Page 5 of Heir

Her hazel-green eyes narrowed. “Seriously? What the hell does that mean?”

“You didn’t hear it? And hell if I know.”

“I think you hit your head. Maybe I need to have the doctor request a CT scan or something. Maybe you have a brain bleed.” She stood up from the stool she was sitting on. “I’m going to go find him. See what he says. Be right back.” She disappeared through the curtain.

I felt fine.

No, that’s not true. I felt really different, but not in an “I’m going to die any minute from a subdural hematoma” kind of way.

I can’t be pregnant. Not again. Please, not again.

Who said that?

Maybe this broken leg will get me out of my math test tomorrow.

What the fuck was going on?

Gemma and the doctor came back through the curtain.

“Tell him what you told me,” Gemma said, fear and worry etched across her face, competing with the endless freckles.

Okay, now I was beginning to worry too. I was hearing voices.

Is she going to be okay? Gemma asked, but without moving her mouth.

I gaped at her. “I’m going to be fine.”

She blinked at me, stunned.

“What did you hear when you woke up,” Dr. Dimples asked.

“You’re going to call for a psych consult when I tell you,” I said dryly.

He snorted. “Probably not. You were struck by lightning and your friend says you may have hit your head. I think we can hold off on a psych consult for now. Just tell me what you heard.”

“All hail Omaera Playfair, Queen of the Realm.” I fixed him with a look that said, “Just grab the straight jacket and wheel me to the nearest padded room.”

“Have you heard anything else?” he asked, without showing me any emotion or concern.

“Yeah. When Gemma stepped out to get you, I heard someone say, ‘I can’t be pregnant again.’ Then I heard some boy say something about maybe if he broke his leg he wouldn’t have to do his math test.”

Dr. Dimples gray eyes narrowed. “Well, the patients on either side of you have cases in relation to what you heard. So maybe they were saying them out loud?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.” I glanced at Gemma. “I can hear Gemma too. Like one minute her lips are moving and she’s talking to me normally. Then her lips stop moving and I can still hear her talking, only it sounds like she’s in a tunnel and far away.”

My best friend is losing her mind.

I pointed at Gem. “See! She just said, ‘My best friend is losing her mind.’”

“No I didn’t,” Gemma protested. “I mean, I thought it. But I didn’t say it.”

I gasped. “Am I reading minds?”

“That’s not a real thing,” the doctor said. “Let’s get you upstairs for a head CT and double check there’s no brain bleed, or a concussion, or anything.

“Okay, so maybe I’m not reading minds. But explain the chorus chanting that I’m Queen of the Realm.”

But he wasn’t listening to me. He’d already flagged down some other hospital staff member, and they were unlocking the wheels on my bed.

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