Sailor said, “but I’ll say this, the effect was fantastic. Invigorating. I felt like I could run a marathon.”
“Síúlacht’s been around forever,” Kimberly said, going to a cupboard and pulling out a tray of surgical supplies. “The Elven have traditionally used it to help them recover after teleporting. But only in emergency situations, because when it wears off, you’re really wiped out. It’s also extremely difficult to make. What time was that?”
“Early evening,” Sailor said.
“Its effects would be long gone by now. Enters and leaves the body quickly. Did you take anything besides síúlacht?”
Sailor said, “No, that’s it.”
“That’s not quite it,” Declan said. “What about the pill you took two hours ago?”
“That was síúlacht, too. Here, I have another.” She pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to Kimberly.
“My God,” Kimberly said. “I’ve never seen it in pill form, or even heard of it.” She sniffed it. “Certainly smells like síúlacht, though.”
“Can I have it back?” Sailor asked.
“No, you can’t,” Declan said.
“I’m asking her, not you,” Sailor said, sitting up. “What are you, the síúlacht police?”
Kimberly put a restraining hand on Declan’s arm. “Would you please behave yourself?” She turned to Sailor. “Nobody’s judging you.”
“He is,” Sailor said. “Your Keeper there.”
“I am,” he said.
“Declan, shut up,” Kimberly said. “Síúlacht is neither illegal nor addictive, and it’s about as immoral as green tea. But, Sailor, right now I need to understand the symptomology, sort out what the pathogen’s doing to you as opposed to what the síúlacht’s doing.”
“I can tell you right now what the síúlacht did,” Sailor said. “Saved me from falling face-first into the salad bar. And I’ll tell you what the Scarlet Pathogen does. It makes colors brighter and faces clearer, and people and landscapes and wallpaper and billboards beautiful and intense. Like putting on your 3-D glasses in a 3-D movie. But with an emotional component, too. And then it fades, and everything goes back to normal and I get sleepy.”
“Interesting,” Kimberly said.
“Yes, except all the symptoms stopped when the síúlacht kicked in. But I’m getting sleepy now, so I’m guessing the síúlacht is fading and the trippy 3-D episodes will be returning.”
“Let’s see how much they increase as the síúlacht leaves your system.”
“I’ll take notes and report back to you,” Sailor promised. “But I’m not staying here ‘under observation,’ because I have a lot to do tomorrow and I’ll be getting an early start.”
Declan started to protest, but Kimberly patted him on the arm, saying, “Save it. I don’t keep people against their will.” She set about preparing a syringe and a set of test tubes. “But I’ll tell you this, Sailor, you’ve been infected with a potentially life-threatening disease. You’re a Keeper, so you share some genetic coding with the Elven, for whom this is apparently a death sentence. You’re the first non-Elven case of the disease we know of. That makes you important.” She tied piece of rubber tubing around Sailor’s bicep. “Until we understand the symptoms, avoid driving. Also, avoid being alone, and not only because of the disease. Because you were attacked, we’ll assume you have enemies.” She pushed the needle into Sailor’s vein. “I want to see you tomorrow. As the síúlacht leaves your system, I want to know what’s going on with your blood.”
Sailor didn’t seem to have a problem with needles, Declan noticed. She smiled at the doctor. “Kimberly, you are a very beautiful woman, do you realize that?”
Kimberly blinked. “Uh, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Are you romantically involved with Declan?”
Both Declan and Kimberly said, “No.”
“Okay, just wondering. Because the two of you are individually really quite attractive, so I have to figure it’s at least occurred to you to hook up. And you, Kimberly, have particularly lovely ears. Do you like my ears, by the way? My mom had them altered when I was three, because they were extremely Elven. Can you even tell? Can I open a window?”
Kimberly raised an eyebrow. “Let’s finish up here first.” She removed the first test tube and started on a second. “You’re sweating. That was sudden. I think you’re running a fever.”
“Look at her eyes,” Declan said. “Twice as red as they were five minutes ago.” The scarlet of her irises had intensified, coinciding with her rise in temperature and change in mood.
Kimberly finished taking blood, pulled off her latex gloves and stuck a thermometer in Sailor’s mouth. “Is that another symptom of these episodes, the sudden rise in temperature?”
Sailor said, “Mmm-hmm,” and Declan thought back to Alessande’s house and