration of her fingernails. Remember that?" How could I forget? Hannah's nails were greyish black and looked like they would fall off if the slightest pressure were applied to them. "That alone is conclusive proof." He paused to give us a sidelong glance. "But there is something else, something that I can't make sense of no matter how hard I try."
"What is it?" Jace asked.
The physician hesitated. "I think it's better if I showed you rather than tell you. Please come with me."
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