Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,127

he go.

“I promise not to do anything exciting or dangerous while you’re gone,” I teased. “I’ll just sleep and recover.”

He finally left, with the promise to return first thing in the morning. My parents sat next to my bed until sleep claimed me once again.

I was released from the hospital late the next afternoon. My head seemed to be recovering; the dizziness had subsided, and the headaches were duller. The cuts on my neck were healing, too. The worst physical issue was the residual soreness from the ropes and a few bruises from Nell’s less-than-tender handling of me.

Before I was discharged, the doctor reviewed my litany of injuries and treatment. He pointed out that the backs of my legs were pretty scraped up; they assumed that Nell had dragged me across the gravel parking lot and forest floor.

In the twenty-four plus hours since I had awakened, we had ignored the circumstances that landed me in the hospital. My parents diplomatically avoided bringing it up, and I wasn’t in any rush to talk about it with them. But the doctor’s words seemed to end that moratorium. My mother shuddered slightly, and I felt leftover fear and wild worry coming from both of my parents.

The ride home was quiet. I concentrated mainly on keeping up the mental block; I wasn’t ready to hear my parents’ thoughts yet.

My mom insisted on a nap once we arrived home. I knew that Michael had returned to school that day; he didn’t want to miss any more mid-term exams than he already had. I figured a nap was the safest way to wait until he was free to come and visit me.

But the house was silent when I opened my eyes. I could tell that it was late afternoon by the angle of the sun through my window. I lay still for a moment, listening. I could hear vague thoughts from my parents; it sounded as though my mother was sketching in her office, and my dad was reading reports from work.

My stomach growled, and I decided to seek some sustenance. The food at the hospital had been less than extraordinary, and I hadn’t really been hungry there anyway. I poked around in the refrigerator and came up with a bagel that looked mildly appetizing.

I had it toasted and was just sitting down with my plate when I heard both parents approaching. I could tell that they had decided I was sufficiently healed to offer some explanations. I bit into the bagel to buy myself some time.

“How was your nap?” My mother needed to be sure I was feeling well enough before she attacked—psychologically speaking, of course.

I swallowed before answering. “Good.” I was cautious.

My father took the seat across the table from me. “Tasmyn, the detective investigating this mess with Nell Massler called while you were asleep. I guess he’d gone by the hospital hoping to see you and learned you’d been released. He wants to come by and ask you some questions.”

My heart was racing. “The police? What does he want to know? Why does he need to talk to me?”

“Obviously because you are a witness—really, their best witness. He’s already spoken with Michael, Amber and Cara… oh, and of course, Reverend Pryce. But he needs to get the details of how Nell—well, how you came to be in the clearing.”

Distress must have been evident on my face, because my mom reached out to cover my hand with hers.

“Don’t worry, honey. They just need to get the facts straight. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the victim here.”

“But how am I going to explain everything to them? You know, about how I knew what Nell was planning.”

Both of my parents’ faces were grave. It was my father who answered me. “That is going to present a problem, Tasmyn. If you tell this detective that you overheard Nell sharing her plans with someone, he’s going to want to know who that was. And you can’t give just any name; that person would then be implicated in Nell’s crimes.”

My anxiety was rising. “So what do I do?”

My dad hunched over the table. “You’re going to have to tread carefully. It’s possible that you can use your gift to know what he’s going to ask before he does and be ready for it.” He sighed, heavily. “And of course, if it comes down to it, you’re going to have to tell the truth, and hope for the best.”

My head was beginning to pound again. “When’s he coming?” I