Deadshifted (Edie Spence 4)

“You’re sure you’re okay?” He tried to put a hand on my forehead, and I ducked.

“Yeah. Just morning sickness. How many people are ill? What’s going on downstairs?”

“They’re presuming it’s meningitis and everyone’s in isolation gear now. ”

“Oh, no. ”

He nodded in agreement, reaching for my forehead again. I sighed and relented, feeling like a kid trying to play hooky from school.

“No fever,” he announced.

“Like I told you. ” I took his hand back and held it in my own. “Are they turning the ship around?”

“They can’t. We’re closer to Hawaii than we are to California. And there’s still the storm catching up behind us. Their plan is to get as close as they can to land, and have faster medical rescue ships meet us for transfers. ”

“How many patients are there?”

“Twenty, so far. ”

I pointed at the mask with my chin. “Where’s yours?”

“I’ve still never been sick. And it’s not me that I’m worried about. We’ve got to get you off this boat. ”

While I wholeheartedly agreed with his sentiment, it seemed impossible. We were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. “How?”

“I’m not sure. But you’re staying in here until I figure it out. ” He took his hand back and stood, reaching for the closet doors.

“What are you doing?” I asked as he took his current shirt off, pulled a dress shirt from a hanger, and began buttoning it down. The Maraschino jumped sideways, and I felt sick to my stomach all over again.

“It’s him, Edie. I know it—”

“What happened to Thomas?” I interrupted.

Asher shook his head without looking at me. “He didn’t make it. He died sometime last night. I’m sorry. ”

It was always a shock when a child died. Even if it wasn’t yours, and you were just watching it distantly on the news. There was no way to mitigate a child’s death, no bargaining you could do with the universe about luck, fairness, or age. It was just wrong, and everybody knew it in their gut.

“I’m sorry, Edie,” Asher repeated, finishing his last button and turning toward me.

“Me too. ” I was queasy again now, for all the wrong reasons. “Was Liz with him at least?”

“Yes—but she’s sick too. It’s affecting adults now, and all sorts of people are calling down for Tylenol for fevers in their rooms. ” He crouched down, his shirt still untucked, and took my hands in his. “I’ve got to go back down there, Edie. ”

“To … help?” If they needed another doctor downstairs, one who couldn’t get ill, I could hardly deny the rest of the passengers that—but I didn’t want him to leave. I wasn’t normally a scared person, but this place wasn’t my home, and I didn’t have my family or my cat—Asher was the only safe thing here.

“I have to talk to Liz. Before she passes. ”

“She’s going to die?” I asked, my voice rising.

“You and I both know what death’s door looks like. Antibiotics aren’t even touching her fevers—she’s over a hundred and six. She doesn’t have long. ”

“Stay. ” I held on to his hands as tightly as I could.

“I have to go down there, Edie. It’s the only way I’ll know. I have to talk to her while she’s still alive. ” He squeezed my hands back then let go, reaching into the closet behind him for his suit pants.

“Talk to her about what?” I asked, but I already knew, watching him dress. “You’re going down there as him. To talk to her. ”

He nodded and began thumbing his belt through loops.

“Then … what?”

“If I can figure out his game—”

I started shaking my head before I butted in. “I don’t want you to go. You can’t just leave me here. ”

“It’s the only way I can protect you. ”

“No. No no no. ” I hadn’t wanted to come on this ship in the first place, and I was pregnant by accident—this was going to get to be my choice, this one thing, decided on by me. He could not leave.