Chapter Three ★ Doc Cont’

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

Pearl sliced her hand in the air and argued, “Doc don’t tell her that.”

“Don’t tell me, because?” I arched an eyebrow at Pearl. She frowned back at me and crossed her arms. Doc also shut his mouth and refused to utter another word.

“Can someone please tell me what in Triton’s sake is going on?” I asked and shot my hands in the air and waved them around.

She pressed her lips even harder making her mouth a thin line. And Doc? Well when I looked at him his lips were so pursed I thought he was about to start swallowing himself whole.

I balled both hands into fists and slammed them onto the cold hard metal railings of my bed. Ow. That hurt. Whew, that really really hurt. I sucked in a breath and then let it out.

“Will you stop that?” Pearl scolded me and was at the bedside in a flash. She pushed against my shoulder to make me lay back down. Of course I didn’t make it easy so she applied more pressure.

Doc’s eyes narrowed and motioned with his hands then hissed, “Pearl, go easy on her. We don’t want to do anything that might upset her.”

Okay that’s it. Enough’s enough. I rolled my shoulder and said, “Upset me? I think we’re beyond point upset at this time. Y’all need to come clean and tell me what the heck is going on.”

I eyed them both and continued, “Yeah, sure I got bit by some kid who supposedly was a ‘werewolf’ but that don me diddly.”

Doc shuffled back to the microscope that had a slide of my blood in it. He peered down into it. Yes, we mermaids do have the ability to detect curses and other supernatural stuff in our blood. We have the technology after all.

“Well?” I asked and absent mindedly rubbed my soar hand. It still twinged from the bite and the impact with the metal railing of the bed.

“Hmmm,” He said and continued peering through the microscope. “As of right now I do not see anything suspicious. Though that could change…”

“Doc,” I said and flopped back on the pillow, “If I ain’t got no wolfy weirdness going on in my blood right now then what makes you think it’ll show up later?”

Pearl swatted me on the arm. Rather hard. She scowled and answered before Doc did. “Dummy. You know that some things take time. Kind of like the stupid flu with humans. Some may never show symptoms but they’ll have it and pass it on to others.”

“What?” I asked. It was a pretty darn good question for what she just said meant that now certain curses could be contagious?

Doc cleared his throat. He said, “You’re half right Pearl. But,” he glanced at me, “curses are not contagious. What Pearl meant is that if you are cursed then the signs may show up at a later time.”

He pulled his spectacles off and cleaned them with the corner of his white doctor’s coat. Then put them back on. He added, “In essence some curses, like diseases, need to incubate before they rear their ugly heads.”

I draped my good arm over my head and hid my eyes. “Oh I am so confused right now. So, we don’t know if I’m cursed… and I don know if my curse is contagious.”

Doc chuckled, “Curses are not contagious. Unless it was meant to be contagious.”

I groaned out loud. “Doc, you ain’t making no sense. Am I cursed and is it contagious?”

Again he chuckled, placed his hand on the counter for support and shook his head, “We don’t know Luna. We don’t know. That’s why you’re staying here overnight so that we can keep an eye on you.”

Great. Just peachy. I so do look forward to a night in the spooky ole medical ward with Mr. Chuckles over there and my oh so obedient comrade. 

Regardless of what the commander, my father, said this place is haunted. Bad things have happened to soldiers. Even Doc hasn’t stayed here the entire night. The ole coot has been seen sneaking off to another section to get his midnight Z’s in.

My stomach gurgled. Pearl’s responded in kind. And as if on cue the Doc’s rumbled too. I said, “Well we all can’t face the boogeyman on an empty stomach. Doc, why don’t you go rustle up some grub for us all to munchie on while we wait?”

Pearl objected, “Um, Luna I’m supposed to go fetch supplies… not the Doc.”

“Uh, Pearl, the Doc don know squat when it comes to combat.” I said. “He’s the last person I want to be alone with in this spooky ole ward.”

“Will you give it a rest?” Pearl shouted. “This ward is not haunted.”

A loud crack sounded and the lights went out. Everything went dark.

“Not haunted, huh?” I remarked.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙