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Well, fuck me. I gave him my best cop face. “You’ve clearly never been a woman.”
He stepped back. “True, but anger, as you know, scents the air like a fine vintage. Yours feels like a dammed river, waiting for a crack. If I’m wrong, you just let me know.”
Sonofabitch. “What of it?”
Seth cocked an eyebrow. “You’re not concerned?”
“Are you talking to me as my doctor, or another super?” I crossed my arms under my breasts and locked my ankles together. Hooray for body language.
“I’m talking as your super doctor.”
I shook my head and frowned. “Clever. Not.”
He shrugged. “The spell is winding down. People are going to come through again, and I have other patients to see. The question you should be asking me is not how to stop a Great Naga, but how to cling to your dwindling humanity before you really are a monster.” He made a great show of looking at his watch.
A nurse peeked her head in. “Doctor, you’re needed in room 304.”
“Sounds good, Pamela, just wrapping up now. Right, Ms. Delante?” He tapped the face of his watch with one finger, his eyes on me.
“Oh, fine, dammit, tell me what’s going on, Doctor Seth.”
She looked from him to me and back again, and quick as she’d appeared, she was gone.
He chuckled. “She’s a great nurse, that Pamela.”
“Seth.”
He walked over and gestured toward the bed. “Mind if I have a seat? I need to show you something.”
“Fine.”
Seth sat down and nudged me with one elbow. “Watch this.” He spread his hands wide in the open air, leaving a film in their wake. It blurred my vision a touch, and when I reached for it, he tsked me. “Such magick is tenuous at best. Let me weave this, and then you can play with it.”
His fingers danced over the surface, and each movement summoned a small figure. He drew a room around the figures, landscape to the left of them, windows to the right.
It reminded me of those Colorform toys from my childhood. As I watched, the picture sharpened, and the figures took tangible form—tangible and recognizable form. “Hey, that’s me!” I pointed at the miniature me wandering around inside the room, occasionally glancing out the nearest window.
“Yes,” he smiled. “That’s you, little wolf. I’m almost done.”
The urge to be annoyed over my size tied to yet another not-so-’endearing’ endearment was muted by the growing interest in his construction. Irritating or not, Seth could weave a masterful spell with his magick. I’d never seen anyone do anything like this. Sure, Jareth had been impressive, but even his magick paled in comparison to the intricacies unfolding before my eyes.
Nagas were amazing spellcasters. Just the sheer layers of magick....
I touched my neck where the beetle had been, and all sense of excitement evaporated. My heart sank. “Jacob. I forgot Jacob,” I whispered.
He paused. “Who?”
“Jacob, my boyfriend. Before I got bit, he... had an accident, and the last thing I knew, he was getting seen by the EMTs. I need to check on him. Can you do this later? I have to know if he’s okay.”
“I can help with that.” He gave me a small smile before balling up the entire scene. “Here, take this. When you have a minute, spread it out and touch your avatar. Just don’t wait too long. Even the best spells don’t last forever.”
He stood up, smoothed his lab coat, and offered me a hand. “Let’s go find your boyfriend.”
“I’m only wearing a gown.”
“I promise no one will even notice.”
I frowned, and he wiggled his fingers at me. The cloth around my butt wiggled as well, and when I looked back, the open flaps had sealed into a seam up to my waist. “Do no harm, huh?”
“Especially not to a woman’s sensibilities.” He held open the door. “Shall we?”
We stepped out of the room, and I didn’t even have time to register my name before my best friend bear hugged me.
“Zoë!” She shoved my head into her shoulder. “I thought you were dead! You were missing! Don’t you ever do that to me again!”
“Lucy, need to breathe!” I pawed at her, trying to loosen her grip.
She squeezed me harder, and I saw spots in front of my eyes. Thankfully, it was a parting move, because she let me go. Mostly. She left her hands on my shoulders and gave me the once-over. “I brought clothes.”
“Oh, thank the gods,” I exhaled and looked over Lucy’s shoulder at Seth. “Not that I don’t trust you.”
He nodded. “Sensitive bits. Now that you two have been reunited, shall we hunt down your beloved?”
“Jacob!” Lucy squeaked. She grabbed my hand and started forward, pausing for a second in front of the good doctor. “No offense, but I’ve got this. Thank you for saving her.” She kissed him full on the lips, and they were both surprised for a second. She blushed. “She’s my best friend. I would die without her.” She pulled me past him.
“Wait.” He rummaged in a pocket. “If you need my services in the future....” Dr. Seth handed her a business card. “I make house calls.”
Lucy’s cheeks deepened to a fantastic shade of scarlet as she grabbed the card and shoved it into a back pocket of her jeans. She stammered a thanks, gave me a ‘save me!’ look and took off running with me in tow, leaving the poor, bewildered, and slightly blushing young doctor in our wake.
***
“Your bag is stashed in one of the bathrooms that had an empty locker,” she said as we rode an elevator up, in a clear we’re-so-not-talking-about-what-just-happened tone.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Um....” She patted her pockets, then reached into the small purse draped across her body and pulled out a watch. “A-ha! It’s, um, 9:45pm.”
Explained why so few people were wandering the hallways. “I don’t....” I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t even know what time everything happened. It seems so long ago. How long have we been here?”
“It’s been about four hours since the ambulance brought you in. You kept having seizures, and you’d turned this ugly grey-blue color. Dammit, Zoë, I was so scared for you.” She shuffled across the carpet as we walked. “I thought we’d finally run out of luck. I didn’t know if you were going to make it.
“The nurse who came out said snake bite, but I saw that wound, Zo. Whatever bit you would’ve had to have been a frickin’ anaconda, and we don’t have anacondas in Maryland.”
“There was a naga waiting for me.” The words twisted a knot in my stomach, but he had been there, and he had been waiting specifically for me to come outside. Was he the spellcaster from Sera’s house? Had he followed us to mine? I shook my head; questions for later. “He had a....” How in the hell did I forget about the baby? “Holy shit! I need to borrow your phone.” I held a hand out.
She slid it into my palm. “Okay, you going to enlighten me?”
I raised a finger at her as I dialed Daniel. The elevator dinged, the phone pressed against one ear and a finger pressed against the other, and I walked onto the floor.
“Lucy? What’s wrong? Are they okay?”
I sighed and closed my eyes for a second. “Daniel, it’s me.”
“Gods, Zoë, we thought you were dead!”
Lucy’s reprimand echoed in my head, and I bit back the instantaneous bitchy comment on my tongue. “I’m okay, Daniel, just a bad bite. Anti-venom does wonders.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” His tone said he didn’t believe a word I said.
I didn’t give him a chance to push it. “That’s not why I called, though.”
He grunted. “I know about Jacob. I hope he recovers soon. For you.”
“Wait, what?” I shook my head. “I’m almost there, so I’ll know in a minute, but Daniel, listen to me. In the woods behind my house, there’s another dead baby.”
