984 (Complex Series, #2)

Chapter Twenty-Six

I freeze.  Please, please don’t let her be dead. 

Harry hurries forward.  He presses two fingers to her throat. 

His fingers turn her head. Her Complex number is written in blood on her face. A dark red 988. Just like Josh and Seth’s were.

Tension envelopes the room.  My breaths come out short and fast. After half a minute or so, Harry pulls away and sighs.  He gives us a small smile, “She’s breathing, very, very slightly.  If we aren’t careful, she could still die.  I’m going to send a Notice to get more Nurses in here.”

He quickly begins typing into his Notice.  He sends the message and turns back to Sienna. He observes the number on Sienna’s cheek.  

Harry asks Charlotte, “Can you send a message to Miranda.  She would probably want to know. This case is so much like the other two dead Eekes.  I think she was meant to die…yet…somehow, she managed to stay alive.”

The door slides open and three Nurses run in. The Nurses don’t have to speak to each other, they move in perfect synchronization.  They cut the bindings around Sienna’s legs and arms.  Carefully, they lift her off the chair and lay her on the stretcher. I wince as Sienna’s head lolls back. 

She doesn’t look very alive. 

The Nurses inject something into Sienna’s blood stream.  They press tubes into her arms. The Nurses study a screen on the side of the stretcher.  After a couple minutes, they break into smiles.

Harry says, “She’ll probably live.  How and why, we have no idea. Her blood had the same poison the other two dead Eekes had in their blood stream.  For some reason, it didn’t work on her.”

Hope rises up inside of me.  Sienna was immune to the red and green shots.  She must be immune to whatever poison the Officials gave her to kill her.

I find myself grinning. The door slides open again and Miranda walks in. Her gaze lands on me, then slides over me, like I’m not even there.

Miranda addresses Harry, “Will she live?”

Harry nods, “She had the same poison the other Eekes had in their blood stream.  It just didn’t work for her.”

Miranda leans over Sienna’s body, “It looks like 988 was her Complex number...” 

She types something into her Notice.  Her eyes narrow and she glances at me.

Does she think that I know Sienna? 

Miranda crosses her arms, “Okay, I’m going to let you take care of her.  I trust that she will live?”

Harry nods, “Unless the poison is slow acting, she shouldn’t die.”

Dread washes over me.  She could still die.  She could be dying right now, and the only thing I can do is watch.

Miranda bites her lip, “We can only hope that her mysterious immunity lasts.  Now, I believe that once again, I need to talk to Piper.”

She looks at me disdainfully.  I take an involuntary step backward.  Why does she have to hate me so much?  Why can’t she see that I am telling the truth? 

 Miranda smiles at Charlotte, “Could I take Piper with me?  We have even more to discuss.”

Charlotte says, “Sure, we had R.I. today as our Pros and since our Rivie was an Eeke, we won’t have anything to do for the rest of the day.”

Miranda responds, “Great, follow me then, Piper.”

Miranda presses a button on the door, so it slides open. I follow her out of the door, and into the hall.  She leads me in a path back to her office.  I sit down in the now familiar hard, metal chair and she paces in front of me.