He was now staring at Samantha.
It shocked him into accidentally dropping the stone. It fell with a surprisingly loud thud.
Joby cringed, holding his breath.
Seconds passed, then a minute.
He quickly replaced the stone back onto the podium.
Hardly had he removed his hand before the door opened and the Tranlude came back in.
"What are you doing near that?" The Tranlude's tone became sharp.
"Oh, uh, nothing!" Smiling, Joby held his hands up.
The Tranlude continued to scowl. "Perhaps it's time you be on your way. My wife should be home soon."
"Oh, okay. Thanks for the juice!"
Soon after heading back outside, Joby was caught in a torrential downpour. Amidst the rain, wind, and lightning, he couldn't help but feel off.
Tired, suddenly so tired... He felt like he could've slept on the cement.
And his stomach. It felt as if it were about to explode. He half-expected some creature or alien to suddenly come bursting out from him. The pain made him dizzy. What was wrong with him?
Feeling too sick to ask around for a place to spend the night, instead Joby found an empty bench at the park and curled up on this.
With the cold rain and wind whipping at him and his stomach on fire, Joby wondered if he would live to see the sunrise.
Chapter 10
"Damn, all these fallen branches... How did I miss that storm last night?"
"Easy: you slept through it. Just like you do any other noise."
"Geh..."
Evan and Samantha were wandering the streets, still on their quest to locate the rest of their group, but the damage from last night's storm was too much to ignore. Everywhere tree branches were scattered about, many small, but a few car-sized. One had even fallen on the roof of a house. Severe weather always made Evan uncomfortable, so he was sort of relieved he missed all this in action.
After leaving the Tranlude party, the twins had been fortunate enough to find a hotel room they could afford. While initially they been grudging about coughing up the money for it, now Evan was glad they did. It was one thing to camp out in nice weather, and another in a terrible thunderstorm.
The morning was calm and damp, with a slight breeze. The storm had managed to knock away some of the spring heat for now. As Evan and Samantha circled the park, they had to avoid the many rippling puddles.
"Seems like it's going to be a nice day." Stopping, Samantha admired a cluster of tiger lilies. "Someone knows how to landscape. They look cute under this tree." Glancing up at the tree, she tilted her head. "What type of tree is this, anyway? I like the leaves."
Evan sighed. "A tree is a tree. We need to keep looking."
She mumbled something about "maple" before trotting after him. Then she sighed. "I can't believe how long it's taking to find them."
"Most of this extra week of vacation is being spent meeting up."
"Yeah..." Samantha suddenly stopped again.
"Sam, stop with the stupid plants."
"Is that Joby?"
Finally Evan looked up.
Off to the side some, under another maple tree, was a bench. And curled up on the bench, still damp, was a mess of a guy.
The twins moved in closer, eyeing him. The gold hair was now poofy and wavy instead of spiky, but the bright red shirt and nearby bag of spray cans was enough.
Samantha went over to him. "Joby?"
No response.
"Er, that is him, right?" Evan fiddled with his hair, feeling stupid.
She kneeled down, taking a peek at the guy's face. "Yeah... Joby." She shook his shoulder once. "Hey..."
Finally their friend lifted his head. His eyes were baggy and tired, struggling to stay open. He stared at Samantha for a minute, then slowly rubbed his face with a groan. He still didn't sit up.
"Are you okay?"
Joby didn't say anything at first. His breathing was heavy and irregular. Then he laid his head back down on the bench. "There's something wrong with me."
Things were getting a little uncomfortable for Evan, so in way to lighten the mood, he said, "You look like crap."
Samantha shot him a glare. "Shut up. You're so mean."
"Hey, I was just kidding! I mean, this is Joby..." He risked a glance at his friend.
Joby cracked a smile. "It's okay. I feel like crap too."
Evan made a mental note to keep his mouth shut from now on.
Samantha continued to shoot icicle daggers at her brother for a bit before turning her attention back to Joby. "What's wrong? Did you get stuck out in the storm?"
"Yeah, but it's my stomach. There's something...off about it." He cringed. "It's burning up."
"Heartburn?" Evan asked. He knew the feeling.
"I don't think so. It's been like this all night... It hurts bad."
"What did you eat?"
"Where did you eat?" Samantha added.
"I just had one of them sandwiches we brought. Oh yeah. And some juice. The guy didn't remember what kind though."
"What guy?" Evan could tell Samantha had something in mind.
"A Tranlude I met last night."
Samantha closed her eyes. "He poisoned you."
Joby tilted his head up. "What?"
"You know, with their secreted venom, in their wisdom teeth. They've done this many times by now."
"He wouldn't do that... He seemed nice."
"Why did he give you juice? It would be too easy for him to get a little venom from his back fangs, put it in there..."
"But he seemed nice. He forgived me for spray painting his wall."
Evan internally cringed at Joby's grammar. If the guy wasn't so sick, he'd be getting another grammar lecture.
"So he suddenly forgave you and offered you some juice?" Samantha crossed her arms. "Joby, you need to have a little common sense, pal."
Joby frowned. "But you got poisoned before too."
"Yes, before we knew anything about the Tranludes." She grimaced with a sigh. "You need to be more careful. Some of them really hate humans."
Joby didn't say anything for awhile. Then he asked, "So, that's all ya think it is?"
"Probably." Samantha shrugged.
"But Sam," Evan said. "That time you were poisoned... I don't remember you being in pain. In the hospital, you were always goofing around and complaining. At first, anyway. Later I remember you getting sick, but that was because you kept throwing everything up, right? You were shriveling away."
"Yeah, but you don't remember the first thing? Before the hospital? My stomach hurt so bad, I passed out. And it did hurt for the first day or two, then it seemed okay...outside of the throwing up and fever, like you said."
"So, the pain'll stop soon?" Joby asked.
"It did for me. But you still need some medicine. You probably won't be able to keep anything down without it."
"Kenaip drool," Evan said.
"Pretty much. Most hospitals stock it now. We can check the one around here." Samantha paused, glancing around before looking back at Joby. "Do you want to wait here?"
"Nah, I'll come too." Joby sat up. "Kinda makes me feel better, knowing it's just that. I thought I was dying or something."
"Yeah, it hurts pretty bad." She helped him up. "Gosh, you're still soaked... Do you need to change first?"
"I'll be okay. Let's go."
"Just give me a second?" Pulling a shirt from her book bag, she tried drying him with it. But the material didn't want to hold much.
"Really, I'm okay." Judging from his smile, Joby didn't seem to mind the fussing much.
"I know it makes you feel cold, the poison..." Samantha seemed to just remember Evan. "Oh, uh... Where was the hospital again?"
"How would I know?" Evan said. "You're the navigator."
After a brief search, the three friends soon found the hospital. However, they learned that the hospital was out of the cure for Tranlude venom. Since it'd been over two years since the human-Tranlude con
flicts, they hadn't felt the need to keep it up to stock, especially since the humans and Tranludes in the area tended to get along for the most part.
But the staff said the hospital in the neighboring town would have it. The hospitals all tried to work together, to make sure even the less-needed medicines wouldn't be too far, just in case an emergency came up.
While Tranlude poisoning could be fatal if left untreated long term, it wasn't considered an emergency. By the time the neighboring hospital got around to mailing it out, it could be a good few days before the medicine would arrive.
While Joby wasn't in any immediate danger, the twins did know that he was uncomfortable. They didn't want to wait around. The three stepped outside to discuss things.
"At this rate, I think we'd get it fastest by retrieving it ourselves," Samantha said.
Evan made a face. "You're sure?"
"The nurse said the town was a day away. So a day to get there, and a day to get back. Meanwhile, it might take the other hospital two to three days to even ship it. It'd be faster if we did it by foot."
"So you and me will go get it, while Joby waits here? I don't think he's up to all the walking. Are you, Chief?"
Joby chuckled some. "Nope. I'll just have to leave it all to you guys, my faithful servants. Oho ho ho!"
"Yeah..." Samantha seemed distracted.
"Okay then." Evan turned to his sister. "I guess we're leaving right now?"
"Uh..."
Evan sighed. "What now?"
"I just... I'm not sure if we should just leave him here alone. What he suddenly gets worse?"
"Well, what else can we do? We either need to go or..."
"We," Samantha repeated.
"Huh?"
"We don't have to do this. You can do one thing, and I can do another."
Evan wasn't sure why this caught him so off-guard, but it did for some reason. For all their plotting, he was surprised the idea of them splitting up never crossed his mind.
Maybe because they did everything together, like most twins.
But it was getting a little weird. They were almost twenty-one, and they still seemed connected at the hip. Evan was a bit embarrassed by his relationship with Samantha, but he also knew overall he'd feel worst if they were to split up. He felt more comfortable with her around, especially so she could handle the interactions with strangers. He always felt painfully self-conscious around people he wasn't close friends with.
"It's a pretty easy path to the town," Samantha continued. "I could stay here with Joby. I know what he's going through. All you'll have to do is go straight to the town, find the hospital, ask for the Kenaip saliva, and come back."
Evan felt his heart jump. "I've never read a map before!"
"Well, I wasn't born knowing how to read maps. You could learn too." She fished up a folded piece of paper and opened it. It was a map. "We're here." She pointed. "And all you have to do is follow this road...to here." She ran her finger across the path. "There's only one fork in the road, and the signs will tell you which leads where."
Evan stared at the route. "What if I get lost?"
"I don't think you can. But if you do, just ask for directions."
"Peh..." He was afraid of this.
"Or would you rather stay with Joby? You'd have to actually watch him, not just stick your face in a TV the whole time."
Checking Joby's temperature? Making the guy warm soups?
"Er, I'll just get the medicine then." Evan took the map.
"Good choice," Joby said.
Evan spun on him. "And don't think this is your chance to make a move on her, because it's not."
Joby's face flushed at this. "No, I'm sick! Shucks, what do ya think I am?"
"Well...see you later, then." Evan turned to walk off.
"Wow, Evan," he heard Samantha saying. "Just...wow."
Chapter 11
The day went by in crawls and dashes for Joby. When he was awake, everything dragged on, but when he drifted off, the hours seemed to fly by. By afternoon his stomach wasn't hurting anymore, but he felt nauseated. All he could think about was two years ago, when Samantha threw up after every meal. He knew he'd probably do the same thing, and the more he thought about it, the more unsettled his stomach felt.
Outside the window the parking lot was becoming shaded as the sun sunk down under its covers for the night. Just watching the fading warm glow made Joby feel drowsy. He hated how he spent so much of the day sleeping, but it was a tempting cycle.
He would feel cold, so he would wrap himself in the hotel blankets. Then he'd feel sleepy, so he'd close his eyes just for a bit. And then he'd fall asleep.
He was struggling to keep his eyelids up when he heard the hotel door open. Samantha came in carrying a paper bag.
"I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I went ahead and got us both sandwiches. I got you a turkey one. You know, something bland..." She stopped next to his bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay, just kinda tired... Ooh, a flash."
"Yeah, there are a lot of dark clouds coming this way... I hope Evan doesn't get caught in it."
Joby grinned. "Ya can tell he doesn't trust me."
"He doesn't trust many people, heh heh."
"But especially me."
"Weeell...maybe." She smiled.
"He probably thinks I'm faking all this, just so I can rape ya." Joby laughed.
"I don't think he thinks that badly of you. More like he thinks I'm a naive idiot and you'll trick me into something. Which, by the way, you won't." She tossed a wrapped sandwich at him. "Eat up! You need your strength."
Joby forced a frown at her. "You don't trust me either."
"I know you wouldn't do anything really bad...but I know you'd do something kinda bad."
"Ya still think I was messing wit'cha that time we went swimming in the stream?"
She ignored this as she started eating her sandwich. It looked like chicken.
Joby unwrapped his and stared down at it. The bread looked funny. Was it bad? He glanced at Samantha's. Hers looked the same.
He took a peek in the bread. The lettuce... It didn't seem as green as it should've been. Or was it just him?
"Aren't you hungry?" she asked.
"Not really. I'll eat it later."
"Okay. But you really will feel better faster if you can eat something. I know you don't feel hungry, but you are."
"Okay, Mom. I'll eat it later."
"I'm not trying to be annoying..." She picked at her bread.
"I'm just teasing ya, buddy. You aren't annoying." He smiled. "I'm glad you're here. It would suck just sitting around here alone all day."
"Oh... Well, thanks." Her cheeks tinted. "I wasn't sure if you really wanted someone here or not... When I'm sick, I sorta like when someone else is around. Usually my parents were too busy to pay much attention to us, but Mom would sit with me when I was sick."
"Yeah, my mom did too."
Joby remembered how he used to curl up on his mother's lap as she read him a story, and how she would stroke his back. Even though he was always sick while she did this, he had good memories of it.
"And you sat with me that time I was in the hospital," Samantha said. "That made time pass a lot faster."
"Yeah. You looked like you were dying!"
"Now you do." She leaned over to him. "Is that what your hair looks like without gel?"
Feeling his heart do a jumping jack, Joby's hand shot up to his hair. The familiar feel of the hair gel was gone. Then he remembered all the rain from the other night. Usually he always put gel on before showing himself. It was embarrassing to be seen like this.
"My hair looks stupid." Joby tried to fix it, but it wouldn't hold its form.
"No, I like it! I never would've guessed it was naturally wavy." She grinned.
"Oh, come on! It looks stupid." He covered it with the pillow.
"No it doesn't!" Laughing, she yanked the pillow away. "You look more like a person now."
"And
what'd I look like before? A robot?" He grabbed the pillow and tried to snatch it back, but she held surprisingly firm for all her laughing.
"You looked like...I don't know. A punk? You look softer now."
"As soft as a poodle... Gimme that!" He finally got the pillow back. "Look at you! You're supposed to be here being all nice to me. Instead you're picking fights with a sick person! Ya bully!"
"Poor little victim! With your cute curls! Hee hee!"
"Eww! They ain't curls now!" Joby yanked down on his hair. "Just...wavy."
"We both have wavy hair. You should wear yours like that more often."
He threw the pillow at her. "You should dye yours blonde! I think you'd make a hot blonde." He winked at her.
"I think you'd make a hot corpse."
"Baby, I didn't know ya were into that kinda stuff!"
"No, that was a death threat, sweetie."
"Oh."
"Anyway! Is there anything I can do for you? Like do you want to watch a movie or something?"
Joby did a double take. "One second you're gonna kill me, and the next you're back to mom mode."
"Well, you were begging for it with your lovely hair..." She giggled. "Seriously though. You do need to rest some more."
"I been sleeping all day..." He tossed the second pillow at her.
"And you still seem groggy. If you don't feel well and you're tired, there's nothing wrong with sleeping as much as you want."
"I guess..." Suddenly an idea popped into his mind. "Wait. I know something ya can do."
"What is it?"
"Do ya think ya could read a book out loud?"
She seemed surprised by this, but shrugged. "Okay. From the beginning, or where I'm currently at?"
"Whatever ya want."
"Alright." She dug through her purse and pulled out a novel. "It's a little cheesy at times..."
"That's okay." Joby got up to retrieve the two pillows.
Samantha sat on the bed with her back against the head frame. Joby got in beside her and pulled the blanket over himself. By now the sun had set outside, and only the ceiling light provided any light.
Wish by Moonstone Page 7