The Jaguar Witch

Chapter Four: Friendly Beasties

Sorry for this rather short chapter, compared to the last chapter. And I've caught up to myself, so updates will be a while.

~*~

Friday came and went, and then on Saturday I let my grandmother know that I was heading to visit a 'friend' in the hospital that I'd helped. I'd already told her that story, of course, and she nodded agreement that I could go. Once at the hospital, it seemed as if the staff was suddenly interested in me.

"Hey, aren't you that girl that helped saved Hank Godard's leg?" One of the nursing staff asked as I was walking towards the assistant's desk. I nodded. "Well, I can let you go and see him, no need to fill out forms. Come on," She said. I was hesitant, but I followed her, feeling uncomfortable.

At room 204, I was walked in as the nurse said with a smile,

"Hank, you've got yourself a visitor."

"Thanks, Trish. Who is-oh, hey," He said with a surprised grin on his face and sitting up, then wincing when he did so. "I didn't think you'd get here."

"I did tell Trigger that I would come on the weekend," I reminded him, parking at the chair next to the bed. "How's the ankle?"

"Better, thanks to you. You were right-if my Runner had touched it, even a little, I'd've been in serious trouble," He said with a rueful look on his face. I frowned.

"What's a Runner?" I asked, confused, and he chuckled.

"Mail carrier...Runner is one of my gang members," He explained, and I nodded understanding, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Brad says that you might've picked yourself a spot in the gangs?" He questioned, and I blinked.

"Er...I thought I told him to hold off of telling people?" I asked uncomfortably. He chuckled.

"You don't withhold where you want to be, because that just means tension and trouble in the long run," He informed me sincerely. "So he just quietly told us and we were supposed to act surprised."

I sighed.

"Yeah, okay. So I thought of being a Negotiator," I said quietly. "I'm not one for picking a group and going with it, I like being alone and doing my own thing."

"Trigger told me what happened," Hank said with a serious look on his face. I blanked, and he sighed. "That thing with the favor?" He reminded me, and I flushed slightly and looked away, fidgeting. "Don't be embarrassed...it wasn't your fault, clearly, from what you told Trigger. And Trigger says you aren't faking it. He knows fakes when he sees it." He hesitated. "Look, even Neg's get protection from all the groups. Neg's are highly valued because they're rare. People don't like being Neg's because of all the reading and stuff that they've got to do, but I think that you'd be able to handle it. Maybe not easily, at first, but given a few years...and you'll be right as rain." He finished.

I wasn't sure what to say.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked me, and I slowly nodded. "All right. Might want to head back-there's a storm breaking loose," He informed me gently, even as he winced. I stood. "Thanks for coming to see me."

"Not a problem," I said, nodding. My pockets buzzed, and for a moment I was confused as to why before remembering that my grandmother and I had picked me up a cell phone last night. I fished out my phone, and answered it. "Hello?" I asked, and my grandmother's voice came on the line,

"Sam, while you're out, can you pick up some supplies? It looks like that storm the weather channel was talking about might actually be a hurricane. We'll need water, and all the usual things if you don't mind. I'd ask our butler, but he's off taking care of his own home for the moment." I frowned. I really needed to check up on the weather channel.