* * *
“What are you doing here?” Meredith asked as she closed the door behind her. Miguel lay in the bed with a dark expression on his normally cheerful face. “How did you know I was here?” he countered, ignoring her question.
He was angry with her, Meredith noted with some surprise. Her mind was racing as she could feel the magical energy radiating from him. Miguel had a second heart, too? Could he feel the magic, like she could? Was their potential to emerge as magicians what had drawn them together in the first place? He was waiting for her to respond, so she said softly, “I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer.”
“Too late, Mere.” Miguel looked away, folding his arms across his chest. He winced slightly as he bumped the IV needle in his hand. “I know when I’m not wanted.”
“This is because I miss one phone call?” Meredith asked defensively. Now was not the time to be having a petty squabble, not when she had so much to tell him.
Miguel scoffed. “We both know that this isn’t over a single missed call. I have been pushing you and pushing you for more, and you’ve always held back. I don’t want to do it any longer. I want to find someone who is as excited about me as I am about her.”
“Miguel, I am excited about us. But, right now there is something--”
Miguel held up a hand, cutting her off. “Please just leave, Meredith.”
“No,” Meredith said definitively. “You asked me how I knew you were here--I didn’t. I needed to talk to the person in this room, but I had no idea it was you.”
“What then? What do you want?” He narrowed his eyes at her, waiting impatiently.
“This thing you have--this growth? I have it, too. It started as a stomachache, but then I had the worst cramps of my life. It was so bad I had to go to the hospital.”
Miguel looked mildly interested but didn’t say anything, waiting for her to continue. He pursed his lips and waved his hand at her to tell her to hurry up and get to the point.
“Is that how it was for you? Last I heard, your car was broken down.” Meredith hoped that by getting him to open up a little, he would forget to be so pissed off. She needed him to listen to her--to take her seriously. His life depended on it.
“Yes, my car was broken down, and I was walking home in the rain.” Miguel gave her a bitter smile, as if to remind her of her failure to answer his call for help. “As I was walking, the cramps got too intense, and I had to sit down at the side of the road. I tried calling everyone I knew for help. Finally, a stranger pulled over and asked me if I was okay. They brought me to the hospital.”
Meredith reached out a hand to comfort him, but his eyes flashed dangerously. She withdrew her hand, and instead said, “That sounds awful. I’m so sorry I didn’t answer. If I had known, I would have come in a heartbeat.”
“Well, it turns out I didn’t need you after all, did I? I got here just fine on my own.”
“Miguel, I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. What can I say to make you believe me?” Meredith asked with a hitch in her voice.
Miguel’s expression softened slightly. “I know you’re sorry, Mere. But it’s not enough, okay?” He paused for a moment, waiting to see if Meredith would respond. When she didn’t, he asked, “So if we have the same thing, why aren’t you still in the hospital?”
“There was someone at the hospital who knew what my condition was. She said that the growth is called a Second Heart, and it gives you a sort of...sixth sense.” Meredith wondered how much she should tell him. She worried that if she talked to him about the magic, he would dismiss her completely, as she would have dismissed Eleanor if the nurse hadn’t been able to show her proof. “She also said that once the Second Heart is part of you, your body will die without it. That’s why I came today. I heard that someone at this hospital had grown a Second Heart, and I had to come and stop them--you,” she amended, “from having the surgery.”
“A sixth sense?” Miguel looked dubious.
Meredith persisted. “Can you feel anything? Did you notice anything when I came into the room?” She could still feel the energy that pulsed between them, stronger now that they had been in the room together for a few minutes. It felt almost like the magic was knitting them together in some way.
“All I felt when you walked in is anger,” Miguel stated flatly.
“Please, Miguel. Just try.”
With a heavy sigh, Miguel closed his eyes.
After a moment, Meredith felt his energy pulse more deliberately toward her. “Yes!” she cried. “You do feel it, don’t you?”
He opened his eyes again, looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the door opened to reveal an older couple who bustled into the room.
“Mama, Papa,” Miguel said with a wide smile.
Meredith stepped out of the way as Miguel’s mother rushed to her son’s bedside, showering him with kisses. “Miguelito, we came as soon as we could, but your father”--she cast a withering glance toward Miguel’s father--”had to work the late shift. As if he couldn’t take any time off for his first-born son.”
Meredith remembered that Miguel’s family all lived in Los Angeles. His parents must have started driving at two or three in the morning to arrive at this hour.
Mrs. Alvarez stepped back to look at her son critically. “You don’t look that sick.”
That’s because you’re not, Meredith thought, staring hard at Miguel.
He studiously avoided her gaze, instead looking at his mother and reaching out to grasp her hand. “I am, though, Mama. They say I have a growth that needs to be removed.”
Meredith scoffed quietly, drawing the attention of the Alvarezes.
“And who is this?” Mr. Alvarez asked with a friendly twinkle in his eye.
“Her name is Meredith. I know her from school,” Miguel said in a clipped tone. “She just came to let me know what I have missed.”
Undaunted by his son’s cool dismissal, Mr. Alvarez asked Meredith, “So you want to be an animal doctor, too, huh?”
Meredith forced a smile, though inwardly she was seething. “That’s the plan!” To her own ears, her voice seemed too bright, too strained.
Mrs. Alvarez turned to face her with a stern look on her face. “Don’t you think my son could use a little rest from schoolwork right now?”
Meredith swallowed hard. “Yes, I do. Actually, he isn’t missing much, since school has been closed for almost a week now. I didn’t really come here about that, though. I--”
“Meredith,” Miguel cut her off sharply. His jaw clenched as his eyes warned her not to say another word. Once he was relatively sure that she wouldn’t resume talking, he said to his parents, “Do you mind if I finish talking with Meredith for a few minutes? Alone?”
Mrs. Alvarez gave him a knowing smile, and then met her husband’s eye happily. “Of course, you two take whatever time you need.” She ushered her husband out of the room, giving Miguel one last peek, brows raised, as she closed the door.
Once alone, they stared at each other mutely, both trying to find the right thing to say. Finally, Meredith said, “So those are your folks, huh? They seem nice.” The words were empty, a desperate attempt to thaw the ice that had formed between them.
“My family is Catholic, Mere.” Miguel said tentatively. Then, with more resolution, he added, “If they find out that I have this… power… they will think that I am condemned to hell. Those aren’t just words to them, either. It would break my mother’s heart.”
“So don’t tell them, but don’t have the surgery, either. Just say that you feel better and don’t want to risk it,” Meredith urged.
“How do you know that the surgery will kill me?” Miguel asked.
“The person who helped me… she told me.”
“Yes, but how do you know? Did she have any proof?”
“Well, no. But she was right about the sixth sense. I trust her.”
“I am going to have the surger
y,” Miguel said decisively.
“But--”
“Just stop, Mere. This is my decision, not yours. We aren’t meant to have this sort of power, it’s immoral. I would rather die having it removed than live as a… a…” He wrung his hands, searching his vocabulary for the right word.
“A freak?” Meredith asked quietly.
“Than live knowing that I have chosen to embrace something that is wrong,” he said on a sigh.
“How do you know it’s wrong? Where’s your proof?”
“Just like you trust the woman who helped you, I have to trust what I have been taught for my entire life.”
“Can’t you trust me?” Meredith begged in a small voice.
Miguel’s voice was so low that Meredith had to strain to hear him. “I don’t even know you.”
Meredith blinked furiously, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from falling onto her cheeks. “Miguel,” she began.
The door opened a second time to admit a nurse, who smiled at Miguel. “Are you ready to go? We’ve got the O.R. prepped, so now we just need the star!” The nurse had blonde, curly hair that rioted around her head, and her warm brown eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“Yes, I’m ready.” Miguel said, not taking his eyes off of Meredith’s face.
The nurse pulled a lever on the side of the bed to release the brakes and began to wheel Miguel’s bed out of the room. She said to Meredith, “You’ll have to wait with his family in the lobby. We’ll come out and talk to you as soon as we’re through, and then you can come see him.” She smiled brightly and then wheeled him out the door and around the corner, out of sight.
Meredith stood alone in the now empty room, searching in her mind for something to do. A single sob escaped her lips as Vi poked her head around the door to look at her. “He’s going to have the surgery anyway, Vi. He wouldn’t listen to me. He said that he didn’t even know me.”
Vi stepped into the room and wrapped her arms around Meredith. “He’s in the hall talking to his parents right now. Want me to tackle him?”
Meredith sniffed and didn’t answer. “What can we do?”
Vi took her hand to lead her out of the room. “Maybe Eleanor is wrong. Maybe he’ll be just fine. Modern medicine has come a long way since that magician guy was gutting people.”
Meredith nodded. “That’s true. Thanks Vi.”
Vi smiled. “Let’s go wait with his folks. I bet they want to learn all about you.”
Meredith chuckled without humor, still worried for Miguel, and they left the room.