The television in my room had even been removed from its swivel on the wall high above me. Something was seriously wrong with this picture. My unease ...continued to grow with the advent of mealtimes and IV bag changing. The person attending to my ‘needs’ wore a nondescript type of uniform, the likes of which I had never seen on a nurse. I would have chalked this up to my limited knowledge of the health care profession (which consisted of two seasons’ worth of ER episodes), except that these. It would chirp if Gary left a voice mail. But instead, the phone began ringing again. Instead of leaving a message, he had called back. She muted it again. Should she just turn the phone off? Or should she answer it? Something in her suddenly refused to be cowed by Gary. She was much tougher than that. She snapped the phone open. ‘Yeah?’ she asked, trying to sound annoyed that anyone would be calling so late. ‘Why did you do it?’ Gary’s voice asked straight away. ‘How could you do it? Didn’t. ” She smiled softly as she said it, and turned on the couch to face him. “But, I must know more.”“What? Why?”“I have dedicated centuries to the study of rituals and curses, childe. Many in the Ordo have. Antoinette knows that, but she would prefer to keep you out of the hands of the others.”Jack winced, half from clutching his chest, half from imagining the sort of shit other dragons might do to him. And Elaine was one of those dragons.“You ... wouldn’t tell me that, if you’d planned to stake. She could install the two outside the doors that afternoon as well as the intruder lights and would return the next day to install the others indoors. I left her at work outside the front door just as Ms Rita turned up.I showed her to the kitchen and the broken pane in the back door. Her reputation was such that I felt safe to leave her to it. Craftswomen quickly lose business if they can’t be trusted. I returned to my office and began to type up my diary. I have kept a diary for many years,.