Chapter Six #2
Caspian made a sound of frustration as Xavier, once again, missed the volley. He tossed it back to Ivey.
“Glad to hear it,” Xavier panted.
“Good.” Vivian swung her racket, and it connected with a satisfying thunk.
“Indeed.” The shuttlecock bounced at his feet.
“And that’s the game,” Caspian said in disgust. “Well done, ladies.”
Ivey looked from Vivian to Xavier, pressing her lips together. “Let’s retire for some refreshment. Vivian, you must try the lemonade. Our estate is known for it.”
In the sunroom, a warm, contented glow enveloped Vivian as she accepted Caspian’s glass of cold lemonade. Her muscles ached pleasantly from the unfamiliar exercise. She hadn’t known her body was capable of such force and precision. Delilah was right—Martian gravity made her a superhero.
Delilah.
The thought of her sister was like a bucket of cold water over her head. She shouldn’t be enjoying herself while Delilah lay in a hospital bed. Not to mention that she still hadn’t heard from Evie or her parents.
“This is my favorite room in our home.” Ivey came to stand next to Vivian as she stared blankly at the collection of succulents. “Our mother’s family was from Arizona. Do you know it?”
“Only through the media. Barely anyone lives in Arizona anymore.”
Ivey wrinkled her nose. “I can imagine why. From my mother’s stories, it sounded like living in an oven. She left when she was seven, but it was enough time to develop a lifelong love of desert foliage.”
Vivian carefully rubbed a hand along the lance-shaped leaves of a vibrant jade plant. “What’s this?”
“Aloe vera. It has healing properties for skin irritations.” Ivey broke off the tip of one leaf and offered it to Vivian. “The gel can be rubbed on skin to soothe it. My mother was very fond of it. She was forever burning herself attempting to do the household staff’s jobs for them.”
“Your mother—is she responsible for your perspective on Martian clothing?”
Ivey gave a tiny, surprised huff. “Oh well done, Vivian.”
A Martian man in a liveried uniform entered the sunroom and cleared his throat. “Forgive me, Counselor Hayes, Miss Hayes. You’re needed by the solicitor.”
Ivey sighed. “Duty calls.”
The moment Caspian and Ivey departed, Xavier put his reader aside. “I want you to take your sister and go home,” he snapped. “Casp is to have no part in this. I won’t allow it.”
“What! Delilah is in the hospital. We aren’t going anywhere.”
“Spare me the theatrics, Miss Bowen.” He leaned his long body toward her. “You’ve chosen to play a critical role in this despicable experiment.”
“Chosen?” Vivian sputtered. “If you can’t understand why, it was a choice without a choice, I cannot make you see.”
“Please.” Xavier crossed his arms over his chest. “It is a low trick indeed for your sister to pretend to be ill to gain Caspian’s attention.”
Hot anger coiled in Vivan’s belly. “That’s not true.”
“No?” He regarded her with a scowl. She couldn’t help but notice with her standing and him seated, their faces were at the same height.
“She conveniently fell ill a few days after attracting his attention? When you knew full well that he owns the finest hospital in Arcadia? You must think Caspian is an easy mark.”
Vivian took a step closer to him. “If you think it is convenient to be sick on a new planet with a strange culture and a contract to fulfill, you are out of your damn mind.”
Xavier dropped his crossed arms. “I—she’s truly ill?” The man had the nerve to look dismayed.
“She is.” Vivian swallowed. “This kinetosis … Is it dangerous?”
Xavier’s eyes shifted away. “It can be.”
Vivian stared down at the broken piece of aloe vera still pinched between her fingers. Without her sister, Vivian wasn’t sure she could go on.
“Miss Bowen,” he said in a softer tone. “I spoke truly. The Hayes Community Hospital is the finest on all of Mars. Your sister is young and healthy. She will pull through.”
Vivian covered her mouth in one hand. She would not cry in front of him. She wouldn’t. “I have to go.” She walked at a clipped pace out of the sunroom and down the grand hallway to the foyer. She was nearly to the front door when a call stopped her.
“Miss, where are you going?”
Vivian turned to confront an Earther woman in a brown dress with a white apron and cap.
Taking a deep breath, she schooled her face to calm.
She wasn’t about to take her worry for her sister and anger with Xavier out on the Hayes household staff.
“I’m going to the hospital to visit my sister. Am I being held here against my will?”
Trapped. Even here, she was trapped.
“Of course not, miss.” The woman twisted her hands. “Only, perhaps you wish to change first?”
Vivian looked down at her short white skirt and sleeveless red top. She’d quickly become comfortable in the revealing clothing. “Is there a dress code for a sick bed here?”
“You are guests of the Hayes family, and you should reflect well on the estate.”
“Right. Clothing is a game here.”
“A game?” the woman asked.
“Never mind.” Vivian ascended the stairs and found the morning’s yellow dress. She looked at a wrought iron clock mounted to Ivey’s wall and sighed.
From her small bag, she removed a needle and pulled off the packaging. She lifted up her borrowed shirt to expose her stomach, dotted with several bruises. Vivian found an unmarked spot of skin and, steeling herself for the prick of pain, pushed the needle into her stomach.
Two weeks. Only eleven more injections to go.
Goodness, she hated needles.
When Vivian had changed back into her dress, she thought of Camille’s serious expression from that morning and tucked another sealed vial into her pocket before she crossed the street to Hayes Community Hospital.
When Vivian entered the hospital waiting room, heads swiveled to stare at her and an excited murmuring traveled through the room. Vivian’s lacy yellow dress stood out against the drab outfits.
An older woman with an Earther build and a white old-fashioned nurse’s hat looked up from studying a tablet. “You must be the sister.”
Vivian licked her lips. “Is Delilah—could I—?”
“Your sister is very weak. Normally, I wouldn’t allow you to see her in this state, but Counselor Hayes sent word. Come.”
Vivian let herself be led through a corridor until, at last, she arrived at a private room. Delilah lay on a bed, eyes closed and breathing even.
“She’s sleeping now, poor dear.”
Vivian stood over her sister’s bed, unsure if she should touch her. Had Delilah’s skin always been so translucent? “Is she okay?”
The nurse frowned at the medical readouts.
“Her fever has gone down. She’s had a full blood transfusion, which can be hard on a body that’s recently come out of nine months of zero-g.
” She looked up at Vivian and gave her a reassuring smile.
“She’ll be just fine, my dear. Just fine.
You know, I went through the same thing when I arrived on Mars. And I went on to have three children.”
Vivian let out a slow breath. “Thank you.” From the pocket of her dress, she pulled out Delilah’s syringe. “May I? I don’t want her to miss a day of her hormone treatment cycle.”
The nurse’s eyes widened. “Was that granted by the Intelligence?”
“I suppose.”
“We are grateful for the gifts of the Intelligence.” She spread her hands in welcome. “Go ahead, dear.”
Vivian lifted her sister’s dress and whispered, “This will only hurt for a moment.” She opened the wrapper and plunged the needle into her sister’s stomach. Delilah whimpered slightly in her sleep.
When she looked up, the nurse’s lips were parted eagerly, and her head was tilted forward. The woman caught herself and pressed a fist to her forehead. “What an honor you have given me tonight, my dear. I’m a witness to history.”
Vivian disposed of the needle and pulled a chair to her sister’s bed without meeting the nurse’s eyes. She had no ambition to make history for these strange people and their weird god. She just wanted to protect her sister. “If it’s alright with you, I’ll sit beside her for a while.”
“Of course, dear.” The nurse hesitated. “I’m not sure I would have your courage. They say that in a single generation, you will break the cycle.”
Vivian rubbed one shoulder. What was there to be courageous about? A few needles? “We aren’t here to be brave. We’re here because the alternative was worse.”
“Believe me, I understand. Still, I’m grateful for your sacrifice.
We’re all grateful. Right now, Earthers living on Mars have no legacy.
No future. It’s a hard thing to see our children be unable to start families of their own.
My sons—they’ll be alright, I think. They joined the militia, which gives them purpose.
But my daughter … She struggles. Left for the Catena dome, actually.
” She put a hand to her mouth. “I shouldn’t have told you that. Please don’t tell Counselor Hayes.”
Vivian raised her head, curiosity piqued. “The separatist dome?”
The nurse blew out her breath. “I haven’t seen her in five years.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, dear.” She shook herself. “Ring if you need anything.”
Veiled hints and unfamiliar politics—there was so much Vivian didn’t understand about Mars. She watched the comforting sight of her sister’s chest rise and fall. As long as Delilah made it through, nothing else mattered.