Chapter 67: ICU
Theon.
“Magic.” Dr. Haeger says as I rush towards him at the hospital. He closes the door to the ICU gently behind him, wiping his hands with a clean towel.
Kellin and Haden stand next to me. Callista was directly taken to the ICU upon entering, and Dr. Haeger and his team had been treating her for three hours now. We’d immediately evacuated the ritual grounds before the Gamma could rally more pack members to attack us. A full-on pack war meant bad news, and we wanted to avoid that. Werewolves and Werebears were sworn enemies, and there was a reason we always avoided one another.
My mind flashes to Callista, laying on the stone slab soaked in her own blood.
Why’d they taken her as a sacrifice? Kidnapping a wolf by bears was a crime punishable by death.
And I’d killed their Alpha. I only hoped they didn’t recognize which pack we were from. Having a random wolf pack attack them is one thing, but having the royal pack attack them? That could escalate to a fricking war between the wolves and bears. I cannot afford that at this moment, and neither could the wolfkind.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Callista’s physically okay." Dr. Haeger replies after a sigh. “The wounds on her body are mostly shallow, luckily. The dangerous bits were the wrist wounds. She’d lost a lot of blood, so we had to do a transfusion. She’s still under anesthesia. With her accelerated healing, it will take her only a few weeks to heal.”
“That’s a relief,” I feel a large weight leaving my shoulders. But not all of it. The guilt I have knows no bounds. “But what do you mean by magic?”
The doctor’s expression changes, and he looks nervous. "We better sit down it.”
We sit on the plastic chairs and Dr. Haeger stares at the mini aquarium in the corner of the corridor that leads to the ICU. I’m not alone with him at the hospital. Haden and Kellin stand next to me like sentinels watching over us both, straight-backed and tense. After we brought Callista to the hospital, they’d let me sit in front of the operation theater and went to manage the pack in my stead. We’d just returned from a mission so there was plenty to do to settle the wolves down. After taking care of them, my Beta and Gamma returned, and we’d been waiting since.
Haden did not fail to ive me the post-mission report as we waited, and listening to it made me a little less numb than before. I think he did that on purpose. He was still pissed at me for trying to ruin Calista’s life with the widowers after Ruelle’s funeral, but for now, all of that seemed to have been forgotten. None of my wolves had sustained heavy injuries, the kind that needed a hospital visit as soon as possible, but the lightly injured had to be taken to the infirmary.
If only we had managed to find Callista unharmed, I’d have called the mission a success. But now, it feels like we’ve failed the one task we’d set out to accomplish.
“What do you know about Mental violation?”
I rack my brain for an answer, “Dark magic?”
“Yes. It’s a forbidden form of magic that uses a form of extreme sensory loss in a confined space,” The elderly doctor explains. “By immersing any creature, human or supernatural into such a space, spelled by the forbidden magic, will break the prisoner's mind by using phantoms.”
“Phantoms?” The air suddenly feels heavy, making it uneasy to breathe. My wolf snarls in my head, aware of the change in the environment.
“Yes. Hallucinations of people in the prisoner’s memories, both good and bad. These phantoms will torture her, mentally, of course, until the prisoner’s mind scatters into pieces. The more regrets the prisoner has, the more painful their past is, determines how the magic affects them. Side effects of this technique include extreme memory loss, paralysis, and even death.”
My blood runs cold, “You mean Callista-“
“Fortunately for all of us, Callista is stronger than most,” Dr. Haeger smiles sadly. “Given what she's been through, she can’t afford to be otherwise. She’s not dead or paralyzed, fortunately, but her mind is shattered. I realized this from the few seconds I spent with her before putting her under anesthesia. It’s…bad.”
“Why would they do that to her?” Haden asks after a moment of silence, voice horrified.
“In the old days, Mental violation was used to punish those who did heinous crimes. War prisoners, rapists, murderers…it was banned by the 1907 were and supernatural accords. As per my knowledge, the Witches Guild swore never to create such a confined space ever again. Before, these torture spaces were called Chambers of despair.” The doctor says, “We don’t know what happened with Callista and the werebears so I can’t say why they used it on her, or how they did it. And I don’t know if she will ever tell us. Maybe she did something to set them off…”
“Oh, hell no! Whatever was done to her cannot be her fault. I refuse to believe that Callista would ever have gotten involved with the werebears on purpose. She ran to get away from everything we did to her, to lose herself within the humans where she would not be judged for what she was!” Haden, who had been quiet since the good doctor had come out, retorts with utter conviction. “She never would’ve purposely done anything bad to their pack. I don’t even think she knew werebears lived around that area.”
I have to agree with him, although the old prejudices whisper in my mind about how she’s the stealer and all she does is manipulate. No, I refuse to listen to them again. Callista is not just a stereotype, but her own being. I shouldn’t jump into conclusions without learning the whole story. Callista deserves the benefit of the doubt.
“This is serious,” Kellin whispers. I glance at him to find the Beta dazed, like he couldn’t believe this was happening. But at the same time, he looks like a man who knows some more is coming towards us. “A Chamber of Despair, a still-functioning Chamber of Despair…”
He meets my eyes. I’ve never seen him look so startled, and he’d been through the whole incident with Ruelle’s funeral. “We need to notify the Witches Guild about this.”
“Yeah,” I swallow the bitterness lodged in my throat. Your fault, my mind whispers, all of this is your fault. “Can you take care of that, please?”
“Yes, Alpha,” Kellin leaves, his motions frantic.
“How bad is it, Doc?” I ask Dr. Haeger, already knowing the answer. Afraid of it, even.
He looks deep into my eyes, “On the scale of one to ten, astronomical.” He sighs and closes his eyes,” I’ve never treated a mentally isolated person before. I don’t know my depths in this. We need the help of the witches to heal her.”
“I’ll call for them,” I promise, “We’ll heal her mind. We’ll get her back.”
Dr. Haeger stares at me for the longest time and says, “I don’t think it will be possible Alpha. The Callista you knew might not come back at all.”