Eisheth found herself almost breathing a sigh of relief when the grim, industrial hospital yielded to a narrow, but well-lit ward with a wall full of windows to her left. For basically a hallway with rooms leading off, there was a strange coziness to it. Paintings on the floor made it look like a cross between a riverbed and hopscotch, while the walls were painted a soothing blue and adorned with impressionistic scenes of beaches and landscapes kept behind reinforced plexiglass it would take a hurricane effort to break. The nurses's station was an enclosed, glass-walled office that the hallway wrapped around, with mirrors mounted in the corners so someone sitting at the desk could see down either hallway.

  She'd always prided herself on picking up the energy of a ward, though, and despite the calm projected by the decor, Eisheth could feel chaos buzzing at the surface.

  The bearded, wild-eyed man in purple paper scrubs standing on a sand-weighted rocking chair with another chair lifted over his head screaming probably had something to do with it. The other patients weren't out and about, though she saw one or two peeking out of their rooms to watch him. The individual words he used made sense, but they were jumbled together into an impenetrably incomprehensible word salad. "Let igloo watch mice! Let igloo watch mice!"

  "Hey Dave," Ahriman said casually as he led Eisheth straight for the screaming man. "Are we having a day?" The big unit supervisor adjusted his posture, hands out of his pockets as he casually tucked his badge inside his shirt.

  One nurse was in the station, a lean man with a lantern jaw talking quickly on the phone with someone, probably a doc. The other two were facing the wild man with a calmness Eisheth had only seen in fake meditation videos or the anesthetized. Both were wearing nitrile rubber gloves, one holding a syringe discreetly at her side.

  The screaming man pivoted to look at Ahriman, balance shifting precariously as the chair rocked beneath him. "Let igloo watch mice!" Tears built in his eyes as he menaced Ahriman with the chair. Tendons and muscles stood out like cords on his hairy arms as he brandished his weapon, which probably weighed fifty pounds or more on its own.

  Someone had thoughtfully designed the chair so this sort of thing couldn't happen, but even Eisheth knew that psychosis could push people to amazing feats of strength.

  Ahriman stayed placid like the surface of a still pond, utterly relaxed. "Can you put the chair down for me, Dave? Looks like you might overbalance if you're not careful. Maybe I can help you?"

  "Let igloo watch mice!" The wild man careened into action, hurling the chair at Ahriman. The moment the chair left his hands, he ripped at his own paper scrubs, tearing his shirt off to display a blue lightning bolt drawn on his chest in washable marker. He leaped from his perch like a feral raccoon backed into a corner, not at Ahriman, but straight at Eisheth.

  "Ah fuck!" Ahriman swatted the chair away into the wall, denting the drywall.

  The moment Eisheth realized she was about to be spider-monkeyed by the man, she loosened all of her muscles and sidestepped, narrowly avoiding a hair grab as he snagged her badge leash and right arm, dragging her down with him. The smell of him hit her like a baseball bat, unwashed body mingling with the overpowering reek of some kind of ointment. His eyes met hers, dark and feral, terrified of something only he could see. "Let igloo watch mice!"

  "Hands on!"

  Eisheth hit the ground hard on her back, air leaving her lungs in a single, hard exhale. She reacted anyway, rolling onto her side and wriggling into the hold position on his right arm. The man went to bite her, but someone she couldn't see stuck a foam pad between his mouth and her face. He writhed, almost slipping loose because he'd covered his arms in the greasy ointment.

  Is this what pig wrestling is like? Eisheth wondered in the strange clarity of someone riding an adrenaline surge like a surfer on a tidal wave. She scooted closer to the man despite his stench and the grease, keeping his arm underneath him to keep his breathing open. Someone caught hold of him on the other side, matching her positioning, and she was vaguely aware of Ahriman's bulk behind her, curling around the man's legs like a python.

  "Dave, I need you to hold still," Ahriman said with that same calm authority. "Show me a safe body, and we'll let go of you."

  "Ahriman, Dr. Dahak ordered a 5-2 for him."

  The foam pad stopped another bite aimed at Eisheth's arm this time. "Let igloo watch mice!"

  "Okay," Ahriman grunted, adjusting his positioning so the nurse with the needle could get access to flesh. "Doc knows best."

  Eisheth made certain she kept him supported so he could breathe. "You're going to feel a little pinch, my friend," she soothed, still a little dazed from hitting the floor like that. "I know it's hard to chill with us holding you, but I need you to calm down for me."

  He yelped when the needle pierced his flesh, but the nurse was quick and efficient. An intramuscular shot of haloperidol and lorazepam was usually enough to calm just about anyone in Eisheth's experience. They just had to ride it out for the first ten or so minutes. She missed the good old days of a B52, but that took two syringes. "Let igloo watch mice!" he screamed at a decibel level that felt like a jet engine taking off next to her head.

  "I know you're scared." Eisheth gave his arm a very gentle squeeze, holding more by positioning than an actual tight grip on his wrist. "We're not going to hurt you."

  "I'd really prefer we do this in the QR," Ahriman grumbled.

  Even though the medications took time to act, the sudden outburst of violence and being held still were clearly having an effect on the patient. His struggles turned into sobs, that incoherent sentence even more choppy as he choked it out between tears.

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  "Can you be safe, Dave?" Eisheth asked, rubbing her thumb across his arm. "If we let go of you, are you going to hurt anybody?"

  He shook his shaggy head.

  "Okay, my man, if you can show me a still body for two minutes, we'll let go of you," Ahirman said calmly. "Raum has a watch. He's going to time you, okay? As soon as you're still for two minutes, we'll let go of you and we can walk you to the QR."

  The man went limp like a rag doll and Eisheth adjusted to keep two fingers on the inside of his wrist, keeping tabs on his pulse and the ragged breathing she could feel against her own ribcage. It was rough, but strong and not suppressed by their positioning.

  "How are you doing up there, Eisheth?" Ahriman asked. "You need to tap out?"

  She felt a twinge in her back from the floor, but the adrenaline pounding through her veins kept all thoughts of pain or discomfort away. "All good here. I can do two more minutes."

  "Hokay."

  Two minutes crawled by like dying cockroaches, but the man in their hold stayed still and calm. "Legs, you're good to disengage."

  Ahriman released Dave's legs, backpedaling to give space.

  "Arms, you're good to disengage whenever you're ready."

  Eisheth looked up across the patient's body at the other person holding Dave's arms, a stocky barrel of a man in scrubs. "On three?"

  "Yeah," he rumbled. "One...two...three..."

  They let go at the same time, carefully uncurling from their patient and backing up to give him a little space to breathe. The man on the ground twitched, then lifted his head and looked at Eisheth with an apology in his eyes. "Let igloo watch mice."

  "Someone got some tissues?" Eisheth asked.

  "I've got your back," Ahriman said, using one long arm to reach into the nurse's station through a slot in the window. He fished out a box of tissues and tossed them to Eisheth.

  She pulled a fistful of tissues out and offered them to Dave, who grabbed them with both hands and tried to clean up his face, tears slowing as his breathing settled. "I know you're scared. It's okay to be scared. I'm a nurse here to help keep you safe."

  Ahriman looked over at the other nurses. "Would one of you help Dave to the QR? I think if he can sit somewhere less...activating, he'll be okay. I'm fine with the door open. He's had his meds and the tension's broken for the moment."

  Eisheth took a deep breath, her adrenaline starting to recede. "Dave, do you understand why we had to hold you?" she asked gently.

  He nodded through his tears, looking positively mournful. He blew his nose with a sound like a deflating bicycle horn.

  "I'm sorry we had to put hands on you. No one wants to do that." Eisheth handed him another tissue. "It's okay. Let's start over, okay? My name is Eisheth. It's nice to meet you, Dave."

  He gave her a watery smile as the barrel-chested nurse helped him up. "Let igloo watch mice."

  Eisheth clambered up from the floor, walking with him to an open doorway to a room. It wasn't padded in the traditional sense with things that could be torn, but did seem designed from a more rubbery material so someone could bang their head or punch a wall and do less damage to themselves. Dave sat down with his back against the far wall, still accepting tissues from the barrel-chested, smiling nurse. She backpedaled to Ahriman now that things sat calmer. The ward didn't feel quite as electric anymore.

  Ahriman clapped her on the shoulder. "I knew you were Psych material!"

  "The hell was his deal?" Eisheth asked. "Because he was really...agile...for someone having a stroke."

  "Sometimes psychotic disorders present with what the layman might call 'word salad'. Poor Dave's so disorganized in his speech when he gets worked up that he scares himself. I haven't seen him that bad in a hot minute. New meds must have really tanked him. Trial and error...well, you know. Psychiatry is more art than science sometimes. You can't heal the soul with a receptor, but it does make it a lot easier sometimes." Ahriman paused, then beamed at her. "You did great in that hold. I'd figured he would clock you a good one."

  "Not everyone sleeps through the mandatory quarterly restraints training," Eisheth said.

  Ahriman chuckled. "Well, nothing says fun like 'mandatory'. Still, hell of a first impression. Y'know, I had to almost arm wrestle Admin to get you."

  Eiseth looked over at his bulging biceps. "I feel like they have some self-preservation instincts after all."

  "I'm really a gentle giant," Ahriman insisted before refocusing on the others, gathering everyone inside the nurse's station before closing the door. "Everyone, this is Eisheth. She'll be one of our new day nurses, coming over from Surgical Floor. Eisheth, our maestra with a needle and resident charge nurse is Glasya. The gentleman who got the order from Dr. Dahak is Saleos."

  "You're pretty quick for Surgical Floor," Glasya murmured, a begrudging respect in her eyes. "You been spider-monkeyed before?"

  "Once or twice. I was an ED bitch before Surgical," Eisheth admitted readily.

  There was a small chorus of "ah"s around the little cluster of nurses and orderlies who'd arrived, several clearly sympathetic.

  "Nothing quite like hitting a junkie with naloxone and having them come up swinging because you just negated the high of their life," Glasya said with a misty nostalgia, dimples appearing in her cheeks when she genuinely smiled. The expression seemed strained on her face, like her muscles weren't used to the configuration.

  Saleos winced at the thought. "I hated my ER rotation. Too much blood and screaming."

  Eisheth arched an eyebrow. "So you picked Psych?"

  Ahriman grinned. "Well, here he doesn't have to pretend to be normal. Plus there's usually less blood. Screaming might be a wash. Oh, and since he's not here: the sturdy gentleman on arms with you was Dis."

  Eisheth realized her eyes were watering from the smell of her scrubs: smeared with the ointment, marker, and residue of an unwashed body. "Can I run and grab my bag? I've got a spare scrubs top in there. Dave's pretty pungent, even in absentia."

  "We've tried showering him," Saleos said with a sigh. "It's like hosing down a feral badger. He gets pissed."

  Her brow furrowed. "Why?"

  "The smell keeps the bad voices away," Glasya explained. "When he was more lucid, he said it was like vampires and garlic."

  Eisheth supposed that made as much sense as anything in this place.

  "You should have been here when they brought him in. First of all, it was the cops and second of all, he was wearing a 'lightning talisman'," Saleos said. When Eisheth blinked at him, he elaborated, "What happens when you pass two thousand volts through an onion and then hang it around your neck for two weeks. They didn't even search him before the ward. He came up with a pretty big knife."

  "Why didn't they search him?" Ahriman asked with a frown.

  "That was our problem, apparently. You know how the ED is. They just wanted him out. Plus, they figured it was fine because he was handcuffed." Glasya sniffed faintly, clearly annoyed.

  "I'll talk to Dr. Puloman in the ED," Ahriman groused. "It's like that every time he comes in."

  "Frequent flier?" Eisheth asked.

  Glasya laughed, the sound ringing jaded in their little fishbowl. "Honey, he's got enough air miles saved up to first class it up to the Pearly Gates. I'm amazed St. Nick's hasn't figured out a way to charge him rent."

  "I mean, his stays are paid for," Saleos sighed. "Hopefully Dahak can get him on something that works."

  "He's just gonna be right back and you know it," Glasya said.

  Saleos glared. "Hope, Glasya. Maybe try it on for size once and a while?"

  "Kid, I've been charge nurse of this ward for longer than you've been out of diapers," Glasya said, unperturbed by the dig. "When you've seen as many revolving door cases as I have, then we'll talk."

  Eisheth glanced over at Ahriman, who seemed amused by the back and forth. She wasn't sure where she fit into the spectrum, but it was probably somewhere between Glasya and Saleos. She cleared her throat. "Okay for me to go change, boss?"

  Ahriman chuckled. "Yeah. They'll natter like an old married couple for whole shifts if I let them. Change and come back. Your badge ought to work on the doors with your access changed. I'll give you the proper tour now that you've gotten a bit of a baptism by embers in."