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The Forbidden Center

Page 61

by A.J. Kingsley

Finn looks at me.

“I’m telling Astrid. That’s why I come here.”

No joke. No attempt to make the symptom smaller because a teammate is standing next to him.

Astrid nods once and opens the door wider. “Come through. Tell me about both times from the beginning.”

He follows her with his coffee.

The door closes.

My left fingertips prickle inside my pocket.

I press them against my thigh.

Gone.

There. Nothing.

It comes back before I finish the thought.

Gabi takes my form. I move my phone into my right hand. The left sits open on my leg, normal to look at, normal to move.

Nobody can see it. That gives me room to call it nothing until somebody asks the right question.

Finn walked in here and made sure she knew.

I’m already working out how not to tell her.

When the corridor door opens again Finn leaves first. Astrid says something quiet to Gabi about getting Maren on the phone, then turns to me.

Her expression changes when she sees me. Not softer exactly. More familiar.

“Come through.”

She waits until we’re out of reception.

“Any change in sensation since Thursday?”

The tingling is back across two fingers.

“No.”

The word comes out clean.

Her eyes stay on my face. “Pain?”

“Stiff this morning. Better after I got moving.”

All true.

Not enough.

She holds the treatment-room door open.

I put my left hand in my pocket and walk past her.

Number two.