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Instead of crossing the street to the church, Corth lead the children down a few blocks towards Jefferson Hospital. Through the smog that hung between the buildings, the faded glow of rusty street lamps and electric advertisements lit the way. They stepped over trash and wove between the ranks of the oblivious people going about their daily business. Soon, people dressed in hospital scrubs became more common. They passed under a glass walkway and entered the busy hospital.
Without stopping at the reception desk, Corth led them to the elevator and tapped the button for the 14th floor. When the elevator dinged, they turned towards the department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.
"Mom's not crazy...?" Ania gave her grandfather a confused look.
"No...yer mum isn't crazy, lass." Corth said. "But...well, you'll see." He pulled open the door and let the children pass into the psychiatric ward. Nodding to the guards at a gated wing, they walked down the long hallway passing therapy and patient rooms. He stopped in a barred abandoned stairwell. He unlocked the rusted chain, and after relocating the gate, they went down a level.
The dimly lit hallway was packed with medical supplies and large crates marked in several different languages. He pointed to the first room they came to. Inside, Eve lay in an old bed attached to a plethora of strange medical devices.
"Here we are," Corth said. "Be quiet the doctor be working."
Bent over her was a wild looking dwarf, that looked as much like a mental patient as he did a doctor. However, with great skill, he inserted a needle that was attached to custom made injection tool. He tapped the tool's buttons rhythmically and the device began an IV drip of blue liquid. He attached it to a stand and continued to work on his patient, paying his visitors no mind. After rubbing his hand through his unkempt beard, he inserted oxygen tubes into her nose and activated a device strapped to Eve's ribs to aid her breathing.
Eve's face was pale, almost lifeless. The sight was almost too much for both of the children.
"Is he..." Ania impulsively asked.
The doctor looked up, obviously annoyed. "Yes, yes..." He mumbled with a crazy, yet irritated exuberance. He adjusted another piece of medical equipment and the heart monitor beeped on. "Now...she's stable...but the sooner I'm able to synthesize an antidote...the higher the rate of success..." His voice sounded strangely, professional. He stood and shuffled towards them as he adjusted his lab coat, which read 'Scolestis Brewer, MD. "But for that..." He reached into a pouch that hung among the variety of medical utility pouches, vials of strange substances, and custom surgical tools on his packed utility belt. "Well, let me do my thing..." He unfolded a set of electrodes that were wired to an ancient handheld computer. He placed the notes on Eve's skull and adjusted the controls. His voice went bit crazy with some strange laughter and a brief muttering about shady chickens. "Oh...and my patient is not a 'he'...it's a 'she'...like me..." he paused again and a third gruff voice came next. "No, no...Zelika...you mustn't let them know about you...they'll say things..."
"Who, us?" Ania asked.
"No..." The doctor’s feminine falsetto voice said. "You can know...shhhhhh though...it's the chickens...there' sleeping now...don't want them to stir...shhhh...talk about George Washington instead..." He scratched his head before making more adjustments on Eve. "Yes...let's sing." The deep masculine voice said. "That will keep them asleep..." He started singing a song that alternated between his deep masculine voice and his feminine voice.
"Umm...his he actually qualify…”
"Don't lad." Corth cut him off. "We can discuss that later, lad. So, Doctor how is she?"
He stopped his song and cleared his throat. He spoke with his overly excited professional voice. "The stasis fluid blend should keep her alive...but I don't know for how long, yet."
"Stasis fluid?" Ania asked.
"I make a variety of elixirs, potions, gels, and..." He shook his head, and his voice cracked a bit. "Oh...yes...I mean we...we make them...the three of us...I know....I can't make them all by myself...and they are quite potent..."
"Well, this be Dr. Brewer, perhaps one of the best doctors on the planet," Corth said. "He was one of Jefferson's medical professors years ago and will always be one of the order."
"So, he's a patient and a doctor?" Callen looked skeptically at his grandfather.
"Aye...and he's got everything he needs here to practice his form of brilliant medical work...his knowledge is unparalleled..."
"I think you mean...insane," Callen mumbled under his breath.
Scolestis grinned at Callen. “There’s a fine line between insanity and genius..." His voice went deep. "Yes...a very fine dotted line...worn and weathered...and desperate times require the best...and the riskiest...out-of-the-box...and two is better than one....think about it..." His voice shifted to professional. "And I do what I can for your mother...she would definitely die if you gave her to one of those doctors...hacks...out there. The combination of the toxin and the concussions has her in a deep coma. My elixirs will help the body repair the damage from the concussions, but reversing the effects of the poison is going to take a lot of work...and some new and interesting concoctions..."
Callen looked at Corth skeptically.
Corth smiled reassuringly. "There probably isn't a better medical doctor in the world. He's a bit off his rocker with everything else, but when it comes to..."
Dr. Brewer interrupted to complete Corth's sentence. "Medicine...conventional, ancient...occult...and even magical...I'm your dwarf." He paused and his voice shifted. "Errr...we are your dwarf..."
"You can use magic?" Ania asked.
"Ohhh....no...never..." Dr. Brewer chattered each word was said by a different voice. "Never...never...never...no magic...never magic...very bad..." Wildly he shook his mane and his voice went professional again. "But, I will do everything I can think of...and even what I haven't yet...or what we can think of...your mom's in our good hands..."
"Thanks, Doctor." Ania smiled.. "Can we stay here for a while?"
He looked a little annoyed, but somewhere in his crazy eyes of brown and green, he understood the children's plight. “Of course...I've got these blood samples to test..." He looked at the children and his eyes went wide. He spoke in his deep voice. "If you stay...make sure you don't wake any of the chickens...they like the fingers of men...and tear them off with their dagger-like teeth..."
Callen glanced at Ania who was staring at their mother. She wasn't blinking. "Well...then...I won't...I'll let the chickens...errr...starve." He cracked a grin, but Ania didn't respond. She was zoned out and looked like she was getting ill.
"No! Not out loud...they might hear you..." He picked up a few vials of Eve's blood and moved towards the door. "Then they'll strike! Only the girl can..." He pointed at Ania. "She knows...she sees..." He sprinted out of the room as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.
"Umm...right..." Called looked confused and looked at Corth. "You sure about this, grandpa?"
"Aye...Scolestis has pulled me back a few times from impossible situations." Corth admitted. "So, if I weren't sure, Eve wouldn't be here." He turned towards the door. "I'll be back in a while to show yehs yer rooms in the Church's rectory. I be havin' some things that need to be done to get the ball rolling to deal with these creatures and help yer mom."
"Right." Callen nodded. "Ania, you okay?"
Her voice sounded groggy, as if she were waking from a dream. "Yeah...just tired...and overwhelmed." She rubbed her eyes. "But, Grandpa...umm, can you take me to my room now? I need to lie down. I have a migraine."
"Sure, lass," Corth answered and Ania followed. "You want any medicine?"
"No...just sleep." She turned and followed her grandfather out.
Callen dragged a wooden box next to his mother's bed and sat down. Tears formed in his eyes, but he
choked them back. Luckily, the few cries from the people suffering from mental illness above him and the muttering of the mad doctor at work made it easy. As he absorbed everything that happened, he wondered what would happen if and when his mother woke up. He knew they couldn't go back to their old life. There was just no way. His life was never going to be the same.