Free Palm of Destiny by Rebecca Segal

coordinated enough to even move his eyes open. He had been forced to stay there, enduring that horrible and annoying noise. What was it, anyway?
“Elijah… Elijah? Are you awake?”
Thank god, Elijah thought. Something else to listen to besides that constant beeping .
“It’s Rosalie…are you awake? Elijah?”
Rosalie…what was she doing here? Wait, what was the last thing that he remembered? Something about his apartment, some people in white, and a knife. He thought he could recall a gun in there somewhere, too, but he couldn’t be sure. Were they still at his apartment? What had happened to those guys? A better question was, what had they wanted? As a soft groan parted his lips, he felt a rush of warm air against his face. He also felt the soft tickle of hair. The recognition of it drew a small smile across his mouth, as well as a flush of color to his cheeks. Now that he remembered.
“What happened?” His throat hurt as he spoke, and he weakly cleared it while he cracked open his eyes.
“Thank god ! What took you so long to wake up?” Rosalie’s voice sounded just as hoarse. The sound that she made was one of pure relief as she pressed her forehead against his. It made Elijah wonder about their relationship—if it could even be called one. There was such a suddenness to it that he just…he just didn’t know.
“Did something happen? Where are we?”
“Yes, something happened. You got shot. They didn’t think that you would live.” She placed a hand lightly over the bandage on the left side of his chest. It was directly over his heart. “They said that if you didn’t have situs inversus, you would have died.”
“Situs what? And how did I get shot? I just… I remember there were people in my apartment…”
“Your heart…it’s on the right side of your body instead of on the left. But Elijah, I’m serious…for now just rest. I’m going to go let the doctor know that you’re up.”
Elijah gave her a small nod before he closed his eyes again. Warm darkness pulled at him, and before he could decide whether or not he wanted to sleep, he was drifting somewhere far away.

 
     
    Chapter Twelve
 
 
“What do you mean, my apartment is gone?”
Rosalie rubbed both of her hands down her face as she sat next to Elijah’s hospital bed. “It burned almost to the ground a few hours ago. No one knows anything. The fire department says the fire was so hot that it couldn’t have been caused by a toaster over or a microwave. They found gasoline, Elijah…”
He was staring at her with his jaw partially open. He had been awake for only ten minutes, and Rosalie had decided to tell him this now . “So…you’re saying someone deliberately burned down my apartment…”
“Elijah, I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say, but…” She reached up to wipe tears from her eyes. “It’s because of me isn’t it?” Her voice was much softer now. “Those assassins came for you because of me. And now your whole apartment is gone because of the same reason…gods, I should have just stayed away from you.”
“Yes, Rosalie… because of you. Like I’ve been telling you from the start.” Elijah shook his head, knowing that had been callous. But they both knew it was the truth.
Hurt shone in Rosalie’s eyes for a moment, and she looked away from him. Fresh tears welled in her eyes, and when Elijah reached for her she shook her head and moved to stand. Then, when something orange in the sharps dispenser caught her eye, the breath caught in her throat. “Oh my god…the amulet.” Her eyes got wide, and she placed a hand against her throat. “It’s Morgan.”
Elijah snapped his jaw closed, his teeth clenching together. “ What ?”
She got up, waving the hand that wasn’t against her throat. “It’s Morgan, he’s the one who wants us dead. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before! He killed my father…he found the pendant in the first place, and I’m sure Morgan was looking for it for a long