“Have a seat,” William said, pointing at one of the cots as he washed his hands in an iron sink.
Zander thought it was unnecessary, but he could see that William was serious, so he sat.
“Can I take a look at your hands and arms?”
He held them out and waited as William looked over every inch, even prodding gently at a tiny scab on Zander’s forearm that he hadn’t even realized was there. “Really, William, I didn’t get bitten, or anything close. Ben and I were as careful as we could possibly be. We knew how dangerous it was.”
At that moment, Doctor Rose walked out of the back room and over to them, smiling. “I’d heard you were here, Zander. I apologize for not making the time to come and seek you out before this.”
“Quinn and William said that you were away, and that you only came back to the castle last night.”
“That’s true. I did mean to come and say hello sometime today, before all of this happened. Circumstances aside, it’s nice to see you.”
Zander had almost forgotten how much he’d always liked Doctor Rose.
“It’s nice to see you too, Doctor Rose.”
“If you’d prefer, you can call me Nathaniel.”
“I think that might take more getting used to than I have time for before I have to go home.”
“Fair enough,” Doctor Rose said, chuckling.
“How is that man?” Zander asked.
“He’s dying. I think you and Ben probably knew that. He has rabies and he’s very far gone. There’s no cure, and there’s nothing I can do for him except try to keep him out of pain until it happens. I’ve given him a lot of medicine and he’s asleep now. It’s very unfortunate – not only for his sake, but because I very much wish we could question him and find out exactly what was going on here, but I’m not sure he’ll wake up again, and even if he did, I’m doubtful that he’d be able to speak.”
Zander nodded, subdued. The news wasn’t unexpected but it was still such an awful thing to hear. He found himself glancing at his own hands, wondering if something could have gotten in through one of the cracks in his cuticles.
“I don’t really need you down here, Will,” Doctor Rose said. “You don’t need to watch that man die. And I don’t want you helping with those animals until I have the brains isolated and we can do the testing with gloves and aprons – let’s not risk taking any of this upstairs near that baby. But I will give you and Ben the next dose of vaccine while you’re here, and then you can take care of Emma.” He looked over at Zander. “And let’s just be safe and start the booster series for Zander.”
William nodded. “That’s what I was thinking, too.”
Zander shook his head. “You don’t have enough of that vaccine to be wasting it on me. I’ve had the shots. It can’t be that much of an emergency.”
William looked behind them at the room where the man was. “I’m not sending you home to have that happen to you.”
“Well, what about the other vaccine? The one you’re making here? Don’t you need someone to test that on?”
“It won’t be ready until probably at least the day after tomorrow.”
“So?” He looked at Doctor Rose. “When you gave me the vaccine before, I remember you telling me that now I could go exploring in bat caves without worrying if there was a hospital nearby.”
“You still need to have the booster doses after an exposure.”
“Yes, but not today, right? I can wait for the other kind. You don’t have to use the good stuff on me. There are kids here who might need it.” The idea of Owen, or one of the little girls always running around the castle … he couldn’t be responsible for using medicine one of them might need.
“We don’t know if it will work for sure.” Doctor Rose shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“So test me. Test me today to see what my antibody levels are, and then test me again before I leave.”
William raised an eyebrow.
“What? I might not be as smart as you are, but I paid attention in class. And I’ve been listening to you talk about this stuff for three days. I’m not so stupid I don’t understand you.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid, Zander. I don’t think people don’t understand what I’m talking about, I just usually think they’d rather I shut up and talk about something interesting.”
William’s words surprised him. He’d always known William was smart and into reading and studying more than most people, but he’d never guessed that he was self-conscious about it. It was sort of an odd thought.
He realized that he’d always sort of assumed that William thought he was better than the rest of them when he had his nose buried in books while they played, but maybe that wasn’t true at all. Maybe William had really always believed they wouldn’t like him or be interested in the things he was.
“Well, maybe I’m stranger than I thought I was, because I actually think most of it is interesting.”
That got a smile. “There’s a critical flaw in your plan, though.”
“What’s that?”
“If it doesn’t work, and your levels are too low, there’s no way I’m going to be able to tell you that once you’re in Bristlecone.”
“Oh.” It was true. He hadn’t thought about that.
“I’ll go start getting the doses ready,” Doctor Rose said, disappearing from the room before Zander could think of a better answer.
“We’re going to be cutting it close as it is,” William said. “When you do the boosters, it’s supposed to be two doses a week apart, and we’ll be just at that, if I give you one right now. You’ll be going home with a bandage on your arm. That’s the other thing, too. There’s not time to give you both the doses of the other vaccine that you’d need, since it’s not ready yet.”
“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried that someone here in this world is going to die because I took two doses that I didn’t need.”
“Well, we don’t want even a slim chance of you dying. We have a pretty strict policy about not killing our guests. We wouldn’t have had that medicine without you in the first place. I’d say you’re entitled to two doses of it.”
Zander sighed, resigning himself. He still didn’t like it. He’d overheard William lamenting that he was using up the safe stuff. It wasn’t right. Zander understood now exactly how over-privileged he was, just by virtue of the world he came from. He’d never had to make decisions like the ones William was making. It wasn’t right for him to take from what little they had here.
Then, another idea came to him. “What if I didn’t need to know what those numbers were before I went home?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if I go home, and I drive down to the emergency room in Pine Spar, and I tell them that I woke up with a bat in my bedroom, but it escaped, they’ll give me the booster doses. It won’t matter if the vaccine here worked or not. You could still test me, of course. You need a guinea pig.”
“How are you going to explain that to your parents?”
“I’m eighteen. I don’t have to explain anything.”
“The vaccine we’re making here is also not as safe, Zander. It will probably be more uncomfortable than the shots from your world, and the chance of side effects is higher.”
It didn’t matter to him. He knew he could afford the chances more than anyone here, but he decided to let William say his piece. “What kind of side effects?”
“Headaches, sore muscles, fever, nausea, I don’t really know.”
“Then I’m definitely not stealing even one dose that might go to a kid, William. Seriously. It’s not going to happen.”
“You’d take that chance? Why?”
He sighed. “I don’t know, William. It just feels like the right thing to do. You need to not waste the good vaccine – especially if that guy was infecting animals on purpose and there are more of them around somewhere. You need someone to test your new vaccine on, and I’m a good candidate for that. If it
hurts more, or it makes me a little sick – I can handle that. Worst case, I go home and check myself into a hospital that has a lot more resources than you have here. I just think I should.”
William nodded halfway – he was hesitant, but Zander could tell he was considering it now. “It’s ridiculously expensive in your world, especially if you wouldn’t be using your parents’ insurance. You’d have to let us give you the money for it.”
Relief started to wash through him – not because of the money. He didn’t care about that, but because William was relenting.
“That part is not optional,” Nathaniel said, setting a tray of supplies down on the cot. Zander hadn’t even seen him return. “I’m willing to allow that, if you’re sure. But I’ll give you enough money, and the name of a good hospital to go to, so I know you’re taken care of. And you’d have to promise me that you would do it right away. No taking chances. Within twenty-four hours of the minute you step through that gate.”
“Agreed. I’ll drop Owen off and drive to the hospital.”
And just like that, it was settled. Nathaniel nodded at William, and Zander felt a million times better.
“Okay, then I guess it’s just you and Ben for this stuff, Will. Take your arm out of your sleeve for me.”
He saw William go just a little pale around his temples and cheekbones as he shrugged out of one sleeve of his knitted sweater. He chuckled to himself – apparently Quinn had managed to find a guy who didn’t like needles either. Whether he liked it or not, he had to admit they were kind of a matching pair.
“Quinn’s better at this than I am now,” William said – maybe Zander’s chuckle hadn’t been quite as silent as he’d thought.
“Whoa,” he said, as William’s chest came into view. “If you don’t like needles, that is one heck of a wicked tattoo.”
“It’s a symbol,” William said. “Actually two. It’s the emblem of Eirentheos together with the emblem of Philotheum.” He ran his finger over first one of the circles in the design and then the other. “It represents the joining of our kingdoms as two parts of a whole – something we were fighting for before Quinn took the throne and our marriage made it permanent. And you’re right, it hurt like … well, you can guess. I hated every second of it.”
“Did you have that before you got together with Quinn?”
“No. She and I both got the tattoos at the same time, the day we joined the resistance that was fighting to restore the throne to its proper occupant.”
“Quinn has a tattoo.” Surely at some point they were going to run out of ways to surprise him. She’d only been here the equivalent of a year. How much more history could she possibly have?
“Yes. As I said, she’s braver than me. Having it done was enough to get her over her fear of needles. I still don’t like them much.” He sighed and looked away as Nathaniel cleaned his upper arm with a cotton ball.
“You’re a doctor.”
He shrugged. “Nobody’s perfect.”
“Well, those ones aren’t that bad,” he said, trying to sound sympathetic.
“I know.”
Doctor Rose was fast. A few seconds later, William’s shirt was back on; he was rubbing his shoulder, but otherwise no worse for the wear.
“All right,” Doctor Rose said. “I’ll do Ben’s, and then I think the three of you should go on upstairs.” William nodded, and Doctor Rose turned to Zander and smiled. “It is really nice to see you again. I’m sure it’s been a very unexpected and challenging experience for you, and I know you’ll be happy to get back home as quickly as you can, but I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”
It occurred to him that this was the first time today that the thought of going home had even crossed his mind. Weird. Two days ago, it was all he could think about. “It’s good to see you too, Doctor Rose.”
“I apologize for being so tied up at the moment. I would love to talk more, and hear how your parents and sisters are doing.”
“I understand,” Zander said, glancing at the back room. “They’re good.”
“You might be able to catch up more at dinner,” William said, with a strange sound in his voice. “I meant to tell you that Quinn just heard from Jonathan. He’s coming here.
“Tonight?”
“Apparently. Marcus was going to let my parents know to make plans.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“That’s all I know.”
“Well, then I guess I’d better get things settled here. Jacob is on his way to help as well. He should be here within the hour.”
William nodded, beginning to dig in the drawers of the supply cart as Nathaniel headed back to the other room. “So, you don’t have a problem with needles?”
“No, not especially.”
“Good, because I’m going to get some blood from you so we can see where your antibody levels are now. We won’t have the results for days, though.”
Zander held out his arm. “You know, if we were in my world, I might be pretty freaked out to have a guy my age doing this,” he said, as William tied a tourniquet above his elbow.
“If we were in your world, I’d never let someone our age near me with a needle,” William agreed, chuckling.
“Did you always know you wanted to be a doctor?”
“Yes. I started following Nathaniel around and trying to do the stuff he did when I was about two. For my fourth birthday, he brought me a real stethoscope from your world as a gift. Looking back, I feel bad for Thomas and Linnea. They were my captive practice patients.”
“You didn’t draw blood did you?”
William laughed. “Oh, definitely not.”
“Then I doubt Thomas minded.”
“That’s probably true. Thomas would let me do anything. He has more patience with me than anyone, except maybe Quinn. I don’t know how they put up with me sometimes.”
“They’re crazy,” Zander teased. He didn’t know how it had happened, but he really did like William. Not as much as he liked Ben and Thomas maybe, but still … he wasn’t nearly as difficult to deal with as he made himself out to be.
“Certifiable, probably. But I love them anyway,” William said, grinning.
“I sort of envy you that.”
“What? Having a crazy family?”
“Well, that, yes, but also knowing what you want to do. Growing up just training for it and walking right into it.”
“Walking right away from it, more like. All those cycles of training, and now I spend more than half my time on my duties as a king, which I in no way prepared for.”
“Still, though, you never had to be undecided. And you still get to practice medicine, obviously.”
“I do. And you’re right. I’ve always thought that part of living in your world must be hard – all those choices, and all that time you spend waiting to be allowed to be useful.”
Zander had never thought about it that way. He’d done a lot of things, had a lot of opportunities, and a lot of fun … but William was right. None of the things he’d done were actually useful.
“Are you finished?” Zander asked, startled as William taped a piece of cotton to his arm.
William held up three glass tubes of blood. “All done.”
“I didn’t even feel you do anything.”
“I’m good.”
“And modest, too.”
William’s shoulders shook with laughter.
“It’s not bragging if you really are the best at something.” They both turned at the sound of Ben’s voice. He was smiling. “Are you feeling better, Zander?”
“I’m fine, now that I’m away from that smell. You?”
“Much better, too. Although I could use five or six showers.”
“Well, we’ll all need to get cleaned up before dinner,” William said. “Jonathan is on his way here.”
Ben’s reaction was much like Nathaniel’s had been. Zander was beginning to feel really out of the loop. “Okay, who is this Jonathan everyone’s all up in arms ab
out? Should I be worried?”
“There’s no reason for you to be worried about anything,” William said.
Zander wasn’t sure why that bothered him. William was right, of course, nothing that happened here really affected him, but still having it pointed out somehow rubbed him the wrong way. “So who is he?”
“He’s Quinn’s uncle. Nathaniel’s youngest brother. And we’re not worried about him coming here, exactly. It’s more that it’s surprising that he’s coming.”
“So it’s Prince Jonathan, then.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe he just wants to meet the baby.”
“That would be a likely explanation – it would just be less disconcerting if he’d sent the message that he was coming a couple of days ago when he had to have started traveling, instead of only hours ago.”
“Oh.” Zander frowned. “Any chance he wanted to surprise you?”
William sighed. “Actually, I wouldn’t put that past Jonathan. He can be a little … unexpected at times. Come on, let’s go and take those showers. If we have a visitor coming, it’ll be a semi-formal dinner in the castle tonight.”
Zander stared at him. “That doesn’t sound like something I would be invited to.”
“Oh, why not? You’re here, in a castle in another world for seven more days. You might as well get the full experience while you’re here. You’re not going to get a lot more chances.”
“Or any,” Zander said, laughing.
“Exactly.”
“But I thought you were keeping me hidden.”
“I think we can trust you to keep quiet about your origins, can’t we?” Ben asked. “It’s not like someone’s going to ask you if you’re from a different world.”
~ 27 ~
Dinner
Rosewood Castle, Eirentheos
AND SO, THREE hours later, Zander found himself standing in the hallway with Thomas waiting for William, Quinn, Ben, and Linnea.
He’d taken a very long bath – the first bath he’d had in years, but the warm, soapy water had felt ridiculously good on his aching legs and backside. Relaxing had felt so good, in fact, that he’d gone almost straight from the tub to his bed and fallen asleep.
Canes of Divergence (Dusk Gate Chronicles) Page 26