"I told you, Mr. Murdoch," Harvey Kingston said calmly, "I'm not a killer." He raised a hand as Michael began to speak. "Having said that, I can see that this man is a problem for you and Mr. Walton. A pest. Ridding the world of a pest is practically a public service." He smiled. "Since he's a trained fighter, it'll take someone with real skill to handle him. But he's still just a man. Let's see how he handles a Ghost. I'll be in touch once I'm finished." He nodded at Michael and Jonah, and left the room.
***
Alex happened to be in a different wing of the very same hospital at that moment. Sarah Fairfax had completely recovered from the attack that almost snuffed out her soul thanks to Alex's skill as a healer. She was asleep, exhausted from her ordeal. Seated at her bedside, Alex stilled his breath and reached out with his essence. He could feel Sarah's life force flowing through her body freely. The dark energy that had almost killed her was gone.
He could feel her father, Clark, approaching the door, so he was able to bring his awareness back to the material world in time to greet him. Clark Fairfax was so grateful to him for saving her life that he seemed ready to adopt him. He'd tried on two separate occasions to give Alex money. Both times, Alex politely refused.
"I have to do something for you, Alex. At least let me take you to dinner or something," he said fondly.
Alex smiled. "Mr. Fairfax, you and Sarah have been through a lot. Why don't you both get some rest. We'll get together another day."
"I don't have words to tell you how grateful I am. Just know that if you ever need anything, anything at all, that we'll be there." Clark handed Alex his card, and said, "I love Sarah more than anything. I can never repay you for what you've done for us." He looked at his sleeping daughter with tears in his eyes and settled into the chair by the bed. He reached over and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. Alex smiled and left the room. It was time to go home.
As he made his way to the parking lot, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He was tempted to let the call go to voicemail, but he saw that it was Joe Hall calling. Alex grinned and answered. Before he could say anything, he heard Joe call his name.
"Alex?" Joe sounded strange. His voice was breathy and strained. He sounded like he was in pain. "Alex, please come. My family… Oh, God, Alex. Please. Please hurry."
"Joe, what's—" The line went dead. Alex hurried to his car. What's going on? he thought. Why would Joe call me, of all people, if he's in trouble? As far as he knows, I'm just a teacher.
Alex didn't give it a second thought. Peeling out of the hospital's parking garage, he used his inner force to run at a supernatural speed to the Hall family home in Columbia, about twenty miles away.
Even before he reached the door, he could sense something was terribly wrong. The house was utterly still. The whole neighborhood seemed too quiet. Alex felt his skin crawl. He grabbed his backpack and headed for the front door. Time to put on your game face, he thought, and went inside.
The living room was a scene from a nightmare. There were seven or eight bodies scattered around the room. Some seemed to be having seizures. Others were frighteningly still. Joe had managed to drag himself to the far wall. He was the only person still conscious. He saw Alex and tried to stand, but couldn't. Alex rushed over to him,
"Joe? Joe, what's wrong with you?" Alex knelt beside him. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"Poison," Joe said weakly. "We've been poisoned. He said… he said you could save us." It was obvious that Joe was in pain. Every word seemed to exhaust him. "Dad…" he gestured weakly to his left, where his father, Neil, lay unconscious. "He…" He was too weak to say anything else. He shuddered and went still.
Alex quickly scanned the room. The carpet was littered with spilled plates of food and fallen drinks. Could that be how they were poisoned?
But why, he thought. And who? Who would do this to the Halls, and why would anyone think I could save them?
Alex made sure Joe and his father were still breathing and moved to check on the next closest body. It was a woman who had collapsed face down. When he rolled her over, he saw that she was bleeding from her nose and mouth. She was still breathing, but only just. Her skin was bluish and cold to the touch.
What the hell is going on here? Alex thought as quickly moved from person to person to check on them. They were all still alive for now, but it was clear they were dying. He knew he had to act fast. He was closest to Neil Hall, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to center himself and held a hand over the unconscious man.
Just as he'd done with Sarah earlier, he opened his senses. He could feel the poison moving like a greasy oil slick through Neil's body. It was oozing through him in sickly coils around his heart and lungs. Alex could feel Neil's energy weakening. He was running out of time. They were both were running out of time.
Alex reached for what was left of Neil's life force and added his own. He felt the toxic flow of poison begin to recede and fade. Neil's breathing even out, and he seemed to relax. Alex opened his eyes and felt a little wave of dizziness. Sharing his essence with someone else can be risky. It's like rescuing a drowning swimmer, he thought. You could get pulled under the water yourself if you're not careful.
He watched the color return to Neil's face, and was about to help Joe when Neil convulsed violently. Blood began to pour from his mouth and nose again.
Alex was shocked. Using his own essence to strengthen Neil's should have worked. I don't understand, he thought frantically. Even if the poison's still his system, our combined life force should be neutralizing it. His own immune system should be taking over, but…
Alex could feel the poison surging through Neil again. It was moving faster now, working its way through his body even more aggressively. Alex knew now that whoever had done this was able to sense and use life energy the same way he did.
The Halls were dying. And there wasn't a hospital in the world that could save them. There was no official antidote for a poison that attacks a person's energy instead of their cells. Alex could use his own inner force again, but he wasn't sure he could save everyone. He wasn't even sure he would survive the attempt. He would need something like a battery to keep him from depleting his own essence.
Too bad no one's ever made a portable life force battery, he thought. An idea struck him. Wait. What if someone actually has? He reached for his bag and opened a side pocket. He looked for the seed Celia Turner had given him months ago to convince him to protect Heidi Reels. He hadn't had time to think about what to do with it.
It was still there. His senses were still open to the flows of energy that moved from and through every living thing, so he could almost see the aura of life force that pulsed inside it. Alex took a moment to wonder what the plant that would grow from it could do.
But he only took a moment. He had a bottle of water in his bag, and without hesitating, he crushed the seed and sprinkled the fragments into the bottle. The seed fragments began to dissolve, and Alex gently held the bottle to Neil's lips.
The effect was almost immediate. Neil began to recover for the second time. Alex closed his eyes and pushed his inner force into Neil's body again. This time, instead of retreating, Alex could feel the poison dissipate completely. Neil's faltering essence surged, and Alex knew he would be okay this time.
Alex hurried through the room and repeated the process with each person. Once everyone was out of danger, he leaned against a wall and slid to the floor, almost spilling what was left of the water in his bottle. Everyone was going to be okay, but they would be unconscious for a while.
A wave of nausea passed through him. He was exhausted.