by Chele Cooke
“He’s right, Lyle.”
Beck. She could pick out his voice, immediately. Or perhaps it was the use of her father’s name. “What she needs right now is peace.”
Grumbles. More shuffling of feet.
“I’ll look after her.”
Lacie.
There was a murmur of agreement, and then movement. Georgianna closed her eyes as the footsteps came closer. She didn’t want them to know she’d heard, and she certainly didn’t want a million questions about how she was feeling.
It was only a few moments before a slim, soft hand laid across her forehead. Lacie readjusted the blankets and placed another on top. Georgianna tightened her hands into fists under the covers, resisting the urge to shove them both off in favour of the cool air.
Another shuffle of movement, and Lacie perched on the edge of the bed.
The scratching of a pencil.
“How’s she doing?” Dhiren. She was certain of it.
“Her temperature is still dangerously low,” Lacie said. “But at least she’s asleep.”
Footsteps came closer. Hot breath washed over her cheek.
“You sure about that?” Dhiren said.
Georgianna could feel them both staring at her. She groaned and opened her eyes. “Damn it, Dhiren.”
“You can see me?”
She shook her head against the pillow and shoved the blankets back. Lacie squeaked in protest.
“Anyone else would have let me pretend,” Georgianna said. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Dhiren said. “You’re meant to be sleeping, for real.”
“I’m too uncomfortable for that.”
“Uncomfortable? How?” Lacie said.
“It’s too hot.” She wriggled and rolled onto her back. “I feel heavy and full of liquid.”
“Full of liquid?” Dhiren said. “You know you have blood in there, right?”
“Not like that. I dunno. Like I drank too much.”
“So, you feel drunk?”
She wanted to shrug, but she couldn’t make her shoulders work properly. “Yeah, I guess.”
Lying on her back turned out to not be the best idea, and she had to struggle for a minute before she was able to heave herself around onto her side. Lacie and Dhiren remained where they were; she could just about make out their shapes. But being on her side again brought a new panic. “I think I might be sick.”
“You think?” Dhiren said.
“No. I am going to be sick.”
Lacie jumped up off the bed and reached underneath, bringing out a bowl. Georgianna leaned forwards, almost rolling off the bed onto Lacie. Dhiren grabbed her by the shoulder, holding her her steady as Lacie cradled the bowl beneath. Georgianna heaved, gagged, and emptied her stomach.
Dhiren moved closer, sitting at the end of her bed. She couldn’t move her arms to brace herself, and he kept a tight grip on her shoulder as he held her still, each heave of breath and bile threatening to send her toppling off the bed.
“I think you’re right,” Dhiren said. “You might be sick.”
The warm and comforting blackness of sleep slowly gave way to the hot and anxious knowledge of consciousness.
Dhiren and Lacie had stayed with her for hours, despite her frequent insistence that they should go and not risk infecting themselves. Lacie commissioned Jacob to make some more of the herb water he had produced for Beck. It had helped with a lot of Beck’s nausea, but it had barely reached Georgianna’s stomach before she threw it up again. Dhiren cradled her against him, helping her keep her balance when she wanted to be sick. He felt burning hot against her cold, clammy skin, but his body heat was more reassuring than the blankets.
For a few moments upon waking, Georgianna thought she had turned a corner. The air around her face once again felt fresh and cold; too cold, even. She moved to pull up the blankets, only to realise she could still feel their weight over her body, and the soft, smooth material against the back of her hand.
She opened her eyes. The tunnel car was dark and just as blurry as it had been before, with squares of fuzzy shadows spread across even fuzzier objects.
Her body felt locked in place, like she had once again been strapped down onto that examination bed. No matter how she tried to wriggle and free herself from the bindings, her body wouldn’t move enough to slip the invisible bands.
“She came back after the Adveni injection and she was fine.”
She could hear the voices outside the tunnel car, clearer than they had been before she had slept. It was Alec speaking, though he sounded resigned and tired.
“So it was the Cahlven?” Beck.
“We can’t know that. She took them right after each another. It could have been a delayed response. We don’t know how long these side effects take.”
“That’s assuming it’s side effects and not the intention.” Alec.
“You think they’d want something slow?” Beck said. “To make someone suffer like this instead of just…”
There was silence, and Georgianna could feel the weight of it on top of the blankets. Instead of just killing them. That was what Beck had meant to say. They thought this was the Cahlven’s intention, or the Adveni’s, all along.
She thought she trusted what she knew about the Adveni more than she trusted the Cahlven. But Beck was right, even if he hadn’t said it. The Adveni liked to make people suffer for their supposed crimes. Had Maarqyn played her? Given her a nice Adveni scientist to make her trust them, so she would walk willingly to her slow and painful execution?
Perhaps they’d hoped that the delayed onset of her symptoms would make her confident that the virus was safe, and she would administer it to as many Veniche as possible before they discovered the truth.
“It could be neither.” Lacie broke the silence with a voice that sounded overly hopeful. “Maybe this isn’t their fault.”
“How do you figure?” Dhiren said.
“They both gave her the injections without the knowledge of the other, right? It could be that they aren’t compatible in the same body.”
“Lacie’s right,” Jacob said. “We can’t know for certain that it’s anyone’s fault.”
Dhiren scoffed. “But we also can’t know whether it’s fatal.”
Could her family overhear this discussion? Were they starting to understand that she might not come back from this?
More nausea and cold sweats. Georgianna closed her eyes. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t see properly. There was nothing else to do but try to sleep while she waited for death, or life, to come and claim her.
Georgianna rolled onto her side and groped for the blankets, tugging them tighter around her shoulders. She felt like she’d been asleep for a week, and yet, as she rubbed the corner of the blanket into her eyes, yawning deeply, she knew she could so easily fall back into that warm, dark oblivion.
She listened to the sound of a quiet rustling before opening her eyes. For a moment, the bleary crust of sleep made everything blurry, but as she blinked and the tunnel car around her came into sharp focus, everything else slotted into place and she bolted upright, making Lacie jump.
“George? Oh, suns. George!”
Before she’d had time to fully process what was going on, or even what day it was, Lacie pressed a hand to her forehead and checked her pulse, then scribbled something in a small notebook.
Georgianna sat in silence, mentally regrouping while Lacie went about her checks. When she stopped scribbling for a moment, she grasped her hand. “What day is it?”
Lacie put the book on the bed and adjusted her position. “You were in and out for about five days. The first day you were conscious, but the rest…”
“The rest, what?”
The redhead wouldn’t meet her gaze. “We couldn’t really tell if you were awake or not. You wouldn’t move. Not voluntarily, at least.”
“What do you mean, ‘not voluntarily’?”
“You would be shaking so hard that we
thought you might break something, and sometimes we’d see you heaving. We had to clear vomit from your mouth to stop you from choking.”
“Shit.”
“You don’t remember any of it?”
Georgianna shook her head. “I remember not being able to move well, everything being blurry and dark, and people talking outside. And then…”
Lacie gave her a small smile. “Maybe it’s better that you don’t remember.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“How do things look now?” Lacie held up her hand and raised three fingers. “How many?”
“Three. Things look fine now. No different to before.”
“And who am I?”
Georgianna gave her a sarcastic smile. She understood why she was being asked these questions, but surely she’d proved herself already. “You’re Jacob, right?” She waved a hand. “No, Lacie. You’re Lacie. Jacob is that cute, curly haired guy.”
Lacie blushed and nodded. “Alright, alright. I get the hint.”
Georgianna pushed the blankets back and dragged herself out of the bed; Lacie steadied her elbow to make sure she didn’t topple over. She glanced back at the bed, grimacing when she saw the state it was in. There was a significant dent in the flimsy mattress where she had been lying, and stains to the side of where her head had been.
She looked at Lacie. “And everyone else?”
Lacie kept hold of her arm. She picked up a cantina of water and handed it over. Georgianna opened the top and took a sip, almost spitting it out again. She gagged and swallowed. “What is that?”
“Herb water. Jacob made it for nausea.”
“Suns, drinking that stuff would make me want to be sick, not keep it down.”
Lacie looked away as she returned the cantina to the side. Georgianna wondered whether they’d been feeding it to her while she was unconscious, hoping the herbs would stop her from throwing up the water her body desperately needed.
“Are my clothes still here?”
Lacie let go of Georgianna’s arm. She jumped a few steps across the car, grabbed a bag and set it down on the bed. “Should all be in there. The guys have been sleeping in shifts in the other car.”
“How angry are they with me?”
Lacie’s brow furrowed. “Angry?”
“For taking both injections.”
Lacie made an ‘O’ with her mouth and nodded.
“Your dad shouted a lot. But that was before you stopped waking up. Mostly, they were just worried. We all were.”
She grinned and leaned close as Georgianna unbuttoned her shirt. “Beck threatened to shoot Keiran if he didn’t leave.”
“Excuse me?”
“They needed him to go back to the shield, check on the other Veniche to see if they were reacting the same way you were. Only, he refused to go. Wouldn’t leave you alone. It was all very romantic if you don’t count the almost dying. So, Beck threatened to shoot him.”
Georgianna snorted. “You’re right. Very romantic.”
“Hey, don’t knock it. Everyone was worried.”
Georgianna placed her hand on Lacie’s shoulder and gave her a gentle smile.
“I know, and I’m really grateful you looked after me. I would hug you, but I’m not sure I’m very huggable right now.”
“Shall I tell the others you’re awake?”
“Let me get changed first.”
Lacie took a seat on her bed, and it was only as Georgianna picked out a shirt that she noticed the redhead cradling the canteen of herb water in her lap. The moment she turned further away, she was sure she saw Lacie out of the corner of her eye, lifting the canteen to her own lips. “Has anyone else taken anything?”
“Not yet,” Lacie said. “When Keiran came back, he said a lot of the Veniche had similar fevers, but none of them were… were…”
“Locked into their own body, unable to move, see, or talk?”
“Yeah, that.”
Georgianna nodded. She stripped off her shirt and pulled on a clean one. She’d still feel horrible until she could wash, but at least they weren’t the clothes she’d been sweating in for almost a week, and she doubted the others would let her past to clean up, without an explanation first.
“So that part was the Adveni, then,” she said, more to herself than to Lacie.
“Well, we’re not sure about that, either.”
Georgianna tugged the shirt into place and replaced her trousers and underwear with fresh versions. Lacie, thankfully, kept her gaze on the doorway to ensure nobody would come in. “Yeah, I remember you saying that it wasn’t necessarily either of the injections, but the way they combined in the body.”
“Plus the fact you took them so close together.”
Georgianna nodded and turned around. Lacie put the cantina aside and got to her feet. “Okay. Let’s go tell them I’m alive, at least for now.”
She’d barely taken two steps out of the tunnel car when she was grabbed and pulled against a body. Strong arms wrapped around her, practically lifting her up into the air. Georgianna squealed and grabbed Halden’s shoulders to steady herself, returning the hug in force.
“Hal, I’m alive, but I might not stay that way if you don’t let me breathe.” She slapped the back of his shoulder in submission.
He relaxed his hug, but kept hold of her shoulders as he pulled back. “You’re okay? Really?”
She shrugged.
“I feel pretty normal. Not going to lie, but that was pretty scary.”
“Yeah, well I’m not going to lie, either. You were an idiot.”
She nodded and extracted herself from his grip. “I’ll give you that one. Is Da’ here?”
“In the car with the others.”
Georgianna let him lead her over to the other tunnel car.
He climbed in before her. “Hey. Look who’s up.”
She’d barely poked her head out from behind his back when the others were all on their feet, scrambling in the small space to get closer. Alec, Dhiren, Beck, and Jacob gave up their efforts quickly, taking seats on the bed as her father practically shoved Halden out of the way and hugged Georgianna just the way her brother had done, giving her no room to breathe.
“Stupid, stupid girl.” He kept his voice low. “You had me scared to death.”
“I’m sorry, Da’,” she said, rubbing her hand between his shoulder blades.
Somewhere around her middle, a pair of small, thin arms joined in the hug, and when she was able to pull away, she found Braedon with a faceful of her shirt. Her father released her and she bent down and kissed Braedon’s temple.
She hadn’t even stood up straight before she was accosted again, though this time it wasn’t with a tight hug, but with two warm hands laid on her cheeks. She met Keiran’s gaze and relished the gentle kiss he placed on her lips. He held her close for a few quiet, glorious moments.
“You’re here,” she said.
“So are you.”
Georgianna nodded.
“Just about.”
He turned and slid his arm around her back, gripping her waist.
She shared more hugs and quiet reassurances with the others, although Dhiren was difficult since Braedon had crawled right back into his lap. She settled on one of the beds, Keiran holding her hand on one side, while her father sat close on the other.
“Why don’t you carry on with what you were telling us, son?” her father said.
Georgianna glanced at Halden in surprise, he’d been outside before the others. Only, when she looked at her father, it was to find him leaning forwards to gaze at Keiran.
Keiran looked just as surprised as she did at the endearing title he’d been given, and he coughed and cleared his throat a few times before he spoke.
“Well, I was just saying that the fevers people are experiencing under the shield are similar to George’s. Their temperatures plummeted first and then rose over a couple of days before finally breaking. Olless said that it was the bodies attempting to fight off the
inoculations.”
“Inoculations?” Dhiren said, smirking. “Look at you and your fancy Cahlven vocabulary.”
Keiran frowned at him. “Her word, not mine.”
Georgianna squeezed Keiran’s hand and leaned in a little closer. “That was it? A fever? They didn’t lose control of everything?”
He shook his head. “I wanted to ask the Cahlven doctors about it, but without telling them about the Adveni drug, I didn’t know how to bring it up.”
Beck nodded. “You did the right thing. If those who only took the Cahlven drug didn’t experience any effects, there was no reason to think they might know what was going on.”
“So, it was the Adveni?” Alec said. “Their drug was the one that did that to you?”
Lacie peeked around Jacob’s shoulder to look at him. “We still don’t know that. It could have been the combination.”
“Or the fact they were both taken in such quick succession,” Jacob said.
Alec didn’t look convinced, but he stayed quiet.
Beck shuffled forwards. “We need to take these injections. It’s essential, if this plan of George’s is going to work.”
Georgianna frowned. “We only have a few days before the meeting,” she said. “And I have to go back to the Cahlven before then to administer the Adveni drugs.”
“We can’t give them out if we don’t know what’ll happen,” Dhiren said, looking up, though his hands were still spread wide in front of Braedon as the young boy drew on them.
“You volunteering?” Keiran said.
A silence settled over them. Dhiren didn’t answer. Instead, he returned all his attention to Braedon, jerking his hands out of the way of his pen, the tense silence broken by frantic innocent giggles. It was all trust and simple pleasures. Georgianna missed that.
“I think we should split it,” she said.
“Split it?” Alec said. “What do you mean?”
She let out a heavy breath and looked around them. “There are eight who need to take the drugs. We leave Braedon out for now. Three people take the Cahlven drugs, three take the Adveni, and two people help me look after everyone. Once the side effects of each drug wears off, the next people take it, and it rotates around.”
