Jack’s senses ground to a halt. “He’s what?”
“He’s in intensive care,” Holly reiterated. She planted both fists on the mattress; her tangled red hair tickled Jack’s nose. “You wanna know what’s wrong with him?”
Swallowing, Jack glanced at the newspaper. “No.”
“He was in his hotel room, and he got frozen.” Holly kept her eyes trained on Jack. “Like, extreme frostbite.”
Another hot shudder traveled down Jack’s spine. It took willpower to shift his gaze to Holly’s. “Frostbite?”
Holly nodded. “Wanna know what else is in here?”
“No.”
“They said that Hermes is the one that made the final call on marking you.” Holly sneered the word. “Great coincidence, huh?”
Jack failed to make the connection. “Why?”
“Why?” Holly waved a hand at the door, eyes ablaze. “Those jerks practically told me out there! And you don’t get it?”
Jack closed his own eyes. “Holly. I hurt. Badly. And I’m out of my mind. Don’t expect me to think clearly at the moment.”
“Fine, fine,” Holly said from somewhere past the darkness. Her voice lowered. “They expect you.”
Jack snapped his eyes open. “What? How could I...”
Blood tainted his vision red. A soldier waltzed past, half transparent, a hole through his forehead.
Jack shuddered. “Oh, no...”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Is... is Hermes okay?” Jack croaked.
Holly shrugged. “Dunno. They found him earlier today. This is the first rag of the day. But that reporter already has suspicions. Everyone else does, too.”
Jack laughed without humor. “I’m sure I’d love to go deep-freeze my mentor right after I woke up from a twenty-four hour coma.”
Holly was silent. Jack realized how plausible that really sounded. If Hermes was the one who had put him in that coma... what was one more death to Jack Frost?
A cough grated from Holly’s throat. Jack turned back to her, worried. “You shouldn’t be up. Don’t you have a fever?”
Holly waved a hand that Jack noticed was quivering. “I’m fine. This was more important than me. I’m immortal, remember?”
But not invincible, Jack wanted to remind her, but he didn’t say it.
He lay back, suddenly exhausted. “What do we do now?”
Holly coughed again, then sank down on the edge of the bed. “Right now? I say rest a little. Get your strength up. You don’t look so hot.”
“That’s usually a good thing.”
“Figure of speech. Go to sleep.”
Jack was happy to comply, letting thoughts of a frozen Hermes drifting into oblivion.
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