Tainted Wings

Chapter Thirteen

It was an hour before the police and paramedics allowed her to leave. Moro had left a few scrapes and cuts unhealed to explain the blood on her face and shirt, but the paramedics were still insistent something else had to be wrong to have this much blood on her clothes.

They also said the woman who was driving the car that had hit me was dead. From what they could determine, it looked as though she had a heart attack while driving, and that's why she hit me. They also wondered if she had hit someone else, as there were large dents on the back of the car.

Hekate made no effort to change their mind. The last thing she wanted to tell them was that her body was what caused those dents. She merely nodded and went along with getting a tow truck to take her car away. It was totaled, which meant she would need to either bother Marcia for a ride everywhere or use her wings to take her places.

My mother practically lost it when she saw the police car driving into the driveway with Hekate in the back seat. It took a few minutes for her to calm down after the cop told her Hekate had been in a terrible accident. The blood all over her clothes did not help. Thankfully, she calmed down once Hekate assured her she was checked out by the paramedics.

When they left, her mother grabbed her by the shoulders. "Are you sure you're okay? Really?"

Hekate nodded firmly. "It's just some scrapes and bruises. My car took the majority of the damage, I promise."

Glancing down at Hekate's torn shirt, she pointed at the brand. "What is that? Is that from the car accident?"

Reaching her hand to cover it, Hekate blocked the brand from her mother's view. "I think so. I pulled a jagged piece of glass out. The paramedic said I would be okay."

That was a quick lie. Impressive.

She reached to move Hekate's hand, taking a closer look. "Are you sure? It looks really deep. You might need stitches."

"It's fine," Hekate suddenly yelled, her eyes unmoving.

Hekate!

Her mother jolted backward, shocked at her daughter's yelling. She took her hands off Hekate's shoulders. "Do not yell at me, young lady. You could have died tonight. I have a right to take care of you."

Shaking her head, Hekate pulled herself together. The last thing she wanted was her personality flip to affect her own mother. "You're right. I'm sorry. I think I'm just a little overwhelmed."

She nodded. "I understand that but watch your tone. Go upstairs and shower. I'll throw away your tattered clothes. How were they so badly torn?"

Hekate felt her mother picking at the pieces on her back that had been destroyed from her wings. "I'm not sure. Might have been from when I tried to crawl out of the car."

"Well," she said, "Let's pray this is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Go shower and get some sleep."

It wasn't until after Hekate showered and washed all of the dried blood off did Moro appear. Hekate walked into her room to find Moro lying across her bed, licking the wounds she had sustained during the fight with the stranger in the swamp.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Moro took a moment to finish licking her back paw before looking up. "Yes. Are you?"

Hekate nodded, nearly knocking the towel off her head. "Are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

"It's rather complicated and a story that is centuries old," Moro started.

Hekate moved to sit in her computer chair, still squeezing the water from her hair. "We're past the being evasive part. I'm listening."

As Moro was about to begin, she paused and perked her ears forward. "You have a guest."