Chapter thirteen

                                    

                                          
"Evie?! Wake up," Ives turned from Evie's unconscious body and barked orders at Chalmers. "Get cold water." He turned back to Evie as she started to wake and return to the real world. "Evie, shh, it's alright. Your alright. Just hang in there...stay with me...you've been hurt." Ives voice broke off as he began to cry.
                          
It had been the first time Evie had seen Ives cry before, from this- she automatically knew her position wasn't a good one. She took deep breaths, but they all came out shallow and shaky. Slowly, she began to lift her head to look down at her body- wanting to see exactly how bad her condition was. As she lifted her head from Ives' lap, to her, it suddenly weighed three times the usual and because of this; she could just barely raise her head high enough.
                          
     Though her entire body was numb with shock, her leg was broken in two different places. She also suffered a broken rib, a concussion, and a shattered clavicle bone. 
                          
"No Evie, you need to stay still...just don't move." Ives wept. 
                          
Evie laid her head back down on Ives' lap, placing the weight onto his thighs. She relaxed, took another deep breath, and closed her eyes. 
                          
"Chalmers!" Ives returned his eyes to Evie's face, takin in her closed eyes, his voice suddenly became hoarse and quiet. "Evie? Oh god...Evie?"
                          
Chalmers skidded into the kitchen with a cold washcloth in his right hand, but once he noticed Evie's chest refused to move, he froze, dropped the washcloth and fell to his knees beside Evie. 
                          
**********
                          
(Unknown)
                          
Evie woke in a queen sized bed. The sheets and blankets surrounding her made of the whitest material she had ever seen, so white, in fact, it hurt her eyes to look at them for too long. She sat up from her lying form, expecting to feel pain but none came. Confusion hit her, she remembered being in pain earlier. She ripped the blankets off of her body and examined herself- expecting to see her previous wounds, but to her surprise,found none.
                          
"E..vie." 
                          
Evie's head snapped up, her eyes meeting a man she had never met before. An older man, with graying greasy hair that fell down to his scrawny shoulders and covered half of his tan face. The man was hunched over and was breathing heavily. The ragged and torn clothes added to the whole hobo look. 
                          
But even though the man's appearance was unfamiliar, she knew his voice. It sent chills down her spine and stopped her heart. She scrambled backwards on the bed. "Get away from me."
                          
"P-plea...se...i am...to...apolo gize." He stepped towards her, limping in the process. 
                          
"For almost killing me? Or for kidnapping Ryker, Allard, and Channing?" She asked angrily.
                          
He shook his head. "No, not for...Ryker...or the...othe..rs. For...har..ming...you. It..was not...meant."
                          
"What do you mean harming me wasn't meant? It seemed intentional to me."
                          
"No." He said quickly while frowning. "Never." His words were clear unlike his usual broken english. "Never...my..inten...tion."
                          
"Then whose intention was it?"
                          
"You...are too...prec..ious..to ou..r...world, our...soc...iety. Could...not...re..pla..ce..you. "
                          
"What are you talking about? Your not making any sense!" 
                          
"You...ryker...abili..ties...ar..e...dange...rous."
                          
The man started to disappear, began to fade into the room like a ghost.
                          
Evie called out to him. "I don't understand! Tell me your name! Whats your name?!"
                          
"Ar..go.."
                          
**********
                          
"Evie! Chalmers, more!" Ives shouted from the top of his lungs in frustration as he pumped Evie's chest with the palm of his hands.
                          
"If I give her any more, she could go into failure and we could lose her in mesme tokë forever." Chalmers pulled his hands away from Evie's temples, pulling back and leaving her memories with her. He sat back breathlessly. "There...that should do it."
                          
Evie's eyelids fluttered open and she stared sleepily back up at Ives- who began to move stray hairs away from her face. "Ives? Is Ryker in trouble?" 
                          
Ives eyes darted to Chalmers before returning back to Evie. "Who told you that Evie?"
                          
"I met Argo, the CuCuy that attacked me. Except he wasn't a CuCuy, he was a normal human. He apologized for hurting me and that hurting me was never his intention. But he said something about-" Evie began to explain.
                          
Ives sighed, closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again. "You don't know what your saying, Evie. You were unconscious..."
                          
She yelled fuming."I know what i heard!"
                          
"Evie, need to rest.You've just been through a traumatic-" Chalmers began to object her fast paced movements.
                          
"Chalmers!" She pointed a finger at him. "You wouldn't lie to me, is Ryker is trouble?"
                          
Chalmers sighed, stood, and looked away from Ives and Evie. "Look, Evie, we do not know where Ryker is. We do not know what state he is in. But we have been contacted by the CuCuy....and all we know is that Ryker is alive, taken for hostage. As for Allard and Channing, no one knows where they went. We've been searching but..." His voice dropped and Evie automatically knew what that meant.
                          
"You can't find them." 
                          
Chalmers nodded. "Allard and Channing are the only other people that were with Ryker when he disappeared. But if someone has taken Ryker hostage, then they want something in return, right?" He seemed to be convincing himself more than Evie. "Then all we have to do is wait."