by Emma Hamm
Each time she opened her eyes, she was nearly blinded. The goblins would have to endure incredible amounts of pain if they were brought here.
If the humans could even find them.
The Doctor could easily decide he wanted more experiments. If she allowed him to know where they were, many more would die. The goblins would defend their homes, the humans would fight to steal them. The mines would run red with blood and once again it would be her fault.
So Jane kept her mouth shut. She did not tell her brother of the beauty and kindness the goblins had shown her. She did not tell him that they had enslaved humans or that they had kept the slaves in good health.
Instead, she talked about what it had been like to be young and wild in the sands. She told him stories of their mother, who he only remembered vaguely.
“Her hair was like molten gold.” She said, lying on the uncomfortable cot. Jane tilted her hands in the air as though she was letting the long locks slid through her fingers. “I used to practice braiding on her hair and I remember that it used to glisten in the sunlight.”
“That’s not possible.” Luther said with a laugh. He was seated on the floor within her line of sight.
“It was! She was so incredibly beautiful.”
“None of us inherited those traits then, huh?”
“Hush you.” Jane said as she rolled onto her side. “You and Willow look remarkably like her.”
“Maybe Willow.”
“You too. You have her nose.” Her finger traced the air as though she was following the bridge of his nose. “Though yours is a little more like a beak.”
He wrinkled the nose in question. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She flashed a feral grin at him. “Willow has her hair. She’d have the most beautiful mane if only she kept it brushed.”
“Instead she prefers keeping it like a bird’s nest on her head.”
“She’s part animal.”
“Always was.”
The two siblings chuckled, though neither laugh was truly happy. No matter how much they reminded themselves of good and happy days, they were still stuck in a cell together with no knowledge of when they would be released.
Jane eased her weight up until her bare feet touched the cold ground.
“You have her mind though.” Her toes curled in an attempt to keep warm. “She was always so brilliant for a woman that grew up in a mining community. If she hadn’t been so sick, she might have been able to help a lot of people. I always knew you’d follow in her footsteps.”
“Don’t do this right now.” Luther said quietly. “We’re going to get out of this, Jane. You don’t have to act as though we’re saying goodbye.”
Jane shrugged. “We don’t know if it is goodbye. Or what kind of life we’re going to lead after this.”
“Just don’t.”
She sighed and stood to stretch her arms above her head. They had been fed enough to keep them alive. Jane didn’t miss that they were feeding her more, but with a child inside of her she wasn’t surprised. They wanted the small life enough to keep her alive.
Her hand drifted to cover the smallest bump of her belly. An impossible life, it seemed, could be born out of a time of turmoil.
“Do you want it?” Luther’s voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear it.
She turned towards him and her hand slowly drifted away. “Of course I do.”
“I wasn’t certain since… Well it’s not entirely human.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. I didn’t think I even wanted children. I’m still not sure I do but… it’s a part of something special to me.”
“You love him.”
Every word they said was being recorded, yet Jane could not stop herself from saying, “I do.”
“Then why are you letting them have him?”
“There are things more important than us, Luther. I cannot choose him over everyone else.” Though it felt as if she were choosing between her heart and her mind.
Which was precisely why her hand continued to find its way to the spark of life inside of her. If she lost Ruric, and her heart clenched at the thought, then she would always have a piece of him with her.
“If we get out of this, what are you doing to do with…” Luther paused, and Jane knew he was keeping himself from calling her child “it”.
“We’ll have a small home together.” She said quietly. “We’ll be caught between two worlds, so we’ll go elsewheres. These deserts are large enough for me to make a home for us.”
“What about food?”
“We’ll manage.” She always did. A flutter of nerves made her stomach heave, but she didn’t have much of a choice. No child of hers would be subjected to living with the scrutiny of the human world, and the goblins likely wouldn’t welcome her back.
They’d welcome the child, but not the woman who had caused so much loss.
Luther was about to argue with her when they heard the clipped sounds of heels striking the stone floor. So far, the only people to visit them had been guards hiding behind masks. This person was new.
Jane turned so quickly that her vision seemed to spark in front of her when the woman came into view.
“Catherine!” Luther stood up, pushing hard against the glass. “Catherine you have to let us out.”
She stood in front of them, her white lab coat pressed so perfectly that Jane could see the lines that ran down the edges of it. Her hands were clasped in front of her as though to appear calm and collected. But Jane could see that her knuckles were white as she clenched her fingers.
“I’m afraid I cannot Luther.”
“But why?” He appeared shocked.
Jane, however, was not. She stepped towards the glass and looked Catherine in the eye before answering her brother’s question for the other woman.
“Because she can’t.”
“That’s not an answer, Jane.”
“It’s enough of one.” There was a part of Jane that understood Catherine. She had been in the room with Jane and Luther, yet she was not in jail with them. The woman was doing her best to survive.
Jane wanted to dislike the woman. But she could clearly see the relief in Catherine’s eyes that she hadn’t been the one to disappoint Luther. At least directly.
Catherine wasn’t the kind of woman that was born to be a fighter. She was too small and delicate for that world. And though Jane felt intense dislike for her, she also understood that there was little a woman like her could do in this situation.
So instead of growing angry or yelling, Jane kept a direct gaze on the smaller woman and remained silent. After all that had happened, she was learning how to listen rather than jumping to conclusions.
“I’m to take your vitals.” Catherine’s voice was so quiet that Jane almost didn’t hear her.
“Where are your guards?”
As Jane watched, Catherine’s fingers untwisted in the slightest movement to gently flick in the direction she came. “As we have already had contact, I managed to convince them that I had no need of guards. I had hoped that you would trust me.”
And yet her fingers had clearly said something opposite.
Jane’s head cocked to the side and her eyes narrowed as she swept a glance from Catherine’s toes to her head. There had to be something that she was missing.
As she watched, Catherine’s hands raised to gently smooth a hand down her lab coat. But that hand lingered for the barest second upon one of the black buttons. Both women’s eyes met, and Jane understood that they were being listened to. There hadn’t been a moment since she had been here that was entirely private.
She sighed.
“Alright. I’d rather go with you than the other guards I suppose.”
“Jane.” Luther’s hands pressed against the glass between them. “Jane, I don’t think we’re in any place to be trusting anyone.”
“Maybe not.” She replied. “But we don’t have much of a choice in the matter. I’d rather quietly follow
her than have the guards involved.”
She didn’t dare look at her brother as Catherine pressed a few buttons and the glass door slid open in front of her.
They were surprisingly alone down the white hallway until they came to another door in the same area Luther and she were kept. At least this one didn’t have clear glass walls.
“I trust you are doing well?” Catherine murmured as she stepped aside to allow Jane to enter first.
“I’ve seen more of my brother in the past few days than I ever wanted to.” Jane answered dryly. There hadn’t been any privacy between the two of them. It wasn’t the homecoming she had hoped for.
“Well I suppose that cannot be avoided.” At least the other woman had the decency to blush.
“It could be avoided. We could be let go.”
“You know why we can’t allow that.”
“I know why he can’t allow that.” Jane emphasized the word “he” and they both knew who she was referring to. “But I don’t know why you can’t.”
“I work here.” Catherine sat down on a chair next to a clear white desk and pointed towards the cold metal table in the center of the room.
“Of course.” Jane sat herself down and tried not to shiver when the metal touched the back of her legs. “But you don’t have to.”
Catherine was already flipping through papers on the desk. When she responded, she did not look up. “I have a rare disease that requires medication. My lungs don’t work very well in this environment. I am lucky to have a job that allows me to work for the drugs that keep me alive.”
The words held more meaning than simple dedication. Jane could see clearly now why Catherine was still here. Why she was doing work that so obviously made her uncomfortable.
“Ah.” Was the only response Jane could give her.
Their eyes met from across the room and Catherine slowly nodded. Her hand raised to smooth down her lab coat again.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way. The better machines are upstairs and… well.” Catherine stood slowly and walked towards Jane. “You’re to remain here for your own safety.”
Jane allowed herself to be shifted until she was lying down. “Somehow I doubt it’s for my own safety.”
“And that of the child.”
Jane’s head was already starting to ache. It seemed as though every word Catherine said held a hidden meaning within it that she should be paying attention to.
Catherine wheeled over another machine that seemed to be held together by a few fused pieces and a prayer.
“I’m going to need to have access to your stomach.”
At least the other woman had the decency to blush.
Jane said nothing other than arching an eyebrow, but she drew the cloth of the hospital gown up to expose her midriff. They had at least been kind enough to supply her with underwear. After living in the caves with so little clothing covering her, Jane found her sense of embarrassment over her own body had lessened.
There was the smallest bump on her stomach. The raise was barely enough to notice but there none the less. As Catherine covered her legs with a thin paper sheet, Jane’s hand smoothed down her belly.
“I’m sure it’s doing fine.”
The reassurance was unexpected but welcome as the two women looked at each other.
“I didn’t even know about it until you told me.”
“I had gathered that much.” Catherine’s expression changed into one that could only be described as wistful. “It’s quite a miracle that you’ve managed to carry it.”
“Is it?”
“I was studying the specimen that you attempted to steal. Our genetics are quite close, but I hadn’t thought that cross species breeding would have been possible.”
“Goblin.”
Catherine paused in her mechanical movements and looked at Jane. “Excuse me?”
“Goblin. They prefer to be called goblins.”
The words seemed to stump Catherine for a moment before she slowly nodded. “Of course. I hadn’t realized how cold that might sound.”
“They’re people, just like us.”
Jane’s eyes tracked the other woman’s movements as she started to smooth cold liquid gel onto her belly. Catherine appeared to be truly uncomfortable now.
Slowly, Catherine settled herself onto a chair near the table. She leaned closer and the lapel of her jacket pressed hard against the metal table.
“The goblin boy always seemed more than just an animal to me.” She murmured quietly. “He was far too aware for an animal.”
But then she leaned away again. Jane realized she had been muffling the sounds of her words so that whomever was listening to them wouldn’t be able to make out the sounds.
“I’m going to use this machine to check on the health of your child.” Catherine then said, her words clipped and impersonal.
“You said before I was a month along, but that’s not possible. I would need to be at least 3 months.”
Catherine’s brows furrowed as she pressed the machine against Jane’s stomach.
“That’s odd. Let me look again.”
Both women then fell silent and stared at the screen that flickered on and off as Catherine continued to move the metal head that seemed to blink light against her stomach.
“There we go.”
This time, Jane made sure she looked at the image that continued to blink on and off of the screen. It didn’t look like much really, just a shadow on an image that looked foreign to her. But when Catherine pointed a lean finger against the screen, she could make out the bean that was her child.
“That’s her?”
Jane’s voice was filled with awe.
“Yes. Although I can’t tell you if it’s a girl yet.”
“It is.”
Catherine stared at the hard line of Jane’s jaw since the other woman’s eyes were locked on the screen.
“How are you so sure?”
“I just am.”
The image stayed on the screen for as long as Catherine dared before she took the instrument off of Jane’s stomach. Jane didn’t need it on the screen any longer. She knew what her child looked like. Her heart was singing.
“Is it hot in here?” Catherine asked while fanning herself. “Excuse me for a moment, I think I’m feeling ill.”
She took off her lab jacket and tossed it onto the floor, while sagging slowly until her head was nearly pressed against her knees.
Jane leaned forward to help her and swung her legs off of the table. It was then that she saw Catherine’s fingers moving once more.
“Don’t move, just sit there and let me talk. We don’t have long.”
She forced her face to be still and not show any surprise. Jane hadn’t thought that Catherine would help them. She understood that Catherine made the choices that would keep her alive. This was the exact opposite of that.
“The guards will be here soon, please just sit still and make it seem as though I’m not speaking.”
Jane remained as still as possible.
“I don’t know how to help you, but I’m doing my best right now. The goblin boy who was here, Juo I think you called him, has been transferred to my care. I’m being as gentle as possible. I can’t do anything for the other goblin. They have him locked up tight. I’m working on a plan to get you and Luther out. Now lean forward and put your hand on my shoulder as though you’re asking how I am. Keep your face away from the camera on the right wall and tell me how to help.”
Jane leaned forward then, her hand sliding along the other woman’s back. She could feel her ribs through the cloth. “There are more goblins. Two, named Shusar and Illyrin. Tell my sister to go find them outside the walls, she’ll be the best at it. They might be able to help us.”
“That’s your plan?” Catherine hissed. “That’s a horrible plan.”
“I don’t have anything else to offer.” Jane said.
They both froze when they heard the hard crac
ks of the guard’s boots against the floor.
“I’ll do what I can.” Catherine whispered before she fell forward and completely onto the floor.
The door burst open just as Jane leaned backwards. She pointed to Catherine on the floor and tried to make her expression as horrified as possible.
“She collapsed. I don’t know what happened. Help her please!”
There must have been enough fear in her voice because the guard’s moved into action. One roughly grabbed her arm and yanked her off the table while the other knelt in front of Catherine and gently tried to shake her awake.
“Come on.” The guard holding Jane said, his voice was hard and angry.
As she left the room, she could hear the other murmur softly to Catherine who had started to “wake up”. The two women shared a knowing look before the door was closed between them.
13
Time seemed to pass both slow and fast in the cells Luther and Jane were kept in. Parts of the day felt as though they were caged animals. They would pace and argue with each other until a guard would come down the hall and tell them both to be quiet. Other times they told stories of their childhood and laughed.
But the times when they argued were only growing more and more frequent. There was no day or night, only the blinding bright fluorescent lights that blinked.
“You were the one that left us.” Luther’s angry voice carried once more. It was the same argument that she had heard hundreds of times so far.
“I had to leave, Luther. I didn’t have a choice.”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“I was kidnapped!”
“That’s the excuse you keep giving me!”
“How is that an excuse?” Jane threw her arms into the air and laid down on the small cot. Their arguments had devolved from anything intelligent to repeating the same things over and over again.
There was little more she could tell him, other than what had already been said. She didn’t have a choice to come back to them. She had come back as soon as she could. Jane hadn’t wanted to disappear on them.
But she had already said all of that. He had heard her, or at least said that he had heard. Yet they were still arguing about the same thing over and over.
