Page 67 of Seducing Jenny
“So, tell me what’s going on,” he said gently. “Did something happen on Halla?”
I was desperate to shout, “Yes!” and couldn’t.
“Lots of things happened on Halla,” Grass said, and shrugged. “But I don’t want to talk about Halla. Let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?” Surge asked easily.
“Do you like to party?”
“I do, but we’re in here to talk aboutyou, Jade.”
She gave him a sultry smile. “Maybe that’s whyyou’rehere, butI’mhere to party. You’re cute. I never had a problem with half-sizes, so don’t look so surprised.”
He paused for a moment, then said, “I realize going to Halla can be traumatic for a conduit, but you’re being exceptionally strange right now.”
My eyes widened, and I could feel her shock at that news. “For aconduit?”
He turned his back and began to putter around with some of his tools. “I have to imagine that for you, being on a planet full of ghosts is strange, since you’re not the only one who can see them there.”
“Right, because I’m aconduit.” She started to smile, and internally, Grass said to me, “That’swhy you’re so pissed off? I took a conduit’s body?” She laughed, the sound echoing in my head. “No wonder you’re so cranky. You should have been able to kick me out, no problem. Are you untrained or something?”
“Get the fuck out!” I snapped.
She laughed inside again. “Oh this is going to be even more fun than I thought.” To Surge, she said, “Yeah, ghosts are weird. You wanna make out?”
He chuckled, as if amused. “Uh, no. In fact, that is the last thing I want to do with you.” He turned around with a jet injector in his hand and rolled a tray of implements close by. “Lay down on the exam table and I’ll start the official examination.”
Grass did, but when she laid down, I felt even more distant from myself, like she had added a blanket between us. I couldn’t even give her intestinal cramps anymore. All avenues of control were blocked and I felt utterly helpless.
“What are you doing?” I hissed furiously.
“Protecting you from a magician,” she replied in our head. “You’re welcome.”
I felt her arm move, and something cold chilled my palm, but I could not tell what it was that she’d picked up.
“So, what is it like, being a magician and a doctor?” she asked Surge.
“I’m not officially a doctor, but sort of,” he said, pressing the jet injector against my temple. “Which is something you already know.”
Grass stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“Just giving you something to help you relax,” he said gently.
She glared at Surge. “With that thing?”
“It’s called a jet injector, which you also know.” He turned around again for another instrument. “Honestly, Jade, it’s like you’ve taken this wholebeing Jadething way too far. Like you’repretending to be a stranger with me. Is that all it is, or is there something more?”
When he turned around, he shone a light in my eyes to check them.
He knows something. He’s going to see it during the exam. This nightmare will be over soon, I just know it.
She mumbled, “I’ve been…under a lot of stress lately.”
He sighed at himself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that. The stress of Illiapol must have madebeing Jadeinto a kind of a safe haven for you to retreat into mentally.”
“Yes, exactly.” She grabbed onto that excuse with a nod. “A retreat. Things are easier this way. Being Jade.”
He moved on and checked inside my ears. “Plus the stress of everything you went through on Halla, with rescuing Mal.”
