Invaded (Alienated, #2)(35)
The knowledge put a damper on the rest of their conversation, and after they disconnected, Aelyx felt the need to do more. He kept imagining how Cara would feel when her brother left on the next transport. Aelyx couldn’t be there to comfort her, but if he hurried, he might be able to send her a package on the same ship that would carry Troy to Earth. That way, she’d have something from home to soften the blow.
But what? Flowers wouldn’t make it past customs and Cara’s nutrition adviser wouldn’t let her have chocolate. Human females loved faceted rocks set into jewelry, but the practice was so absurd that Aelyx hated to patronize it. He needed a gift that would speak to the heart. Unfortunately, he had no experience in that area.
Once again, he decided to ask David for advice.
He stepped into the hall, finding the penthouse still and silent with nothing illuminating the darkness but a sliver of light leaking beneath the door to David’s room. Avoiding the creakiest floorboards, Aelyx crept down the hallway and knocked softly on David’s door. When he didn’t respond, Aelyx knocked again.
Nothing.
“David?” Aelyx whispered, turning the knob and slowly stepping inside. “Are you awake?” He scanned the room, taking in the neatly made bed, wooden dresser covered in sports magazines and loose change, and a small pile of dirty laundry on the floor. But no David.
Aelyx was about to leave when a clink sounded from the far end of the room, drawing his eye to the bathroom door, which stood slightly ajar. Through the few inches of open space, Aelyx could see part of David’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. Under any other circumstance, Aelyx would have respected the boy’s privacy and left, but what he saw in the mirror made his eyes widen and rooted his feet to the floor.
Below the hem of David’s T-shirt sleeve, a blue elastic band tightly encircled his bicep. Lower, in the bend of his arm, David sank a hypodermic needle into his vein and pressed the plunger with his thumb. Milky fluid disappeared from the vial into his arm, and David tightened his fist, giving a hiss of pain.
Aelyx was no stranger to injectables—he’d used nutrition supplements many times on Earth before he’d learned to tolerate the local food. The act of self-administering medication didn’t shock him in the least. What Aelyx found alarming was the fact that David had used a L’eihr injectable. There was no mistaking the short, sleek design, nor the symbols printed in gray on the vial.
Why was David using L’eihr medication, and where had he gotten it?
When David finished, he removed the blue elastic band and rubbed his arm to restore circulation. Then he opened the door and met Aelyx with the unmistakable open-mouthed expression of a person caught doing something wrong. They both stood there for a moment, staring at the other, David clearly calculating how much Aelyx had seen and grappling for a way to explain it.
Aelyx didn’t know why, but he felt the need to disclaim, “I knocked twice, but you didn’t answer.”
“Uh, yeah.” David kneaded his arm, his gaze flicking up and down in a warning that a lie would follow. “Sorry about that. I should’ve warned you…I’ve got diabetes, so, you know…injections and stuff. It sucks.” He quirked a smile and laughed without humor. “I’ve got track marks, but I promise I’m not a junkie.”
David might’ve had diabetes, but humans dispensed their own medicines for that. He wouldn’t need a L’eihr syringe to inject insulin. Aelyx liked David—had come to think of him as a friend—but he couldn’t risk his or Syrine’s safety by turning a blind eye to what he’d discovered.
“I’m going to give you one chance to explain,” Aelyx said. “Because I owe you my life. But if you lie to me again, the next person I talk to will be Colonel Rutter.” He tried to sound nonthreatening, but he meant every word. “Do you understand?”
David blanched. It was the first time Aelyx had seen him show weakness. A few seconds passed before he nodded. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Depends on the secret.”
“This job,” David said as he moved past Aelyx to shut the bedroom door, “of protecting L’eihrs? It comes with perks. But no one can find out, especially not my CO or Colonel Rutter. At best, they’d stick me behind a desk. At worst, they’d give me a medical discharge.”
Aelyx folded his arms and kept some distance between them. “Why?”
“I have a genetic disorder,” David said. “It’s degenerative and incurable. My dad had it, too.”
“Had it?”
“He died when I was a kid.”
“Oh.” Aelyx knew what that kind of loss could do to humans. He offered a sympathetic nod. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” David took a seat at the foot of his bed and gazed at his folded hands as he spoke. “I always knew I was a carrier, but I hoped the disease would skip over me like it did with my grandpa. But then I started showing symptoms a couple years ago.” He glanced up at Aelyx, delivering an urgent look. “The military doesn’t know. I went to private doctors for all my treatments, because I didn’t want a discharge. I know it sounds stupid, but I kept thinking I could beat this.”
“It’s not stupid,” Aelyx said. His instincts told him David was being honest, and he felt a compassionate tug for the boy. “Sometimes there’s power in positive thinking.”