Endangered

by Michelle Larkin

  “What about your mother? You haven’t mentioned her. Where is she?”

  “She died during childbirth, which is why you need to see how Shrouds come into the world. Giving birth is a very vulnerable time for a Shroud.” Tora eased the trolley to a stop and turned to Aspen. “This is where we get out.”

  Something told her she wasn’t ready for this. Determined to see it through, she braced herself and followed Tora’s lead.

  Tora entered the passcode on a side panel with lightning-quick fingers, and the rock wall slid aside. The tunnel lights blinked out as they stepped into a medical supply closet. “Stay close. By now, everyone has heard about you and will want to shake your hand. We don’t have time for that right now, so just keep walking.”

  “Copy that,” Aspen said, less than happy with her new celebrity status.

  They exited the supply closet and came out into what appeared to be a hospital corridor. There were no rock walls, floors, or ceilings here. Pastel blue walls, gray linoleum, and a white ceiling made Aspen feel like she’d stepped back into the world she just came from. Everything looked modern, clean, and sterile—just like a real hospital on the surface.

  She and Tora marched past a nurses’ station. Making no attempt to conceal their curiosity, everyone stopped and stared at Aspen as she passed. She felt their eyes follow her down the corridor. Not wanting to encourage their approach, she refrained from making eye contact and kept her eyes dead ahead.

  Tora led her to a room with a sign on the door that read Mother in Labor—Proceed with Caution. Aspen swallowed hard. Caution was in bold red letters. This couldn’t be good.

  “Whatever happens, just know you’re safe,” Tora said in a reassuring voice Aspen would bet she reserved for her patients. “I promise, we won’t let her hurt you.”

  Aspen didn’t have time to ask the questions that raced through her mind all at once. Before she knew it, they were inside a private birthing room.

  Save for one small night-light in the far corner, the room was dark. There was a thunderstorm soundtrack playing from the speakers overhead. Aspen waited until her eyes adjusted to take in her surroundings.

  The room was quite spacious. In place of the traditional birthing bed that usually accommodated a human birth, pillows and blankets were bunched up on the floor in one corner. She felt something underneath her sneakers and looked down. Hay? It covered the floor from wall to wall. This should be interesting.

  Chapter Twelve

  Aspen could hardly believe her eyes. A huge thousand-pound Cape buffalo with massive horns was standing in the center of the room. She had only seen the Cape buffalo on TV—usually as it was being chased down and hunted for food by a lion. The irony of the moment was almost comical.

  Making no motion to approach, Tora called out from where she stood. “Sophie, it’s Tora. How are you feeling?”

  At the sound of Tora’s voice, the buffalo instantly shifted into a very pregnant woman. She was wearing a hospital johnny. “Tora, I’m scared.”

  “This is your first time,” Tora said, walking to her. “It’s normal to be scared, Sophie. We’re all here to help you through this.”

  Now that her eyes were fully adjusted to the darkness, Aspen saw two men and two women standing against the walls around the room in silent support.

  Sophie clutched her stomach and held on to Tora as a contraction took hold of her body.

  “Stay with me, Sophie. It’s just a contraction. Breathe.”

  Sophie mimicked Tora’s quick, forced breaths until the contraction passed. “Is that her?” she asked, out of breath.

  Tora nodded with a glance at Aspen.

  “It’s an honor to have her here, but do you really think it’s safe?”

  “Let me worry about that.” Tora guided Sophie to the pillows and blankets. “All you need to focus on right now is having this beautiful baby.” A woman in scrubs joined Tora, and they both lowered Sophie to the floor.

  “I’m trying really hard to stay in control.”

  “You’re doing great.”

  “Contractions are now a minute apart,” the woman in scrubs announced.

  Tora held Sophie’s hand between hers. “As soon as the next contraction starts, it’s time to start pushing.”

  Sophie let out a wordless grunt, leaned forward, and pushed.

  Without warning, she shifted into the buffalo once again, her massive horns swinging dangerously close to Tora’s head.

  “No!” Tora shouted, standing. “You must shift back now, Sophie!”

  Sophie was back in human form in the blink of an eye, still pushing.

  “Can’t hold on,” she told Tora. “I’m sorry.”

  Tora grabbed her assistant by the arm, yanked her to her feet, and shoved her out of the way as an angry buffalo appeared before them once again. The buffalo swung her head from side to side, trying to gore everything in her path with dangerously sharp horns as she bucked furiously around the room.

  Everyone dodged the out-of-control animal, including Aspen. This was not at all what she had expected. Completely at a loss as to how to help, all she could do was watch. She hoped Tora knew what she was doing.

  “Jake!” Tora shouted from across the room.

  Aspen watched as a man shifted into an Irish wolfhound and began antagonizing the buffalo with loud, threatening barks. The buffalo immediately swung around, set her sights on the dog, and charged. The dog leaped out of the way at the last minute as the buffalo thrust her horns into the wall.

  A woman stepped away from the wall, shifted into an orangutan, and bravely jumped onto the buffalo’s back. Feeling the intruder, the buffalo bucked furiously. With long, strong arms, the orangutan hung on for dear life. The buffalo finally tore her horns free from the wall with a thunderous scrape that reverberated through the floor beneath Aspen’s feet.

  Tora tossed something to the orangutan, who swiftly caught the object and slid it over the pointy tip of one of the buffalo’s horns. They repeated the process until both horns were effectively padded and stripped of their lethality. Barely dodging the buffalo’s rear hooves as they pummeled the air, Tora motioned to the second man still awaiting his turn at the wall.

  Taking his cue, he instantly shifted into a gorilla. The gorilla galloped forward, grabbed one of the buffalo’s horns in his immense hand, and jerked the beast to a stop. He then reached around to take hold of the second horn, pulled the buffalo’s head to the floor, and held it there with unfathomable strength.

  Unable to buck with her head held down, the buffalo could only snort and paw at the floor in protest. The orangutan climbed down from the buffalo’s back and joined the gorilla to help him maintain control of the head.

  After several minutes, the buffalo’s rapid breathing slowed. Tora cautiously approached, laid a hand against the buffalo’s neck, and spoke soothingly in her ear.

  Aspen watched in amazement as a pair of small hooves were pushed from the buffalo cow on the heels of a big contraction. A black nose appeared, followed by the head and shoulders of…a baby deer? The Irish wolfhound shifted back into a man, picked up a blanket from the floor, and caught the fawn as it was expelled from the cow with one final contraction.

  He set the fawn on the floor, cleared her nostrils, and wiped her face with a towel. Aspen smiled as the fawn’s chest expanded with her first intake of breath. She lifted a wobbly head and let out a little bleat, calling for Mom.

  Tora nodded at the gorilla and orangutan team near the buffalo’s head. They slowly released their grip until they were sure she was calm. Responding to the call of her newborn fawn, the buffalo turned, spotted her baby, and promptly began grooming and nuzzling her.

  Tora knelt beside the duo and checked the fawn from nose to tail. “Congratulations, Sophie. You have a healthy baby girl.”

  Sophie snorted in reply.

  “Remember what we talked about. The two of you will remain like this for several hours before you’re able to shift back into human form. You ca
n stay in this room, and we’ll provide you with everything you need. One of my nurses will check on you every hour.”

  Sophie stopped grooming the fawn to look over at Aspen.

  “I think she wants you to bless her baby,” Tora said, waving Aspen over. “Myriads would traditionally bless a newborn just after birth. It was rumored to give them special abilities.”

  Aspen stepped over to join them. She knelt in front of the fawn while Mom watched closely, her large head and horns over Aspen’s shoulder, her steaming breath on Aspen’s neck. She was about to ask Tora what she should do when instinct suddenly took over.

  As if balancing on stilts, the fawn gathered long, gangly legs and struggled to a precarious stand. Aspen peered deeply into the fawn’s huge brown eyes, so innocent and pure. She sensed this fawn was special—much like Skye but in a different way. Her hands rose to cup the fawn’s cheeks. She let out a long breath. Shimmering particles of blue light danced in the air around them, circling more rapidly and expanding in number as she continued to exhale.

  Transfixed by Aspen’s gaze, the fawn remained perfectly still. The shimmering particles spun faster, their blue light made brighter by the increase in motion, until a sphere of blue light had completely enveloped them. She felt warm, safe, and protected, and she knew the fawn felt the same. The blue sphere started pulsating with their hearts, which were now synchronized in rhythm and beating as one. The particles of light gradually deviated from their spherical path and disappeared, one by one, as both she and the fawn slowly inhaled them.

  Aspen finally realized what was happening. She was making this fawn a Myriad, like her.

  At that moment, she sensed the vault of information locked away deep inside herself. She was just beginning to access the vault in bits and pieces, confident more would be revealed when the time was right. She now understood what Skye had meant by following her instincts when she brought Oscar back from death.

  Finished, she released the fawn and stood.

  The buffalo cow cautiously approached. As if asking permission to see her baby, she gently brushed her head against Aspen’s shoulder.

  “Your daughter’s a Myriad now,” Aspen whispered, stepping aside. “Keep her safe.”

  The cow nodded and then sniffed the fawn all over before allowing it to suckle for the first time.

  A heavy silence filled the room. Watching that sacred moment between mother and baby, Aspen felt a powerful calling to do more. She looked around, confused. The blessing was finished. What else was there to do?

  Tora cleared her throat. “Let’s give them some privacy,” she announced. She led Aspen out of the birthing room, down the corridor, and into an empty conference room.

  Inside was a long mahogany table and numerous swivel chairs on wheels. Aspen had the sudden urge to challenge the nurses to a chair derby down the hospital corridors. Since chocolate wasn’t readily available, that would be a great way to break the tension. She frowned, wondering how she could convince Tora to let her do it.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Aspen shrugged. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was supposed to do more. “I’m okay. A little weirded out, but okay.” She narrowed her eyes, suddenly suspicious of Tora’s incentive for taking her to the birth. “Did you want me to go with you because you knew that was going to happen?”

  Tora leaned against the table. “I was reading from an ancient Shroud text when you came into the library this morning. It described the Myriad Birth Blessing in detail, providing a very similar account to what just happened. Each Myriad imparts a different gift to the newborn recipient. It’s never known ahead of time what gift the newborn will receive. The ancient texts also revealed that the gift most needed will be provided. I didn’t fully comprehend that part until now. At this point in time, what our people need most are Myriads like you. The mere existence of one Myriad makes winning this war against humans possible. And now there are two.” She smiled. “Our odds just got even better.”

  Taken aback, Aspen said nothing and just stared. This was the first genuine smile she’d seen from the doctor since they’d met. Reaching even her amber-gold eyes, it made them sparkle and dance. Her smile was beautiful, filled with warmth, honesty…hope.

  “What’s wrong?” Tora asked, looking suddenly concerned.

  “You smiled.”

  “Do I have something in my teeth?”

  Aspen shook her head, sad to see the smile falter. “No.”

  “Then what?”

  She stepped over, leaned against the table beside Tora, and playfully bumped shoulders. “You’re starting to like me.”

  “No offense, but that’s just not possible.”

  “I’m very likeable, so it is possible. I’m growing on you. I can tell.”

  “I certainly don’t want to give you the wrong impression, Aspen. From now on, I won’t make the mistake of smiling when you’re around.”

  “I’m pretty funny, so that’ll be difficult.”

  Tora frowned. “I’ll manage.”

  It didn’t escape Aspen’s attention that Tora hadn’t moved away. Their shoulders were still touching. She felt the doctor’s guard coming down. One baby toe was now inside Tora’s impenetrable fortress. “So. What now, Coach?”

  Tora checked her watch. “Let’s head back to—”

  A woman in scrubs burst through the conference room door. Her nametag identified her as the charge nurse. “We have seven more expectant moms out here,” she said, out of breath. “They’re all asking to have labor induced so their babies can be blessed.” She turned her eyes to Aspen. “Sorry, word travels at warp speed around here.”

  Tora sighed and regarded Aspen for a long moment. “Actually, it’s not a bad idea. They’re all my patients and due any day now. Shroud births are typically fast. If we piggybacked induction one at a time, you could potentially go from one blessing to the next. What do you think?”

  Aspen considered the idea, intrigued by the possibility of bringing new Myriads into the world. This would explain why she’d felt the urge to do more after blessing the fawn. She dug into the vault deep inside and was amazed to discover she already felt a connection to these unborn Shrouds. It was almost as if they had sensed her presence months ago from afar and were now excited to finally meet her.

  For a moment, she struggled with questioning her own sanity. But she shrugged it off, deciding to take Oscar’s earlier advice and just go with the flow. She trusted Tora would do everything in her power to ensure the newborns were delivered safely. “Sure, why not?” she said finally.

  Tora turned to the charge nurse. “We’ll need all the off-duty nurses and doctors to report in.”

  “And chocolate,” Aspen added. “Lots of chocolate.”

  “Ten-four. Nurses, doctors, and chocolate,” the nurse replied with a grin. “I’ll make it happen.” She turned and ducked out in a hurry.

  Tora yawned and rubbed her temples. “This will be a long day for both of us.”

  “When was the last time you slept?” Aspen realized then that Tora probably hadn’t slept at all last night. How could she? She was too busy prepping an entire wardrobe for her and Skye, and doing whatever else sanctuary leaders do in the middle of the night when faced with planning for every contingency.

  “I don’t remember,” Tora admitted. “I’ll sleep after these babies are born.” She turned to Aspen. “Sorry I didn’t let you sleep in a little longer this morning.”

  “An apology?” Aspen set the back of her hand against Tora’s forehead to check for a fever. “That’s another sign.”

  “Of what?”

  “Your fondness for me.”

  Tora swatted Aspen’s hand away, stood, and stretched. “Chalk it up to delirium from lack of sleep. No more smiles or apologies from this moment forward.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  “Yes, we will,” Tora said, a ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She caught herself and looked away. “Be sure to let m
e know if there comes a point when these blessings get to be too much for you. Since I don’t understand how a blessing works physiologically, there’s no way for me to predict how much of a toll this will take on your body.”

  Aspen intuitively knew she’d be fine. Tired maybe, but none the worse for wear. “The chocolate should help. Just hope there’s enough.”

  * * *

  Tora walked out of the conference room and headed to the nurses’ station. As soon as she was out of Aspen’s sight, she let her smile break free. There was no denying Aspen was funny. What Tora had seen as a liability just twelve hours ago might turn out to be Aspen’s greatest asset. The cruelty with which humans operated was bound to reach Aspen, one way or another. A sense of humor would help her cope with the inevitable losses along the way.

  Tora tried to remember the last time she’d smiled, laughed, or played. Admittedly, it had been a while. She’d been so busy with her duties here and her job at the hospital that she’d forgotten how to be in the moment and have fun. She hadn’t even noticed anything was missing from her life…until Aspen showed up.

  Suddenly unable to catch her breath, she ducked into an empty room, shut the door, and leaned against it. Was she starting to feel a connection with Aspen? Worse, was she feeling the first stirrings of attraction? She squeezed her eyes shut and willed whatever she was feeling to stop. There wasn’t room in her life for self-indulgence of any kind. Too much was at stake. Feelings would only distract her from her responsibilities and compromise her judgment, which could lead to careless mistakes. Her people would be the ones paying the price for those mistakes.

  She opened her eyes, stood up straight, and took a deep breath. It boiled down to a simple case of mind over matter. Impervious to the effects of Aspen’s wit and charm, she would fortify her walls and keep them in place for the good of her people.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Munching on a king-size Butterfinger, Aspen waited alone in the conference room while the nurses, Tora, and three other doctors tended to the expectant moms. Restless, she peeked out into the deserted corridor and looked back longingly at the swivel chair behind her. Unable to fight the urge any longer, she took a seat and sped backward down the corridor as a freckled, auburn-haired boy was rounding the corner. She spun around, reached out, and caught him, pulling him safely into her lap as she braked with her feet. “You okay?”