Spectacle (Menagerie #2)(101)

Delilah

Something rushed out of the darkness of an open doorway, and Tabitha disappeared. I blinked, and my eyelids felt heavy. Tabitha’s legs stuck out of the dark room, her bare feet turned in by their own limp weight.

*

I heard a wet thunk and forced my eyes open. Tabitha’s head rolled to a stop next to her left ankle, her hair obscuring most of her face but little of the open wound her neck had become. Her arm flew out of the darkness to smack the wall to my left.

Gallagher stepped out of the room. He dropped Tabitha’s other arm and his gaze landed on me. Fury and pain swam in his eyes.

*

Gallagher lifted me like a child and cradled me in both arms.

“Press here.” He laid something over my wound and positioned my hands on top of it, and I realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

He pressed with his hands on top of mine. I screamed as pain ripped through my stomach.

“I know it hurts, but you have to keep pressure on it.”

*

I flew down the hall, bouncing in Gallagher’s grip. Claudio limped as fast as he could ahead of us, while Rommily helped with one arm around his shoulders. Ahead of them, Eryx ran for the door with Genni in his arms. Every step he took shattered the tile beneath his feet.

We burst through the door into the night, and the cold night air shocked me awake, in spite of both pain and blood loss. Behind us, the roars and thuds of the beasts’ battle still raged, punctuated by the occasional shout or rapid burst of gunfire.

“Head for the parking lot!” Gallagher shouted ahead to Eryx.

My eyes closed again, and sounds floated around me. Footsteps. An engine. The squeal of brakes.

Zyanya shouted something.

I opened my eyes as Gallagher wrenched open the rear door of a transport truck with one hand. He laid me inside, on the floor, and everyone else piled in around me. Zyanya and Lenore were in the cab.

The truck bounced as it drove, rocking crazily, but Gallagher kept pressure on my side. “Don’t worry,” he said, when I looked up into his eyes. “I’ve treated many battle wounds.”

Tears filled my eyes, and his face blurred. We both knew I’d need more than stitches. “Aaron.”

“What?” Gallagher said.

“Take me to Senator Aaron’s house.” I gasped from the effort it took to speak. “His wife’s a surgeon. She owes me a favor.”

“I don’t know where that is,” Zyanya called from the front seat.

I gave her the address I’d read on the mailbox at the end of the long driveway. Paper rustled as Lenore dug a map from the glove box.

“Only Gallagher goes in with me,” I insisted.

No one argued.

In the distance, an explosion split the night, and the pressure rocked the van.

And that’s when the world went black.

*

I woke up on a dining room table, staring up at a tray ceiling and a massive chandelier. I rolled my head to the left and found Gallagher snoozing on the floor. When I rolled my head to the other direction, I found Dr. Sarah Aaron sitting on a padded window seat, sipping from a glass of ice water. The early-morning sunlight pouring in from behind her pierced my head like spears through my eyes.

She noticed my movement and looked up. Then she stood. “You got lucky. The bullet broke your rib, but missed your lung. Your biggest problem was blood loss. Fortunately, I’m O positive.”

I frowned, trying to understand.

“You now have a pint of my blood,” she explained. “You’re going to be fine. But you have to leave. Now.”

I tried to sit up, and pain shot through my left side. I gasped, and froze.

“Wait, let me help.” The floor creaked as Gallagher stood, then shook with each step as he rounded the table. He slid one arm beneath my back and set me upright. Slowly.

“Give her two of these a day, with plenty of water.” She handed him a brown pill bottle. “They’ll keep her from getting an infection. Give her Tylenol for the pain, every four hours, as needed. The stitches will dissolve on their own, but don’t let her lift anything until that happens. And make sure she gets plenty of rest.”

“The baby?” I asked, and my voice broke on the question. My throat was so dry.

Dr. Aaron gave me a small smile. “The heartbeat is strong. If you rest and stay hydrated, I’d say you’ve got a good shot.”

Her face blurred beneath my tears. “So I’m still pregnant?”

“Yes. But I’m serious. Let Daddy, over there, take care of you. He looks like he’s up for the challenge.”

“Daddy?” I followed her gaze to Gallagher, who was clutching an envelope that had practically been pressed into the shape of his fist.

“I found it on his desk.” He pulled a folded sheet of paper from the envelope and handed it to me.

I unfolded it with trembling hands and scanned the writing until I got to the bottom.

Fetal species: fae of indeterminate origin.

I burst into tears, then gasped at the pain in my side. Then I laughed, and cried again from the pain. After that, I was just crying.

“Thank you,” Gallagher said to the doctor, while I sniffled and wiped tears from my face. He helped me toward the edge of the table, and I flinched at the pain in my side.

“Tylenol only,” Dr. Aaron reminded us. “If she has any complications, you’re going to have to find another doctor. You can’t come back here.”