Magnus smiled faintly as the boys began to chatter excitedly, and then glanced to the side. The stairs curved around on themselves and he was now parallel to the archway, though above it. His gaze landed on Stephanie, who stood in the arch watching him as Dani followed him upstairs. Her eyes were pulsing with that glow again, and he stared at them silently and then turned his face forward again, aware that she wasn’t really seeing him at all. She was seeing into him. He’d encountered an Edentate like Stephanie before. A no-fanger who hadn’t come out of the turn insane, but one with a special gift like Stephanie’s, and it had been a gift . . . and a curse. He hoped Stephanie did better under its burden.

Eight

“Nonsense. You have been awake for more than thirty-six hours, Dani. You need to sleep. I can sit with Allison. I used to be a nurse in my day and remember the drill with transfusions. I’ll keep an eye out for any symptoms that there is a problem and record her pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and respiratory rate . . .” There was the sound of paper fluttering and the woman with the slightly husky voice queried, “Hourly?”

“It isn’t usually checked that often in the hospital by this point,” a softer voice acknowledged, sounding weary. “But we aren’t in a hospital so I’ve been watching her a little more closely than usual.”

“Of course,” the husky voice said with understanding.

Allie frowned slightly, wondering what TV show Liam was watching. It sounded like a medical drama, but he was more a cartoons kind of kid. Actually, she thought now, they didn’t have a TV anymore. She hadn’t been able to afford one of those for a while, so he must be watching something on the computer. She was silently running through the list of movies and TV shows she’d downloaded on the computer in search of which one he could be watching now when the soft voice said, “I’ll just examine her one more time and then I’ll go lie down for a bit.”

In the next moment, Allie felt a cool hand on her forehead. Startled, she was about to open her eyes to see who was touching her when it was done for her. At least, one eyelid was pulled up gently.

Squawking in surprise as she found herself staring up at a petite blonde she didn’t recognize, Allie tried to raise her arm to knock the woman’s hand away, but her arm wouldn’t move. It was restrained somehow.

“You’re awake,” the blonde said with surprise, and then assured her, “No, Allie. You aren’t restrained. I mean, your one arm is, but only to keep you from knocking out the IV.”