Fruit of Misfortune (15 page)

“Are you nervous?” I asked, placing my hand
on his over the doorknob.

“Yes.”

“Me, too.” I looked up at him. “I’m sorry you
have to go through this.”

“I’m not regretting my decision, if that’s
what you think.”

“I know,” I said. “But what’s keeping you
from opening the door?”

“As much as I try not to worry,” David tucked
a strand of hair behind my ear, “I’m afraid that this doctor may
tell me something that I don’t want to hear.”

“Like what?”

“That I may lose you. That I won’t be able to
give you the things I promised. I can’t compete with this
transformation.”

My heart plummeted to my bare feet. I knew
that what David had said would happen with or without the doctor’s
diagnosis. In the end, he would lose me, and I would lose him. The
determination to turn myself over to the Council had only grown
stronger the previous night, seeing him bleed and convulse. It was
the start of his transformation. David might not have had the power
to control the change, but I held the key to save him from turning
into the bloodthirsty Creatura from my dreams. And it would be over
my dead body that I’d let that bitch have him.

“Don’t worry.” I forced out one of my fake
smiles. “Everything will fall into place, and we’ll be fine. Well
take it one day at a time. As for today, let’s finish this.”

***

Dr. Gunn extracted several vials of blood
from my arm, and then directed me to an MRI machine. The loud
humming noise that it produced made the claustrophobia almost
intolerable inside the tube. I kept my eyes closed during the scan
and focused on breathing, trying to block out the sound. At last,
the device ejected the sliding table, and I was freed from the
cylinder. I opened my eyes and found Galen smirking at me, standing
next to the machine.

He put his finger over his lips and jerked
his head in the direction of the doctor who was gawking at a curved
syringe in front of his nose.

“The doctor is having problems trying to draw
blood from your husband.”

“Oh no.” I panicked. “He’ll know he’s not
mortal.”

“Like a bent needle hasn’t raised his
suspicions already?”

“Well, don’t just stand there. Do something
about it.”

“In a minute,” Galen said, looking at David
and the doctor. “Let’s see what Gunn does next. Look, there he goes
again. Nope, that needle isn’t working either. Uh oh… He broke it
this time. I can’t believe he’s reaching for a third. What a moron!
I don’t know about you, but if he keeps this up, I’m going to
laugh.”

“It’s not funny.” I sat up.

“Galen.” David shot his brother a bothered
look. “Give the doctor a hand, would you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Galen took an object out of his pocket and
walked to the scientist. I slipped off the bed and followed
him.

“What’s this?” Gunn held a small glass tube
with a silver rectangular sheet in it that ended in the shape of an
isosceles triangle.

“A blade,” David told him. “Your needles
aren’t even capable of breaking the top layer of my skin.” David
took the tube from Gunn’s hand and opened it, sliding the sliver of
metal onto his open palm. “This is the only way you can have the
blood cultures that you need.”

“Mr. Chios and… other Mr. Chios,” Gunn began,
“I have a feeling you’ve left out a lot of information that I’ll
need in order to continue this study.” Gunn reached for the
blade.

“No,” David pulled his hand away. “You
mustn’t touch it with your bare hands. The blade will slice right
through you. It needs an attachment.”

“Allow me,” Galen took the blade and mounted
it onto a small metal rod, transforming it into a scalpel. Then he
took David’s wrist and pressed the point of the triangle into the
middle of his brother’s limb.

“That’s deep enough.” David winced. A thin,
red stream of blood slid over the side of David’s arm and down to
his elbow.

“Finish your procedure,” Galen said. “And
make it quick. It won’t be long before the lesion closes. ”

Gunn’s stare shifted to me, two vertical
lines forming between his brows.

“Doctor.” David’s voice shook the scientist
from his thoughts. “You can continue.”

“Right. Yes.”

The doctor moved fast as he drew vial after
vial of blood from the small gash. He set a small white lid on the
last of the glass tubes, and asked, “Will you be telling me about
this thick skin of yours?”

“I was under the impression that this is what
we hired you for—to solve the riddle?” David was quick to
answer.

“Well, you must know something. I mean—” Gunn
let out a forced short laugh “—you had that scalpel ready.”

“Inspect it, if you must, but don’t touch the
edges of the blade. It’s sharp.” Galen held out the scalpel to the
scientist.

“How sharp?” I asked.

“Let’s find out,” said Gunn.

The doctor raised the blade and looked
around, eyeing his target—a steel lab table next to him. He ran the
razor diagonally along the corner of the table. The silver triangle
that the doctor had shaped out of the angled edge dropped to the
floor. Gunn squeaked as he observed the piece of the dissected
table at his feet, and then turned to look at us.

“What kind of alloy is this?” he asked.

“It’s not an alloy. It’s a compound of
Lutetium and diamonds,” Galen explained.

“Lutetium is used in atomic technology. It’s
very rare, Mr. Chios.” Gunn’s eyes were wide with shock. “I need to
know why you’ve come here.”

“Because there’s something wrong with
me
, Doctor,” I said. “Something terribly wrong, and it’s
affecting David—and we need your help.”

“Your skin—” Gunn’s head shook rejecting the
idea “—it’s normal, Mrs. Chios.” His stare bounced from David to
Galen to me. “I’d like to remind you that I may be an idiot, but
I’m a scientist, too, and a damn good one, if I do say so myself.”
He turned to look at Galen. “You’re paying me to keep my mouth
shut, and I understand that, but in order for me to help them, I
need you to come clean. Tell me what I’m supposed to be looking
for. Otherwise…” He took the check that Galen had given him out his
shirt pocket. “You can take this and leave.”

“I doubt you’d like to miss out on the
opportunity to discover this on your own, Gunn. I promise it’ll be
worth your time.”

Galen took the check from the scientist’s
hand and tucked it back into Gunn’s shirt pocket. Gunn inhaled
deeply and held his breath. When he started turning a light shade
of purple, he exhaled.

“Okay. I’ll proceed in the name of science,”
Gunn said.

Gunn took David and Galen aside and spoke
with them briefly, and then left us to gather his instruments.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“He was explaining the next procedure, asking
us to assist him,” David said.

It wasn’t long before I saw the doctor
walking toward the hospital bed where I was sitting, wearing white
latex gloves and holding a tray of glass tubes. When he came closer
to the table, I saw an extra instrument he was carrying and
freaked.

“What that’s supposed to be for?” I stared in
terror at a three-inch long needle in Gunn’s hand.

“I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see
this.” He hid the needle behind his back. “I need to gather some
cerebral spinal fluid since we’re trying to rule out any
neurological irregularities.”

“You may have worms.” Galen raised his brows
and nodded. “In your head.” He tapped his temple with two fingers.
“They make you crazy.”

I ignored him, and turned my attention back
to the doctor. I bit what was left of my thumbnail.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

“He’ll apply an anesthetic first. You won’t
feel much,” David said.

“
Much
?”

“It won’t hurt,” Gunn said, blinking. Did he
blink when he was lying?

“You can bite on my hand if you have any
pain. It won’t hurt me.” David leaned in close to my ear. “I can’t
sedate you because he’ll find the remnants of my anesthetic in your
lab results.”

“Isis, you mustn’t bite too hard on his
hand,” Galen said in a hushed voice. “
Creatura
have
rabies.”

“What?”

“Shut up, Galen.” David frowned.

“It’s the truth,” Galen said.

“Stop it.”

Rabies
, Galen mouthed, widening his
eyes.

“Ahem,” Gunn interrupted. He was standing
behind the bed, at my back. “This will be a little cold, Mrs.
Chios. It’s an antiseptic solution to cleanse the area.”

I gasped and arched my body when I felt the
icy liquid on my lower back. The air around us filled with the
smell of iodine and other pungent chemicals I couldn’t
identify.

“You can’t move when the needles go in.
You’ll have to be completely still,” the doctor cautioned. “Lie
down on your side. Gentlemen, if you’ll help her fold into a fetal
position as I explained, I’ll begin.”

David pulled my knees in until they touched
my chest. At the same time, Galen tucked my head into the space
between my collarbones. The muscles in my neck and upper back felt
like rubber bands ready to snap.

“Steady her, please,” Gunn ordered. The boys
applied a slight pressure to my knees and head, adding to the
strain in my muscles. “You’ll feel a little sting, but don’t move.
Remember, if you move, it’ll hurt. Understood?”

“Mhh,” is all I managed to sound out.

I closed my eyes and drew in air through my
teeth as I felt the needle break the first layer of skin, and then
slide through, depositing a fluid into my spine. In an instant, the
area began to numb.

“One more time,” the doctor announced. I
didn’t feel the second needle. Just as my nervousness eased, a
heavy and painful pressure deep in my spinal cord rendered me
immobile. “Just a few more drops and we’re finished,” Gunn said.
“You’re doing very well.”

I felt David’s hand run across the top of my
head, stroking me like a domesticated animal. I opened my eyes to
glance at him. I wondered if I looked as defenseless as an animal
being put to sleep. I must have because just then Galen asked me,
“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Why?”

David opened his mouth to say something, but
then covered my eyes with his hand.

“Hey!” I protested, and David quickly hushed
me.

“It’s done,” I heard Gunn say. “Now, you said
you wanted me to conduct a sonogram. For what purpose?”

“Isis has issues with her menstrual cycle,
Doctor. We believe we should take every aspect into consideration,”
David said.

“Hmm…” Gunn sighed. “I don’t believe it’s
necessary, but it wouldn’t hurt. I’ll be back with the
equipment.”

I heard Gunn’s footsteps walking away, and
David lifted his hand from my face. He stared at me with widened
eyes. I turned to look at Galen, whose stare was also fixed on me.
The brothers exchanged a quick glance and shrugged at each
other.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

David’s lips pulled apart, struggling to find
a way to express what he wanted to say. Galen stepped closer to
me.

“Rabies,” Galen said. “I told you.”

I glared at him. Like on many other
occasions, I was ready to smack the stupid out of him, but now
wasn’t the time.

“David, what is it?”

“Your—your eyes.” David blinked. “They
changed.”

The
dreams
, I thought. Adrenaline rushed through me in currents of
dread and horror. I broke into a sweat. Were my nightmares becoming
my reality?

“What’s different about them?” I asked.

“The pupil,” David said.

“Describe it.”

“Reptilian.”

“Like a lizard’s or a snake’s eyes?”

“It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Doesn’t mean anything?” I slid off the bed.
“Are you kidding me? We have to stop lying to ourselves. Things
aren’t getting better—they’re getting worse.”

“We’re here to offset this, Isis,” Galen
said. “You’ll both get through this.”

“You don’t know anything about what’s
happening to us, and you expect me to believe that it’s all going
to be okay?” I shook my head. “In case you hadn’t noticed, things
weren’t looking too good for me before. And now, this? My physical
appearance is changing, Galen. I’m. Not. Okay.”

“How has it changed?” Gunn asked. “What do
you think is wrong with you?” He was rolling a grey, square cart
that held a small machine in the direction of the bed. His brow was
low on his head when he turned to view me.

“She’s the only one that believes that,
Doctor. You know how women are always looking in the mirror,
thinking they look fat,” Galen said with the finesse of a con
artist.

“My wife does the same,” Gunn said. “You’re
not fat, Mrs. Chios. If anything, I’d say you’re underweight. Our
last test will be a physical examination. I’ll show you the weight
range that’s right for your height and age.”