“Guys, come on,” I said weakly. I tugged on Delmare’s arm. She didn’t budge, but when Odette and Kiara started hauling on her, we managed to drag her out of the room.
It wasn’t but two seconds after we’d entered the hallway that I burst into tears. Odette immediately put her arms around me, and her lip wobbled. Kiara nervously played with her hands. Delmare was fucking pissed.
“What am I going todo?” I wept. “I can’t just… go without my infusions! That’s not an option!”
I got sick enough as it was with the medication I took. My plasma barely kept me going. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like if I didn’t have something replacing my inadequate immune system.
“Call Stefan’s mom,” Delmare said wildly. “She’ll know what to do.”
Miroslava Slasky was my immunologist. She was my doctor. She’d sort this out.
I whipped my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed her number. I put the phone on speaker as I spoke to the nurse.
“Doctor Slasky, please. It’s urgent,” I pleaded.
“She’s with a patient,” the nurse replied. “You’ll have to wait for her to call you back at a later time.”
“It’s an emergency,” I begged. “Please, don’t put me on hold.”
The nurse heard the pleading in my tone. She was gone for a moment or so, then I heard Miroslava’s voice come through the other line. “Emma? What is going on?”
“I— I—”
I was too upset to explain. Delmare hovered over the phone and explained the situation for me. Miroslava’s voice was disappointed as she responded. “I apologize, Emma. I don’t know how my office let this slip by. We should’ve realized your coverage ended the moment it did, and notified you.”
I couldn’t express how angry I was. Some secretary in her office hadn’t noticed I’d lost my insurance, and I could possibly be paying for her innocent mistake with my life.
“So what can we do? Is there a… patient co-pay program I can apply for, or something?” I asked.
“I wish there was. The king outlawed many patient co-pay programs after the healthcare system changed. The ones that are still in business are overrun with patients needing help. You won’t be approved.”
Of course he did. Gods, I wanted to smash in Elijah’s smug-ass face right now, the giant prick.
“So, what? Am I out of options?” I asked.
“We’ll figure something out. But in the meantime, you need to isolate,” Miroslava said. “If you don’t have your infusion, you’re unprotected. You need to be in quarantine until we can get our hands on that medicine. You can’t go to class, or be in public. You’ll need to stay in your room.”
“How long is this going to take?”
“I don’t know, Emma. You’re going to need to find coverage, some way.”
My heart fell through the floor. There was a voice on the other end of the line, and Miroslava said, “I have to get back to this appointment. But trust me, Emma, we’ll figure it out. It’s just going to take some time.”
As Miroslava hung up, I doubled over. My guts were all twisted up. I could hardly breathe.
Kiara put a hand on my back. “Come on, Emma. We need to get you somewhere safe.”
A lump rose in my throat. My last infusion had been a week ago. Now that I couldn’t take another one today, I was already unprotected. I could be carrying any type of virus right now, and without treatment, there was no way for my body to fight it off. I had to get in isolation straight away, to avoid picking up anything else.
Ethan had sensed my immense distress. He was at hockey practice.
Emma? I’m coming right now, he said, echoing through our telepathic bond. I felt his urge to get his skates off and run to me.
Don’t bother, I thought.It’s not going to change anything.
His curiosity came through, but I told him to stay put. He’d find out later. I didn’t want this ruining his practice. Hockey was one of the few ways Ethan was able to let off some steam, and I knew once he found out about this, he’d think it was all his fault. I didn’t want him to blame himself a moment sooner than he would once he discovered what had happened.
As the door to my dormitory closed behind me, I suddenly realized that this was my life now. I was locked inside these four walls until I was healthy enough to come out. That wouldn’t happen until I got my medicine back.
