The Rising

TWENTY-TWO

DR. WILEY WAS THE woman who’d been standing there, silently observing. She followed as the guard led me away. We headed upstairs and into another hall. As Rafe said, the house was huge. This seemed like a wing, with doors lining the corridor. A few were open and I could see what looked like work areas. An office. A computer lab. A staff lounge.

Dr. Wiley opened the next door. Inside was a medical office, complete with paper-covered examining table and gown.

I hesitated.

“It’s a physical, Maya,” Dr. Wiley said without looking back. “On the table, please. Sitting.”

The guard backed out of the room. As he was closing the door, a hand grabbed it. Moreno walked in. When he did, I felt a weird flutter of relief at seeing a familiar face. Which was stupid, really, because Moreno was no friend of ours. But at least he was a threat I knew. One I understood.

“Hey, Doc,” he said.

“I’m busy.”

“Yeah, I see that. Only . . . wasn’t Inglis supposed to do the examination on Maya? Pretty sure she was. Pretty sure Cal insisted on it.”

“Mr. Antone and Dr. Inglis are unavailable. Mr. Nast wants the examination done immediately. He’s concerned about Maya’s behavior.”

Moreno gave a derisive snort. “Only because he wasn’t the one chasing her though the forest for three days. Otherwise he’d know that misbehavior is pretty much par for the course with Miss Maya.” He turned to me. “Isn’t it?”

I gave him a look.

He laughed. “The killer glare. You inherited that from your daddy.” He lifted a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Rick Delaney is your daddy. Spare me the protest.” Back to Dr. Wiley. “If Mr. Nast thinks Maya’s bad now, he should just be glad her partner in crime isn’t here. First time I met those two? Maya tried to question me while her benandanti buddy knocked me around. It was kinda cute, actually.”

“Beating and interrogation?” Dr. Wiley said. “We have a very different definition of cute, Mr. Moreno.”

“Maybe. But the point is, she isn’t acting out of character. Which means this examination isn’t necessary. I’m sure you have other things to do. You go do them. I’ll take Miss Maya back to the others, and Dr. Inglis can examine her later.”

“My orders are to conduct a physical. I take my orders from Mr. Nast.” She looked his way. “As do you.”

Moreno blustered some more, but when Dr. Wiley picked up the phone to call security, he shut up and took a seat. The doctor settled for compressing her lips in a thin line of disapproval as she turned her attention to me.

I’ve been having physicals all my life. I always figured they were just the normal kind everyone talks about. Now I suspect mine were a little different. They were certainly thorough. At home, we all dreaded the twice-annual two-hour appointment.

This one started exactly as I remembered. Height, weight, blood pressure, eyes, ears, throat, chest. She drew blood. Ten vials. Nothing more than I was used to, but I could see Moreno’s eyes widen a little as she passed number five and kept going.

When she was done with the blood, she sent it out immediately. I got juice and cookies while she waited for the lab tech. It was the same kinds of juice and cookies I’d been getting since I was five, which was creepy. The Nasts hadn’t just bought us, they’d bought everything about us, replicating each detail to ease the transition.

I shivered.

“Cold?” Dr. Wiley asked.

I shook my head.

She frowned. “Have you been shivering a lot recently?”

“No.”

“Anything more serious? Shaking? Convulsions?”

“The girl shivered, Doc.”

“Mr. Moreno, I’m going to ask you to leave now.”

“Ah, hell.” Moreno leaned back in his seat. “Fine. I’ll be quiet.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be sufficient. I need to conduct a thorough examination, which requires . . .” She picked up the robe and waggled it at him.

Still he hesitated.

“Mr. Moreno.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He stood and walked over to me. “Your dad will be here soon, kiddo.”

Dr. Wiley sniffed and waved him out. I watched him go.

Okay, what was that about? I’d sensed the tension between Antone and Nast earlier, but I hadn’t given it much thought. Antone was more accustomed to giving orders than taking them. But Moreno’s hovering? That was weird, as was his insistence on waiting for Antone and Dr. Inglis.

Something was going on here. Serious tension, and not just between Antone and Nast. I could see Dr. Inglis being uncomfortable having someone else work on me. I was “hers,” and there was bound to be conflict between the Nast camp and the former St. Cloud employees. But Antone and Moreno had been with the Nasts since this had begun.

The rest of the physical was exactly what I’d had since I turned twelve, right down to the order of the steps. Physical exam. Pap smear. Breast examination. Cheek swab. Vitamin injection. And, finally, the sour apple lollipop.

I stared at the green sucker. “Seriously?”

“We were told you liked green apple.” She opened the drawer and pulled out a bag. “We have cherry, raspberry. Even . . .” She picked up a brown one. “Root beer? Oh, yes, that’d be for Daniel.”

I stared at that brown sucker. My stomach twisted. She set it on the counter where I could see it.

“Do you know what happens when a car strikes the human body, Maya? Yes, Daniel got up and walked away. I’m sure he just felt battered and bruised. But the force of that impact must have done damage. Internal damage. He could go to sleep feeling fine and then . . . never wake up.”

I clenched my fists to keep from shaking as panic whipped through me.

They’re exaggerating. You know they are. Corey will take care of him. Trust Corey and trust Daniel. Worry won’t help you get out of here. You need to focus on escape.

“I don’t know where he is,” I said.

“I think you do.”

“I don’t. We got separated—”

“Then he’ll find a place you all stayed before that and go there to wait. You need to tell us—”

“There’s nothing to tell.” I hopped off the exam table, scooped up my clothes, and retreated behind the curtain to dress.