Dark Secrets Unveiled (The Children of the Gods #45) - I.T. Lucas Page 0,28
problem with knocking before entering.
“David is transitioning,” Amanda said while rushing in. “Come.”
He let out a breath. “I thought that we were under attack. How many times do I need to remind you to knock before you come in?”
She rolled her eyes. “I knew that you weren’t doing anything fun.” She waved her hand. “Come on. Sari needs us.”
“Why?” Syssi got out of bed and shrugged a robe over her nightgown. “What’s going on with him?”
“He lost consciousness while they were eating dinner at her apartment. Steven is hooking him up to the monitoring equipment, and Sari is freaking out because she’s never witnessed an adult transitioning. She needs us there to reassure her. Get dressed.” Amanda turned around and walked out of the room.
Syssi waved Kian off. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up with you. It will only take me a minute to get dressed.”
“I’ll wait for you in the corridor.” He joined Amanda outside and closed the door behind him. “Did you tell Mother and Alena?”
“Of course.” Tapping her foot, Amanda cast a glance at the door.
“She will be out in a minute. It’s not like this is an emergency. It will take David at least a day or two to transition.”
As Syssi emerged from the room a moment later, a door further down the corridor opened, and Kalugal stepped out with Jacki. “We heard the good news.” His cousin grinned. “I told you that my venom would do the trick on the first go.”
“Yes, you did.” Kian clapped him on the back. “And since you are so good at it, from now on, it will be your job to induce all of our adult male Dormants.”
Kalugal’s grin faded. “I’m not signing up for that.”
“Just think about all the men who will be indebted to you. You’ll have an army of sycophants.”
“Thanks, but I already have too many.”
The teasing continued until they reached the clinic, where they were greeted by Sari’s tear-stricken face.
“Oh, darling. What happened?” Amanda pulled Sari into her arms.
“I’ve already told you. David collapsed during dinner, and he’s unconscious.”
“What I meant was, did anything else happen since we’ve talked? Why are you crying?”
“I’m not.” Sari wiped the tears off her face with the backs of her thumbs. “I had a few moments of panic, but Steven seems to have things under control. David is unconscious, but his vitals are strong.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Kian peered into the patient room through the open door. “You have the same equipment we have in the village.”
Kalugal walked up to where Kian was standing and looked at the machines David was hooked up to. “Steven is a young immortal. Does he have experience with adult transitions?”
Sari shook her head. “He doesn’t even have experience with adolescent transitions. The last transitioning boy was monitored by Merlin.”
Kalugal put a hand on her shoulder. “You should ask Bridget to fly over.”
Sari turned her eyes to Kian. “Should I? My freak-out doesn’t mean that David is in danger. I’m just overreacting. What if he wakes up tomorrow? Bridget has more than enough on her plate without hopping on a plane and flying over here, only to discover that her services are not needed.”
“They are needed for your peace of mind, Sari.” Kian pulled out his phone. “And ours. I’ll feel better knowing that an experienced doctor is supervising David’s transition.”
Sari nodded. “I want Bridget here, but I don’t want Steven to feel offended.”
“I’m not,” the young doctor called out from David’s room. “I was planning on consulting Bridget over the phone, but if she wants to supervise in person, that’s even better.”
As Kian placed the call, Alena arrived and hugged Sari. “How are you holding up?”
“By a thread.”
Bridget answered right away. “What’s up, Kian? Is Syssi okay?”
He wondered whether she’d heard about David. Knowing Amanda, she’d probably spread the rumor already to everyone willing to listen.
“David is transitioning. He lost consciousness, and Steven is taking care of him, but Steven has no experience with transitions, adult or otherwise.”
“Put him on the line.”
That was Bridget to a tee. No-nonsense, pragmatic, and capable.
Kian walked into David’s room and handed Steven the phone. “She wants to talk to you.”
As the two doctors conferred, he looked at David and the familiar medical machinery he was hooked up to. The sight was very familiar by now, evoking both good and bad memories.
Every time he stepped into a room like this, the echoes of the helpless frustration that he’d felt watching Syssi battling for her life still reverberated through