by Emma Hamm
Jane bit at her lip, glancing around them as though every person was going to jump at her. His poor sister. She was paranoid as well as delusional.
“And Willow?”
He had her. Luther could tell she was starting to trust that he would take care of her. Good.
“I’ll call Willow to come see us once we get there.”
“Now.”
His teeth ground hard against each other. “Alright, now.”
Luther pulled the intercom out of his pocket and called home. Willow’s sleepy face could be seen faintly past the white and black pixels.
“Willow can you meet me at the hospital?”
Willow yawned. “I don’t know how to find your office though.”
“We both know that’s not true. Just get there as fast as possible, alright?”
His snapping tone made both of his sister’s brows furrow as he hung up the intercom. He was never going to be able to win, not with the two of them fighting against him.
He sighed, griped Jane’s arm harder, and forced her in the direction he wanted. She was simply going to have to listen to him. Once he had her in the hospital, he could ask one of the doctors to do what they did best.
Fix things.
11
Jane sat on the metal bed with her feet dangling above the stone floor. She wasn’t certain that Luther believed her. In fact, she was thinking it was more likely he was going to try and “fix” whatever had gone wrong with her.
She had gone about this the wrong way. Telling him that the stories that had terrified them as children were true had likely been too much. Luther wasn’t the kind to believe in stories like that.
If she had told Willow, the little girl would have instantly believed her. Willow had always been one to believe in an adventure.
Instead, Luther had ignored every time she tried to tell him that she needed help. He continued to pat her on the arm or shoulder and tell her that of course he was going to help her. They just needed to stop somewhere first.
That somewhere was a hospital.
Luther said he wanted her to get checked over just to make sure that she hadn’t hurt herself on the way here. Somehow, Jane highly doubted that.
She swung her feet above the ground. She was halfway here.
The goblins were likely angry with her. She had slipped away from them in the early morning and spoke with the guard. When she had told him her family had been brought here without her, the man seemed to have a bit of sympathy flash in his eyes.
Jane didn’t have time to rush back to the goblins and let them know she was going inside the City. They could see her from where they stood in the back of the crowd.
So she waved and disappeared inside the stone walls. They would simply have to figure out a way to survive during the day and wait for her to come back.
They had trusted her this long. They could trust her for a few moments longer.
“Jane!”
Willow burst through the door and clambered up into Jane’s laugh.
Unlike the previous greeting of siblings, both girls burst into laughter as they tumbled backwards on the table.
They both spoke over each other, loudly exclaiming how happy they were.
“Willow! You’ve grown you little rat!”
“I knew you weren’t dead I told them!”
They held onto each other with hysterical laughter bursting forth from their chests. They couldn’t seem to stop the happiness the gurgled inside of them. Neither had forgotten that the other was strong enough to handle whatever had been tossed in front of them.
Finally, Jane sat back with her sister still seated in her lap. She brushed a strand of yellow hair away from Willow’s face.
“You’ve done well for yourself. I didn’t know you even had freckles.”
“I know! They were always hidden by dirt!”
The little girl giggled. Swiftly following the laugh, her brows drew down into an angry line.
“Why are you here?”
Jane blinked slowly at her. “To visit you.”
“No you aren’t.” Willow leaned back enough to cross her arms and stare up at her little sister. “You came back for a reason or you wouldn’t be here.”
“Perceptive as always.” Jane muttered as she stared down the sister that was glaring at her.
“Mhmm.”
She shouldn’t mention anything to her sister. Willow didn’t need to be brought into this situation. Jane couldn’t help but feel as though the hair on the back of her neck was standing up because something bad was about to happen.
“Remember those stories the miners used to tell?”
Willow’s lips pursed. “Mhmm. ‘Bout the goblins.”
“Right.” Jane hesitated, wondering just how much she should tell her.
Her sister’s face scrunched as she thought. Surprisingly, she then shrugged and said, “Makes sense that they’re real. I was wondering what it was.”
Jane’s eyes instantly narrowed. “It?”
Willow’s weight shifted in her lap as she suddenly started staring down at her hands. “I might have been wandering and found it. I didn’t mean to, but I can’t help it. Everything is so boring here and I don’t meant to break the rules. But you know how I always had to be doing something and here that means the vents and-”
A finger against her lips stopped her from talking. Jane held that finger on her sister’s lips for a moment before tapping it gently as she lifted it.
“Willow, are you saying you’ve seen a goblin?”
“Well I’m not sure. it was different than us that’s for sure.”
“Tall?”
Willow nodded.
“Odd yellowish color?”
Another nod.
“Black nails?”
“Yes!”
Jane’s muscles tensed. She hadn’t wanted to think that Simon had made it to the City before them. She could only imagine what things had befallen the goblin boy that had been taken from his home.
“Juo.” She whispered. “What have they done to you here.”
Jane lifted her sister from her lap and set her on the floor. “Willow I need you to take me to him.”
“But he’s locked away in some doctor’s lab.” Willow planted her fists on her hips. “You couldn’t get in there.”
“How did you get in?”
“The vents.”
Jane grinned. “Could you do it again?”
She watched as an answering grin spread across Willow’s face.
“You mean you want me to do what I’m not supposed to do?”
“I want you to get me into that room, and then I need you to help us escape from this place.” Jane hopped off of the table and crouched in front of her sister. “Can you do that?”
Before Willow could nod vigorously as she desired, the door to the room opened. Luther walked in with a small willowy woman.
Jane watched as her sister paled and did not meet the gaze of the woman. Strangely enough, the woman did not meet the gaze of her sister either. They both avoided each other as though there was some kind of secret between the two.
It was odd behavior that Jane would not ignore.
“Jane, this is Christine.” Luther gestured towards the woman. “She’s going to check you over before we talk.”
“Catherine.” The woman corrected him before stepping forward and reaching out to take Jane’s hand.
The forward touch was shocking enough to set Jane back onto the table without noticing that the woman had guided her there. For all her small size, Catherine had always been a good doctor. People did what she asked them when she requested it. Bedside manner wasn’t just a myth.
“It’s lovely to meet you Jane. I’ve heard much about you from your brother.”
Jane’s eyes were fixed on Willow’s. “Mhm.”
“Not much of a talker? That’s alright.” Catherine placed a hand on Jane’s thigh and smiled gently at her brother. “You can leave now, Luther.”
&nb
sp; He blushed a violent red before turning on his heel quickly. He had entirely forgotten that his sister was female and that he did not need to see some of what Catherine was likely to do.
“You too Willow.” Jane said quietly. She gave Willow a pointed look. “I’ll meet you when we’re done.”
“Right.” Willow said. “Two leaps to the north and four to the east then!”
Her sister always had been the bright one. Willow was letting her know how to get to the room she would be in. Time to get this over with as quickly as possible then.
She turned towards the doctor and firmly said, “I’m really fine. My brother worries.”
“I know.” Catherine walked over towards a cabinet and started pulling out all manner of metal objects. “I’ve become acquainted with your brother. To be frank, I’m not a general practitioner. I work in the lab.”
“Then why are you here?” Jane asked. Her eyes narrowed at the metal the woman had at her side. Those would perhaps be a little more difficult to fight with, they seemed to be more blunt than sharp. But in a pinch, she would be able to use those to her advantage.
“Because I’ll keep things quiet.” Catherine sat down on the chair and wheeled towards Jane. “Luther has always been very worried about appearances.”
“Of course.”
She didn’t say anymore. This woman was an unknown factor that would only stall the progress that Jane had made. The goblin boy was already here. They could take him and leave.
The problem was that people had seen him. Simon would not be viewed as a raging madman because there were others that could confirm he was speaking the truth.
She had hoped to get through this without letting any other humans know that the goblins existed. It appeared that option was no longer available to her.
“If you don’t mind lying back?”
Jane looked towards the other woman and was once again struck with how fragile she was. Catherine was birdlike in the way her bones were so thin they could easily be snapped. She looked as though she was going to float away.
“I don’t have time to do this.” Jane said. “I only have so much time with my family.”
Catherine smiled at her and patted one of her shoulders. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long at all.”
As Jane laid down, a large metal contraption was lowered over her. She was trapped within some kind of pod.
Before the caves, Jane would have panicked inside the tight space. Yet now, she knew what it felt like to be trapped between hundreds of feet of stone that could crush her easily. A small metal box that was pressed against her chest did not make her uncomfortable.
The bright light that blinked on did. She squinted and tried not to look directly at the white light that flooded the box she was now in.
“Catherine?” She asked. The tight enclosure did not phase her, but the light certainly did.
A shadow walked on the other side of the box. “Just a few moments, Jane! This won’t take long at all.”
The light seemed to glow more intensely at her feet. Jane squeezed her eyes shut as the light started at her feet and a bright bar seemed to hover up and over her entire body.
This was repeated twice before the light blinked out. The metal box was lifted, and Jane slowly sat up.
She was itching to rub down her body. She understood that it was unlikely that the light had done anything to her. But she did not know what they had created in the City. The experience had been unnerving.
“Hm.”
Catherine’s word made Jane jump.
“Hm? What hm?”
The other woman was hunched over a screen on the other side of the room. The light was reflected in the glasses perched on her nose.
“Well remarkably you seem in perfect health. Even your brain appears to be functioning at a normal rate.”
Jane hopped off the table silently. The thin hospital gown swished when she took her first step towards the woman, but Catherine did not seem to notice.
Instead, the smaller woman was pointing at the scan of Jane’s brain. “All the synapses are firing at the correct rate. You appear to be perfectly healthy.”
“That’s good isn’t it?”
Catherine turned with a jump, one hand pressed against her heart.
“You snuck up on me.” She said with a gasp.
“Sorry.” Jane’s tone was anything but apologetic.
Catherine nodded and pointed towards Jane’s clothing. “You can put those back on if that would make you feel more comfortable.”
She didn’t need to be told more than once. Jane stepped out of the hospital gown immediately and started pulling on the borrowed clothing that fit her poorly. She missed the comfort of the goblin clothing and the freedom it allowed her.
“You’ll tell Luther I’m fine then?” Maybe if the trusted doctor told Luther that Jane was fine, he would start to believe her. It was imperative that he help. Willow was too young to drag a half grown goblin out with Jane. The boy was probably as large as the two of them combined.
“Of course, I’d be happy to.”
Jane turned her back on the woman once more, pulling on the remaining layers of her clothing. She froze when Catherine began speaking again.
“I thought you would like to know the child is fine. Have you told your siblings yet or should I not mention it to them?”
“Excuse me?” Jane turned on her heel.
“The child.”
“What child?”
Catherine’s eyes widened. “Oh you didn’t know.”
Jane couldn’t seem to wrap her head around what the other woman was saying. Child? What child? There was no child other than Willow here.
“Didn’t know what?”
She watched with a panicked expression as Catherine leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “Jane, you’re pregnant.”
The world seemed to tilt to the side.
Jane grabbed onto the edge of the table and sat down hard. Pregnant? She couldn’t be pregnant. Not after everything that had happened. She hadn’t been with Ruric in nearly two months and wouldn’t she have noticed?
She thought back to the last time she had her monthlys. She couldn’t remember. But surely it wasn’t possible that she was pregnant. Ruric was a goblin. She was a human. There wasn’t any chance. They simply weren’t compatible, or she hadn’t thought they were.
“I can’t be.” She said quietly. Her hand hovered over her flat stomach.
“I would guess about a month along.” Catherine said. She turned to look back at the machine and nudged her glasses further up her nose. She clicked a button and the screen flickered before showing another picture. “Albeit an unusual pregnancy.”
This time when the other woman turned towards her, Jane had the overwhelming understanding that Catherine knew. She knew that the child inside of her was not human, or at least was half human.
Jane tried to look unaffected by this news. She wanted to appear to be a normal woman shocked by a pregnancy. The less the doctor knew the better. “Unusual?”
Catherine nodded. “There are some abnormalcies with the shape and growth. I would need to do another scan to see-”
“No!”
Jane hadn’t meant her words to be quite so loud, but she couldn’t afford anyone looking into this. She was supposed to enter the City and save the goblins from these people. Not provide them with yet another test subject.
“I need to see my sister.” She said firmly, hoping that Catherine wouldn’t hear the wavering in her voice.
“Of course.” But Jane could clearly see that Catherine’s intelligent eyes were watching her carefully. “But I think it would be wise if we did another scan. If only to tell if the child is healthy.”
A knock on the door made them both flinch.
Luther stuck his head through the door when neither of the women said a word. “Is everything okay in here?”
Jane lurched upwards from the table. Her knees were rubbery in shock but her spine w
as straight as an arrow. “Of course. Luther would you mind staying here for a moment with Catherine? I need to relieve myself and I have a few more questions for Catherine.”
That ought to keep both of them in one place for long enough. Though both Luther and Catherine looked slightly confused by her odd behavior, they both agreed to remain where they were.
Her feet fairly flew down the hall in the direction Willow had told her.
“Straight, straight, and then four rights.” She muttered as she counted her steps. Thankfully there was no one who crossed her path.
The further she went into the hospital, the more abandoned it appeared to be. The white walls started to appear dimmer as gray bled into the pristine white. The sounds of people muttering behind doors disappeared entirely and silence seemed to ring louder than the murmurs. Finally she rounded the last bend and stood before a single door at the end of the hallway.
Now was certainly not the time to hesitate. Jane busted through the door while whispering, “Willow?”
For a second, Jane heard nothing other than her own heart beating loudly against her ribs. Then came the answering whisper, a soft sound from inside yet another door.
“Jane! In here!”
She let out a sigh of relief. Her shoulders slowly slumped as she pressed her palm against the door. The outline of her spread fingers were dark against the light that spilled through the glass. This was the last barrier between her and the goblin boy.
The last thing that was holding her back from her own future. The stress of traveling through the desert had been enough to keep her from dwelling on the simple fact that she had a choice to make. She could return to her old life and be with her own kind. Or she could remain underground with the goblins who viewed her as questionable at best.
Jane found she couldn’t push on the door. Her hand was nearly shaking as the added factor of a child weighed upon her shoulders. What would the child be? She wasn’t prepared to take care of another life.
The door behind her palm slid open to reveal Willow’s curious face. Willow gestured behind her and arched an eyebrow.
