Excerpt: The Favored Ones

Chapter 18: Indomitable

The first thing that peeked into Joshua’s consciousness was a singular pinpoint of light. Despite the resistance he felt at his shoulders, he found himself being inexorably drawn forward as the pinpoint of light blossomed into the cold glow of a fluorescent light right over his bed.

“Hospital?” he thought, bewildered at this sudden change of surroundings. A slight stinging sensation in his hand prompted him to investigate the side of his bed; he found that he was hooked up to an IV line, next to a dirt-smudged wall. He was lying to one side of a long hall filled with other hospital beds. “At least they didn’t put me in the accident ward,” Joshua thought, noting the absence of bandaged and bloodied patients.

“Thank God you’re awake!” a familiar voice called. Joshua turned to his right side to see Nicolai’s slightly unshaven face.

“How long have I been asleep?” Joshua asked.

“A day, actually. Well, you’ve been in and out,” Nicolai replied. “How are you feeling?”

Joshua frowned at the pit that was growing in his stomach. “Like I threw up everything I ate. It’s already January, right?”

Nicolai nodded. “At least you didn’t lose that.”

“Where’s everyone?” Joshua wondered.

“Your parents had to run back home to get some stuff done. They were here maybe fifteen minutes ago,” the older boy said. “They’ll be back. Thank God your cousin Deana and some of the others found you. It took us some time to get you here to the Saint Christopher hospital.”

Joshua cracked a smile. “At least I’m not forgotten.”

“Now don’t you start thinking that way,” Nicolai warned. “As if anyone could just leave you lying here all by yourself. What did you do to yourself anyway?”

“Took all the pills in the house?”

Nicolai clucked his tongue. “What possessed you to do that?”

“I’m not sure really,” Joshua said more quietly, hoping to banish the memories of that sordid afternoon that now seemed to be so far away. “Did Ate Ida ever talk to Kuya Anton after that fight?” he asked.

Nicolai shook his head somberly. “They’ve been in here, but separately.”

Joshua winced. “Did Ate Ida ever get to getting mad at Kuya Cedric?”

Nicolai whistled. “That’s an understatement. You know what she did? She wrote an awesome letter to the entire upper community overseers’ committee. And well, it seems as if Cedric’s going to get a partner to keep him in check.”

“And who will that be?”

“Marcelina.”

Joshua bit his lip to keep from cursing. “Why?!” he finally asked throatily.

“Whia says she’s a little busy; she’s handling things over at SJBU and that’s already quite a crowd. So since Ida absolutely refuses to work with Cedric now, it’s up to Marcelina to keep Cedric in line,” Nicolai replied, distaste evident in his voice. “Marcelina’s a kid, no offense really meant to her. She’s going to get eaten alive.”

“If she doesn’t kill Kuya Cedric first,” Joshua remarked sardonically.

Nicolai burst out chuckling before his cellphone went off in a loud raucous beeping. He fished the gadget out of his pocket and looked down at the screen. “Look, I asked my kid cousin to come up here; we need to discuss a few things since he’s going to SJBU this coming year. You mind having another visitor?”

“As if I could say no anyway,” Joshua thought. He shrugged by way of reply.

After a few moments, he saw the door of the ward opening slightly. A reed-thin young man poked his head in tentatively, and then smiled when he saw Nicolai waving. “What’s so hard about finding Floor 2, Room 46, Bed 01?” Nicolai called.