Iron Crowned Page 0,29

hand came away red with blood. "We have to find her. Does she have a basement?"

"No." Jenna followed me inside and then halted. "Oh my God ... your back ..."

"It's nothing. I'll deal with it later."

"At least - " She reached toward a spot between my upper arm and shoulder blade, wincing as she did. I yelped in pain and watched as she pulled away a huge piece of jagged glass. "That's bleeding ... really bad ..."

"I'm in better shape than Regan," I said brusquely, trying to ignore both pain and the sight of my blood all over the shard she'd taken. "No basement. Closets? Attic?"

"Both."

We checked the closets with no luck, and Jenna stuck her head in the attic's tiny space. Still nothing.

"Shit," I said. I shouldn't have let the fetch go without getting Regan's location. What if Regan wasn't nearby? What if the fetch had broken habit and hidden her victim far from home?

Jenna looked as defeated as I felt, then her head shot up. "The shed. There's a shed out back."

We were out the back door in a flash, jerking open the door to a little garden shed that was mercifully unlocked. There, curled up on the ground in a fetal position, was Regan. Jenna let out a strangled cry, and we both dropped to the ground. Jenna propped Regan up while I gently shook her.

"Regan, Regan. Wake up. Please wake up."

For a few moments, I feared the worst. Then, Regan's eyes fluttered open, her expression frightened and confused. Her breathing came in short rasps, and she futilely tried to sit up on her own. Her failure didn't surprise me. When a fetch took over someone's life, it put its double into a sort of magic coma. It required no ropes or gags, simply leaving behind a silent and immobile victim. Regan's ability to wake up verified that the fetch was gone, but the woman had spent days without food, water, or using her muscles.

"She's dehydrated," I said. Studying Regan's state, I knew this was beyond a few glasses of water. "Let's get her to the hospital."

Jenna drove, with Regan laid out carefully across the backseat. She said little, only making the occasional moan. Meanwhile, in the passenger seat, I attempted to clean myself off with baby wipes and to pull glass bits out of my back. The blood on my face was cleaned off when we reached the ER, as was most from my body, but I didn't want to answer questions about what had happened to me. I borrowed Jenna's jean jacket, figuring the few scratches on my face weren't enough to attract attention.

We told the staff that Regan had been depressed and starving herself. We went on about how we hadn't seen her for days and had only just found her tonight. Since there was no ostensible bruising or signs of binding, they took us at our word and hurried to hook her up to fluids. We'd also probably landed her in therapy, but that was of little concern now.

I waited with Jenna just outside Regan's room as a nurse finished attaching the appropriate tubes and a doctor performed further examination. When they were done, they told us we could go in and that Regan would recover once her body had sustenance again. I had no intention of going with Jenna. Now that Regan was safe, my plan was to get a taxi back to my car and go home to clean up before an Otherworldly jump. Lara could bill these women later.

"Wait," said Jenna, as the doctor and nurse were about to leave. "My friend's hurt. She broke a window to get in Regan's house and got cut."

I shook my head. "No, really, I'm fine - "

I shut my mouth when I followed everyone's gaze. Even I could see that the left sleeve of the jacket was soaked with blood. There was little argument to make after that. Jenna stayed with Regan, and I was ushered off to a cubicle in the ER. The nurse shut the curtain, and I took off my shirt. The doctor's eyebrows rose.

"You broke a window? With what, your entire body?" He called for another nurse, who began assisting the other with glass removal and sanitizing.

"I threw a rock," I said. "It didn't make a very big hole, but I didn't have time to make it bigger. I just had to get to Regan."

"Noble," said the doctor, whose attention was on the larger shoulder gash. "If stupid."

Someone with