Alkimiya - A Fantasy Mystery Series

FIFTEEN - Grounded

Zenetra woke on a camp bed in a room full of metal filing cabinets, shelves, and harsh lights. Anchored to a wall on a copper countertop was a row of glass jars. Each was stuffed with an array of items including gauze, bandages, tongue sticks, and cotton swabs. More camp beds hung folded from a hook attached to an adjacent wall. Beside them, a familiar article of clothing was draped over a coat rack.

The sight of her cobalt jacket made every muscle in Zenetra's body stiffen. It should be on her body, yet it hung across the room. Instinctively, her hands came to her chest.

The necklace was gone.

Newfound panic seized Zenetra. She bolted up. Light blue linen sheets and a matching quilt tangled into a knot as she fought to kick them off her legs. She toppled off the bed and landed on the cold floor but within seconds was on her feet rifling through her hanging jacket's pockets.

There was nothing inside but expensive leather gloves. Vaguely aware that her hair was free from its bun, she swept her black locks—wavy from the forced twists of that morning—off her shoulders so that they spilled down her back.

"Eh-hem," came a throaty cough from a smaller side room she hadn't noticed.

Zenetra froze beside her jacket.

A woman poked her head out from behind a doorway. She appeared to be in her sixties with hair as wiry and gray as steel wool. A deep scar, long since healed and turned into unyielding tissue, cut across her upper lip. It left the corner of her mouth permanently raised into a snarl.

The woman rolled more into view. She wore the white jacket of a healer. "Good to see you awake. Terribly dreadful what you did earlier; collapsing on deck so close to the railings. You were lucky not to fall overboard! Frightened poor Mimi half to death, I'll have you know. I'm Healer Pilluck, by the way. Although, I'm sure you've worked that out already."

"Did I...Did I faint?"

Face scowling in dissatisfaction, Healer Pilluck grumbled to herself. "And here they told me you were intelligent." She looked Zenetra up and down. "Mimi said she didn't let your head hit the deck. Do you have a pre-existing fainting condition I should be aware of?"

Zenetra became mildly offended, but fear and confusion overruled the feeling. Why had she fallen victim to a fainting spell, and where had her necklace gone?

"No," she told the healer. "No, I don't have any medical issues. I drank a lot of coffee this morning. That must have been it."

Healer Pilluck's upturned lip resembled a sneer. She shrugged, said, "If you say so," and rolled out of sight. A second later, she yelled from the other room. "If you're not sick then get back to work! Sickbay is meant for the sick or injured, not idiots who drink too much coffee on an empty stomach!"

Zenetra yanked her jacket from the peg and slipped it on. She patted the pockets again in the hopes that she had missed one on her original search, but the necklace remained absent. Begrudgingly, she went to the other room.

"Healer Pilluck?"

The chair spun to face the door. A gossip magazine that Clemence Pocket brought to work every week was lying open in Healer Pilluck's lap. She blinked lazily up at Zenetra. "Who else would it be?"

Zenetra deliberated. She wasn't supposed to wear valuables out in the field and she had a sneaking suspicion Healer Pilluck knew that as well. There was no way to tell if the crotchety healer would rat her out to Inspector Hatwig or Field Trainer Onnan, but it was a risk she had to take. "I was wondering...did you take...I've lost my necklace."

"Your necklace?"

"A stone necklace set in dark silver." Zenetra straightened her posture. "It's very important I get it back."