lump in my throat made it hurt worse, and tears started.
The nurse shook her head. “See? I knew she shouldn’t have bothered you so soon after everything. Why don’t you try to rest?” She glanced at Teag as if to shoo him out, but I managed a whimper and a small headshake, and she relented.
“All right, if she says so,” the nurse said to Teag. “But let her get some rest before we sign her out.” They had promised me I could leave around seven, and I was going to hold them to it.
When she left, Teag leaned forward and gave my hand a comforting squeeze. “We’re not going to leave you alone,” he promised. “I’m staying to take you home, even if they make me sit in the waiting room until then. Maggie’s at your house for a while – she absolutely insisted – and then Father Anne will be over to sit with you until midnight. Chuck said he’d stand guard overnight, unless Sorren wants to.”
He slipped my cell phone into my left hand. “Keep this where you can reach it.” Then he brought me Bo’s collar and my wooden spoon from the bag in my dresser, fastening the collar on my left wrist and giving me my athame in my right. “Better have these handy, too.” He managed a slight smile, but I knew he was worried about me.
I fell back asleep, and the next thing I knew, it was time to leave. I didn’t relax until we were in Teag’s car, pulling out of the parking lot without any Nephilim in sight. I sighed and leaned back in my seat.
“What’s the plan?”
“That depends on you,” Teag said, sliding his gaze my way for a moment. “How are you – really?”
“Exhausted, but otherwise not as bad as I expected,” I answered truthfully. My throat didn’t hurt quite so much now. “The cut on my arm was deep. They stitched me up, but I’d like to get Mrs. Teller or Sorren’s doctor to take a look at it, just in case there was any taint on that thing’s claws.” I’d rather not do battle with the forces of Hell for a couple of days, but I knew we might not have the luxury of choosing the time and place.
“I already thought about that,” Teag said. “And Mrs. Teller is expecting us. Plus I did some digging on the Darke Web, to see what I could find on Watchers and Judges,” Teag said. “Most of it we knew. But I found something interesting. Bringing a Watcher through seems to unbalance the supernatural status quo. Meaning that whenever a Watcher comes through, there’s usually also some kind of big supernatural brouhaha.”
My mind raced. “So –”
He nodded. “Yeah. I tracked the weird stuff and attacks against when the Watcher circles showed up. And I’d say the theory holds true.”
I groaned. “Great, but does it tell us how to predict another Watcher? Or what happens right before the shit hits the fan? Because if we’ve got to be busy fighting off Nephilim and giant leeches and crazy ghosts, it doesn’t leave much time to fend off Sariel and his Watchers.”
Teag grinned. “I’ve got a theory, but not a good way to test it. From everything I’ve pulled together, it looks like the stairway disappearances happened a day or two before the big supernatural disturbances. And the most violent disturbances happened near where the Watcher was being brought through.”
I thought about it for a moment. The Old Jail. The power plant. Tarleton House. Stairway disappearances happened before all of them, and they had all been places where we fought off monsters.
“But there are only three rings that we’ve found,” I protested, thinking aloud. “Sorren said there had to be five Watchers for Sariel to turn into the Judge from Hell.”
“About that,” Teag said, his voice tight. “Ryan called not long after you left the store. He and his team had gone out exploring again. They went out to that abandoned motor lodge – used to be the Debonair Motel back in the Sixties, and it’s been abandoned for decades.”
I knew the place. It was one of those one-story drive-up places where all the rooms opened toward the driveway, like something that belonged on Route 66. When the big highway opened, the Debonair Motel was a casualty. It closed a long time ago, but the building still stood, looking more decrepit every year.