The Human Pet: A Sci-Fi Romance

Part 44

"Wait here until her examination is finished," yells a nurse, indicating the hallway outside Ava's room.

I am about to tear my hair out. Standing in the hallway while Ava is upset and doing nothing makes me anxious. We need to help her. Maybe there should be fewer scourges crowding around her?

This must bother Rigel, too, because when a scourge wearing a green gown indicative of junior medical staff passes us in the hallway, Rigel hands him my leash.

"Hold her," says Rigel.

Seriously? Rigel is going to leave me behind like a package or... pet?

Wait, I can help! I try to grab Rigel's hand. "Rigel–"

Rigel steps into Ava's hospital room.

I tug and twist at my collar, but the scourge holding my leash pats me on the head and tells me to settle down.

Rigel's wide wings block my view, although I can hear Rigel hollering. A moment later, scourge nurses run out of Ava's room.

I turn to the scourge holding onto me. "Please, let me go. I can help the human. Let me go into the room."

The scourge's eyes get huge. "You can speak? That's amazing. Can you do any tricks?"

"Take me in that room!" I shout and that gets the scourge to drop the other end of my leash.

Only the three of us are now in Ava's hospital room. Rigel's wings puff out, one of them draped over Ava as if sheltering her with his wing. Ava seems enamored, raking her fingers through Rigel's feathers. I sit on the other side of Ava, holding her other hand with our fingers interlaced.

The three of us sit in silence until another scourge nurse pops her head in the door.

"Visiting hours are over soon, but you can come another day," the nurse informs us.

Rigel steps into the hallway with the nurse. Although I can see the back of Rigel's large puffed-out wings from here, I can only catch snatches of their conversation.

"–Humans are sensitive," he says.

"–Disobedient and in need of discipline," says the nurse.

I can only hope that Rigel will get them to be gentler with Ava.

"We need to go soon," I tell Ava.

"Will you both come to see me again," she says, her voice cracking.

I want to do something to give Ava hope, but can I really make a promise for Rigel?

"Please," she says.

He is still in the hallway, deep in conversation with the scourge nurse. The words I saw in her medical file swirl in my mind: Patient refusing to eat, not drinking enough, night terrors.

Would it really be so wrong to give her hope? I give her hand a gentle squeeze. "We will."

"Both of you?" she asks, glancing between me and Rigel, her eyes lingering on him.

I'm sure if I asked Rigel, he would think I am powerless to make such a vow, but he would be mistaken. I have the Hydra computer system at my fingertips and that gives me access to everything, so if I need him to be somewhere, why yes, I can commit.

"Absolutely," I say, glancing at his backside as he continues arguing with the nurse.

Ava sighs and finally, she has a tiny smile.

Rigel picks up my leash and we walk back to Tarak's place. My mind stays fixated on Ava and Rigel. There is something about it that I just can't let go of, like a loose thread on a shirt. I'm certain of one thing, though. We need to help Ava.