Soulless The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,5
as a bear I’m not immune to your strength.”
“Sorry,” I said, somewhat abrupt. I turned my attention back to Eve as Kat eased down beside me, her hands already brushing against Eve’s neck. The German woman was rasping and her eyes were still rolled back in her head. “I was just trying to win.”
“Damn, you sure were, girl,” Clary said. “But you’re gonna catch all kinds of hell from—”
“What is going on here?” The crackling of an Italian accent was laced with thunderous irritation. I blanched at the sound of it, and after examination, wondered why I was more afraid of the reaction of a human doctor than the metahumans I had been sparring with only minutes before.
Dr Isabella Perugini stopped on the bank opposite us, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, her white lab coat falling below her knees. She slid off her high heeled shoes and began to pick her way across the stream, trying to balance on the rocks jutting out of the water. Her dark complexion was more flushed than usual, her eyes narrowed at me. “You again?” She said it as she executed a hop from one rock to another. “I thought I sorted you out!”
“I got carried away,” I said.
She made her last jump and flinched as her foot caught the edge of the rock she landed on. She cursed loudly, then covered the ground to get to us. She knelt and looked to Kat, who had unzipped Eve’s shirt to expose her bruised and misshapen sternum. “How is she?” the doctor said to Kat.
“All the problems you’d expect her to have.” Kat ran a hand through Eve’s hair. “Fractured skull, presumably from the landing, broken sternum.” She gave the doctor a wan smile. “I’m working on it. The broken bones will be mended in just a minute.”
Perugini turned back to me, one eye cocked and twitching, the other narrowed. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.
“Training’s rough,” Bastian said as I avoided her gaze. He looked at me, expression neutral. “It’s gonna be fine. We’ve got Forrest; she’ll fix it.”
Perugini’s mouth became a thin line. “What happens on the day she isn’t around?”
Kat let out a sharp exhalation and fell back on her haunches, then lay down on the rocky shore. “That day is not today,” she said with a gasp as I watched little blades of grass and weeds spring up from between the rocks she lay on, reaching up to stroke her exposed skin. “She’ll be fine.” Kat lifted her head to look at Dr. Perugini. “I might need a minute, though.”
I heard the sound of feet splashing in the water and looked up to see Ariadne Fraser making her way across the water. She held her high-heeled shoes in her hands, and her black jacket and skirt were taxing her balance. I raised an eyebrow in surprise when she made it across the bank, her pantyhose having developed three runs along her thighs and two holes in the toes from her crossing. Her red hair was the only splash of color visible on her as she made her way over to us, serious as ever. “Situation?”
Perugini answered, frost under her words. “She’ll be fine. Training exercise got out of hand.”
Ariadne dropped to her knees next to Eve, looking down at the German woman, who was still unconscious but now breathing easily. “Why is she out?”
“She landed on her head,” Perugini said, her eyes glancing at me for a brief second. “Kat has healed her skull fracture but I suspect she won’t be awake for several minutes, possibly an hour.” The doctor put on her stethoscope and placed the metal end on Eve’s chest. “There doesn’t appear to be any lasting damage but I’d like to do an MRI just the same.”
“You’re sure she’s all right?” Ariadne looked back up at the doctor, her eyes slitted, her hand clutching Eve’s in a way that caught my attention. I looked up and saw Clary looking back at me. He gave me a subtle nod, a wide grin on his face.
“I’m sure.” Perugini wrapped her stethoscope around her neck. “Have someone come out here with a Humvee to pick us up with a stretcher. I want to get her back to the medical unit for tests and observation until we’re certain she’s fine.”
Ariadne hadn’t taken her eyes off Eve the entire time Perugini was speaking. “Okay. Bastian, do it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Roberto stood up and took a few steps away, speaking