The Rising (Darkness Rising 3)

"One hour," he said. "You haven't even been conscious for one hour and already you're attacking--"

"She didn't attack anyone," Rafe said. "Nicole jumped her."

Nast looked at Rafe. He didn't even seem to focus on him, just curled his lip, like Rafe was beneath his notice, before waving at the guard and saying, "Get them out of here."

"It was self-defense," Sam said. "Nicole attacked her."

"Get them out."

Nast didn't raise his voice, but the guard jumped as if he'd shouted. He took both Hayley and Sam by the arm and propelled them to the door.

"Moreno? Take the boy. Now."

Moreno wasn't so quick to obey. He sauntered forward, waving at Rafe. "Come on, kid. Your girlfriend needs to go with the doc for a checkup."

I caught Rafe's eye and mouthed, "Go on."

A second guard appeared as Moreno and Rafe left. Nast pointed to me.

"Take her to the lab for Dr. Wiley. And be careful." He met my gaze. "Her wild streak is showing."

TWENTY-TWO

DR. WILEY WAS THE woman who'd been standing there, silently observing. She followed as the guard led me away. We headed upstairs and into another hall. As Rafe said, the house was huge. This seemed like a wing, with doors lining the corridor. A few were open and I could see what looked like work areas. An office. A computer lab. A staff lounge.

Dr. Wiley opened the next door. Inside was a medical office, complete with paper-covered examining table and gown.

I hesitated.

"It's a physical, Maya," Dr. Wiley said without looking back. "On the table, please. Sitting."

The guard backed out of the room. As he was closing the door, a hand grabbed it. Moreno walked in. When he did, I felt a weird flutter of relief at seeing a familiar face. Which was stupid, really, because Moreno was no friend of ours. But at least he was a threat I knew. One I understood.

"Hey, Doc," he said.

"I'm busy."

"Yeah, I see that. Only . . . wasn't Inglis supposed to do the examination on Maya? Pretty sure she was. Pretty sure Cal insisted on it."

"Mr. Antone and Dr. Inglis are unavailable. Mr. Nast wants the examination done immediately. He's concerned about Maya's behavior."

Moreno gave a derisive snort. "Only because he wasn't the one chasing her though the forest for three days. Otherwise he'd know that misbehavior is pretty much par for the course with Miss Maya." He turned to me. "Isn't it?"

I gave him a look.

He laughed. "The killer glare. You inherited that from your daddy." He lifted a hand. "Yeah, yeah. Rick Delaney is your daddy. Spare me the protest." Back to Dr. Wiley. "If Mr. Nast thinks Maya's bad now, he should just be glad her partner in crime isn't here. First time I met those two? Maya tried to question me while her benandanti buddy knocked me around. It was kinda cute, actually."

"Beating and interrogation?" Dr. Wiley said. "We have a very different definition of cute, Mr. Moreno."

"Maybe. But the point is, she isn't acting out of character. Which means this examination isn't necessary. I'm sure you have other things to do. You go do them. I'll take Miss Maya back to the others, and Dr. Inglis can examine her later."

"My orders are to conduct a physical. I take my orders from Mr. Nast." She looked his way. "As do you."

Moreno blustered some more, but when Dr. Wiley picked up the phone to call security, he shut up and took a seat. The doctor settled for compressing her lips in a thin line of disapproval as she turned her attention to me.

I've been having physicals all my life. I always figured they were just the normal kind everyone talks about. Now I suspect mine were a little different. They were certainly thorough. At home, we all dreaded the twice-annual two-hour appointment.

This one started exactly as I remembered. Height, weight, blood pressure, eyes, ears, throat, chest. She drew blood. Ten vials. Nothing more than I was used to, but I could see Moreno's eyes widen a little as she passed number five and kept going.