since the crash. I could hear sirens coming, and decided it was time to leave the area. My efforts to block the force against my eyes was proving feeble: the pressure in my head continued to build, my vision growing dimmer every second.
I felt the unmistakable warm trickle of blood run down from my nose to my upper lip. I tried to wipe it away and caught site of my hands, which were also covered in blood from the fall. I searched around in my purse for some tissues. Having none, I wiped the blood off my face with my fingers, and then cleaned my hands on my pant legs. I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive with my vision diminished; I was going to have to make it to the Chinatown gate and use the portal. It seemed risky to walk the three blocks covered in blood, but if I moved quickly, perhaps no one would mistake me for more than the usual disheveled homeless person wandering nearby.
I willed myself, despite the acute pain in my head, to start walking toward the gate. I felt a bit like Richard the III, limping up the street, hurling one side of my body as if it were a deadened limb. I could feel my heart beginning to speed up, my adrenaline finally kicking in. Whoever was in that bank did not want me to see them, and I was worried that if they had their way, I would never look upon anything again.
What a mad sight I must have been for the tourists as I approached the stone lions at the foot of the green tile gate on Grant Street. I managed to bump into a man, mumbling a hasty “sorry” as I approached the lion’s mouth. I knew I was making a bit of a scene with my appearance, and now I was going to disappear from plain sight, but I had little choice. I had to get away from the thieves.
I walked up to the statue and placed my fingers inside the beast’s open mouth. This was my maiden voyage using a portal. Elsa had practiced with me, but I had never traveled alone. I managed to remember the instructions, despite being rattled. I visualized the doorstep of my house and then uttered one word: Apěrio!
The moment the word left my mouth I was transported into darkness, then light. I felt a gentle pull as I dropped out of thin air onto my doorstep. I lay on the landing in a crumpled heap, disoriented and unable to see. I wanted to scream for help, but I was afraid to attract the attention of anyone on the street. I didn’t need the police coming to my doorstep. I would never be able to explain how I managed to leave the scene of a robbery, injured and blinded, without the aide of a taxi or a companion. Instead, I lay still, pushing my anxiety out to my friends with all my might.
“Help!” I exclaimed at the top of my inner voice, “I need help.”
Those were my last thoughts, before I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was afraid to open my eyes. The memory of the pain I’d experienced returned and I began to cry, tears streaming down my face from my tightly closed eyelids. The first voice I heard was Gabriel’s.
“Olivia, please try to open your eyes,” he said. “We’re all here with you, you needn’t be afraid.”
I shook my head. “Too painful,” I murmured. I felt someone sit down next to me on what must have been my bed, a familiar set of fingers taking my hand.
“I heard you, darlin,” William whispered in my ear. “I heard you call to me. So whatever happens, I am here. You can open your eyes.”
I began by blinking to get myself ready; slowly I opened and closed my lids until my pupils would accept the light. The light! I thought to myself, thank God, I can see the light. Eventually I opened my eyes and found myself staring into the faces of William, Gabriel, Lily, Aidan and Elsa.
It seemed they were destined to be my permanent entourage.
“Hello,” I said feebly. “I see you got my message.”
Elsa exhaled the breath she’d been holding. “I was inside the house. I heard you loud and clear, so did Gabriel and William. By the time I pulled you inside, they were practically at our doorstep. How did you manage to do that?”