Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Could they have made this more dramatic?
A second set of doors slid open. We passed through them, shedding another pair of guards, and the speaker’s robotic voice vanished, cut off mid-word.
We came to a T-section, where a hallway crossed ours. The way ahead was blocked by a third door. You’ve got to be kidding me.
Nevada looked at Connor. “Are we expecting an assault? Is there something you forgot to tell me?”
“Standard procedure,” he said.
Most of the medical personnel with us split up, moving into the side hallways. Only two female nurses remained.
The doors in front of us whispered open. We went through, and this time the two security dudes stayed on the other side.
We entered a large round room. The walls were a smooth pale concrete, the floor also concrete in warm tones of brown and beige. It looked like the inside of a bunker. The air smelled of lemon and lavender.
In the middle of the round bunker-room was another room, positioned perfectly in the center, no doors, only two doorways. We rolled through one of the doorways into what looked like an ordinary hospital room. Soothing blue walls, weird medical equipment, most of it bolted to the floor or the walls, a space-age hospital bed, a big screen embedded in the wall near the ceiling opposite the bed, everything seemed almost normal for a high-tech hospital.
In the wall to the right, another doorway offered access to the bathroom. No door again, only a curtain hanging from a rod embedded in the doorway.
Nevada looked at Connor. “Why aren’t there any doors?”
“Less things to fly around,” he said.
Yeah, also if the doctor and nurses had to run out in a hurry, not having a door helped.
The nurses moved Nevada from the chair onto the bed and started saying soothing words and checking things between her legs.
I reached for my magic. It swirled in my mind, a riot of colors. I plucked at the blue one and let it settle over me. The cobalt image of the Beast, huge and shaggy, crouched in my mind, waiting, staring out through my eyes. I inhaled. The world blossomed into a kaleidoscope of scents. Gun oil, metal, disinfectant, medicinal alcohol, skin cells, deodorant, perfume, soap…
“There are eighteen people in the hallway around this room.” Were there cameras in here too? Because if there were, my sister deserved to know she would be on display.
Nevada looked at Connor again. “You said a medical team and a few security people. You didn’t say South by Southwest.”
A doctor walked into the room. She was about Mom’s age, curvy, with large kind eyes, dark brown skin, and a pair of red-framed glasses on her nose. “Hello. I’m Dr. Maier. I’m here to help you.”
There was something so reassuring about the way she spoke.
“I’m a Prime laborist, which means I specialize in High Risk Prime Parturition. I’ve been doing this for twenty years.”
“Has anyone ever died?” I asked.
Mom gave me her scary stare. Well, nobody else was going to ask and it was kind of important.
“Yes,” Dr. Maier said. “Out of sixty-seven P/P births I’ve lost two babies and three mothers.”
I typed average mortality Prime/Prime Birth into my phone. “It says here the national death rate of P/P births is twenty-eight percent.”
“Stop,” Mom snapped. “Or I’ll take you out of here.”
“They should know.”
“And trauma to the newborn occurs thirty-two percent of the time,” Nevada said. “I do know. Connor and I looked it up.”
Oh.
Nevada turned to the doctor. “Thank you for helping me.”
“I know it’s scary and this is an odd place to give birth, but this is the safest way for you and the baby. This is not our first time. We’ve done this before. Trust us. We’ll take good care of you.”
“Why are there so many people?” Connor asked.
“We have an emergency telekinetic team standing by.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Connor said. “I’ll contain it.”
“The father isn’t always the best person,” Dr. Maier said.
“In this case, I am the best person,” the Scourge of Mexico informed her.
“Very well.” Dr. Maier picked up a remote and clicked it. Several people appeared on the screen across from the bed. “These are our halcyons. They’re here to keep you and the baby calm. They can’t see you; they can only feel your mind. And they’re telling me that you’re not letting them in.”
Halcyons were psionics in reverse. While psionics incited survival emotions, like fear and anger, halcyons soothed and calmed.
“If you let them alter your mood, it might make things easier.”
“I don’t think I can,” Nevada said.
She had protected her mind for years now. The shields on it were just too thick.
“Okay,” Dr. Maier said. “Then we’ll proceed without them or the telekinetics. The only people who can see you are in this room. Nothing is being recorded. And if at any point you want someone to leave, tell me and they’re gone.”