Hecate was a chthonic goddess and fond of Her necromancers. Despite not being devout, he felt better about his situation. Hecate was the goddess of witchcraft, necromancy, and myriad other underworld aspects. She was a protective goddess and tended to dwell in places where She was invoked. If she was the patron goddess of this hospital, then it was a practitioner space and particularly suited to treat magical depletion.
There were people farther down the hall on his right, and one of them saw him and began heading his way.
Lilith sat at his feet, tail curled around her toes.
The flooring and the high ceilings with crown molding placed the building in a previous century for certain, and he felt like hewas in a boutique hotel somewhere pricey. He wasn’t paying for his stay, that was for sure. Or his medical care. Thankfully all that was in his contract with MERS.
“Sorcerer Redmayne?”
A young man in a white uniform smiled inoffensively at him from a few feet away, and Ezra arched a brow at him, too tired to answer with words. The other man seemed to understand, his expression kind.
“I’m Jeremy, I’m a nurse here at Sacred Threshold Hospital. Major Grendel has been waiting for you to wake up, and is hoping to see you.”
Sacred Threshold. Definitely a practitioner hospital then, and one devoted to Hecate. He was in good hands.
“She got any food with her?” He didn’t feel like eating, but his body needed fuel. Magical burnout was dangerous—he could easily relapse and get organ damage or suffer a stroke if he didn’t replace what he physically expended shutting down the artifact. His voice was still rough, and he discreetly coughed into his fist, hoping he didn’t sound like he went on a weekend-long bender.
The young man pinked across his fair cheeks and awkwardly nodded. “Your breakfast is in the conference room.”
He had no idea what had the young man staring at him like he hung the moon. “Um, thanks. Lead the way.”
Ezra clapped softly for Lilith, and she jumped into his arms. He snuggled her into the crook of his left arm, where she draped gracefully, her big ears tipped forward, eyes bright and curious. Nurse Jeremy cast her a few inquisitive glances but refrained from asking any of the questions most people couldn’t resist when they saw her for the first time.
Lykoi cats weren’t all that common, especially outside the United States. Some uninformed people thought she was sick or had mange, but her thin hair, lack of undercoat, and the bare areas around her eyes, nose, and muzzle were part of thebreed standard. The guard hairs along her body were distinct, in varying shades of black and gray, and Ezra enjoyed the striking appearance of his familiar.
Ezra let his mind wander as he followed Nurse Jeremy through the hospital. He wasn’t personally familiar with Sacred Threshold Hospital, but the term referred to the concept that there was a line in the spiritual sand between mortal and divine. The sacred threshold was typically used by those who followed Old World gods, like practitioners and the younger fae peoples.Youngerhad nothing to do with actual age but was a term applied to the second wave of fae species that evolved long after the Elder fae peoples, closer in time with the birth of modern humans. Humans and younger fae species had more in common than humans and the Elder fae species. One commonality was that humans and younger fae peoples had periodically throughout history worshipped the Elder fae peoples as gods at some point or another. Younger fae species were also easier to interbreed with, resulting in numerous hybrid variations and generations of humans with a little bit of magic in their blood that wasn’t human in the least.
The Sacred Threshold was said to be the purview of Hecate, and one of her many aspects was that of the threshold, the spaces between, whether it be literal, like doorways, or liminal, like the tipping point between life and death. Many considered the veil to be under her purview as well, as it was a liminal space between dimensions.
Her icons stood as guardians in homes and temples across the world. She was a triple-aspect goddess, hence the triform relief in the other room. She was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, death, and practitioners as a whole. And specifically, she was the patron goddess of all necromancers.
“Are we in Edmonton?” Ezra asked after they passed a window with a city skyline in the near distance, and a few hints of a river between wherever they were and the downtown area.
Nurse Jeremy looked back over his shoulder, surprised. “Oh! Yes, we’re in Edmonton. University of Alberta campus. Sacred Threshold is the practitioner hospital attached to the University of Alberta Hospital here in Edmonton.”
“That sounds nice,” Ezra said, lacking anything else to say. He’d flown into Edmonton from San Francisco before hopping on the MERS helicopter out to the encampment and never got to see the city beyond the airport. “How’s the weather been?”
Nurse Jeremy slowed a bit, so he wasn’t talking over his shoulder. “Bright and sunny, which is lovely. Winter comes early this far north so I’m enjoying the summer days while we have them.”
“I bet it does,” Ezra replied, scratching Lilith on the top of her head. Sunny weather meant the artifact was either still at the MERS camp or his attempt at draining the death magics and shutting down the artifact had been successful. Or maybe he failed and they only succeeded in getting him out of the forest before he froze to death. That was a dismal thought, and he was suddenly in a hurry to see Major Grendel.
It didn’t take too long before Ezra smelled coffee and heard people talking. Nurse Jeremy showed him into a long conference room with a wall of windows overlooking a park-like courtyard between tall buildings, its paths made of stone with evenly spaced-out benches and trees in neatly manicured clusters. That had to be the rest of the hospital campus across the green stretch. He stepped into the room, remembering to murmur a thank you to his escort, and Nurse Jeremy gave him another huge smile before nodding and shutting the door behind him as he left.
“Sorcerer Redmayne, you’re looking far better than the last time I saw you,” Major Grendel said as she approached him with what appeared to be grudging happiness. He wasn’t too sure, since she wasn’t exactly smiling, but her face wasn’t tight with frustration, so he took that as an improvement on how she usually looked at him.
“I feel horrible, but that was expected,” he said with a nod, glad she hadn’t tried shaking his hand. He appreciated her taking the time to adapt to practitioners. “Thank you for carrying me out of the woods. How long was I out, and is the artifact secure?”
“Here, sit and eat something,” she gestured to the table that was covered in breakfast foods in white takeout containers. “Straight from the mess at our base, so no hospital food for you.” Ezra sat Lilith on a chair and then took the one next to it, eyeing the various containers. “We weren’t sure what you liked so I had them bring a whole spread. Anything you don’t eat the staff here can have.”
He grabbed the nearest container and flipped back the lid, happy to see pancakes, sausage links, and some bacon. Ezra reached for the next container, and found some plain scrambled eggs. He grabbed a paper plate and a few napkins, and then set a single napkin on the chair beside Lilith and gave her some eggs. She happily went to work on devouring it and Ezra focused on feeding himself.
Major Grendel took a seat on the other side of the table, sipping from a travel mug. Only then did Ezra notice the other person in the room, a doctor judging by her white coat. She was white, appeared to be middle-aged, with silver hair and a trim form, with lightly wrinkled skin around her eyes, a prominent Roman nose and slightly jarring, bright coppery-brown eyes. She looked tired, but Ezra would be surprised to see a doctor in a hospital who worked with patients who wasn’t exhausted tosome degree. She wore a dark gray and blue suit under her white coat.
“Um, hi,” he said, looking between Major Grendel and the unnamed doctor. She had a coffee mug set in front of her, and that prompted Ezra into reaching for his own mug and a carafe of coffee in the middle of the table. His inner vision was working just fine when he accessed it to understand who he was looking at—though his head did throb a bit at the attempt.
The doctor was a wizard, and probably used her magic in the medical field, and the stronger a practitioner, the longer they lived. She could appear to be middle-aged but be decades older, and looked to be in her early forties as it was.
“Hello, Sorcerer Redmayne,” the stranger said, “I’m Dr. Carmella Phendras. I’m a practitioner health specialist and professor at the University of Alberta Hospital, attached here at Sacred Threshold. You were my patient until just this morning. Once you recovered from burnout sufficiently, we moved you to the recovery wing. How are you feeling?”
