The Dream Thief by Kari Kilgore (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

softened her words with a smile, and Karl couldn't help smiling back. Rethia was his favorite of what he thought of as the first half of the family, just as much as Andy was of the second.

Karl hugged her, trying not to squeeze too hard. "Just got a hunch I needed to check on my niece. Or my nephew?"

"You and Mother," Rethia said. "Driving me crazy with that psychic stuff. You don't even believe in it. Come on in."

Rethia's hair was as curly as Karl's and most of the rest of them, but she had the unfair advantage of being able to wear it long. Instead of fighting constantly trying to keep it under some kind of control, she and the other girls could let it fall loose and free and lovely.

When she turned to sit in a chair by the window, Karl saw she looked great in general, not nearly as tired as with the last two. Her embroidered dark blue velvet housecoat set off the glow in her cheeks and fit perfectly around her huge belly.

Karl sat on the window seat beside her.

"You look wonderful, Sis. How've you been feeling?"

"Thanks, I feel like some kind of great beast," she said. "I'm fine, getting bored of sitting around here all the time. You look like I could knock you over with a feather duster. What's going on?"

Rethia was much more like Karl and Andy, not nearly so given to putting on grand airs like their mother and Janie. He blew out a breath through puffed cheeks, trying to figure out where to start. Obsessing about what to say all the way out here hadn't done him a damned bit of good.

"Busier than usual out at the Columns," he said. "For a couple of weeks now. I actually got the rest of the week off just today. My boss thinks I look rotten too."

"Oh come on," she said. "The way you keep getting promoted, they seem to think the sun rises and sets on you. When did you last get a good night's sleep?"

"That's exactly what Ms. Curtis said when she told me to take the time off," Karl said, laughing. "I will, I might even stay with Mother and Father for a few days, unless you have the space here."

"We do, but my kids are a lot younger than Mom's, remember. You'll stand a better chance of sleeping at all over there."

"Listen, Ree, how have you been?" Karl said. "Sleeping okay?"

She looked out the window and chewed her bottom lip. Karl remembered that little tic from their childhood. She didn't want to answer, but she probably would anyway.

"I'd been sleeping pretty well, considering this block of lead in my belly." She looked at her hands on her stomach, not meeting Karl's eyes. "I had kind of a rough time last night, though."

Karl was relieved she wasn't watching him. He was quite sure his face had turned white. Hearing about her night might be more than he could stand after the thing he'd seen that morning, but he couldn't ignore the coincidence.

"What happened?"

"It was strange, Karl. The baby woke me several times, for one thing, more than usual for nighttime. Even when I could sleep, though, I felt like I was almost seeing things, almost doing things. Gerald said I would toss and turn, settle down for a few minutes, then toss and turn again. I can't remember anything like that happening before."

Karl's throat was dry, as if he'd swallowed a bale of cotton balls.

"What kinds of things?" he said. "Could you tell?"

"I never could quite see." She scowled, her hazel eyes seeming to glow in the sunset. "I didn't want to, though. Even if I could have, I just didn't want to know more. Are you here to take me back with you?"

Karl stared at her, most of him sure she was joking, but a terrified streak right down his middle feared something like that would indeed happen. After watching that baby burn itself just a few hours ago, he was afraid he'd end up a permanent resident himself. Rethia finally laughed, and after a second he joined her.

"Your face, Karl, you looked like you actually believed me! I was kidding, at least about going back with you. I'm sure it's just my body going crazy dealing with this little one here. I'm not any crazier than I was yesterday."

Karl had to chew the insides of his cheeks to keep himself from an honest reply that wouldn't help either of them. He said the first thing that he could catch out of the mess in his mind.

"Why aren't you able to work? I don't know all that much about Building. Does it cause some kind of trouble?"

"Well, I don't know much of anything about what you do," she said. "I know you're damn good at it. Not every woman has trouble. Some women go right through with no problems at all. I did my second time. But not with the first or this one. It's the strangest thing. Everything seems fine until about the seventh month, besides trying to fit into the Building cradle with all this extra ballast. Then one day I settled in to Build, and it felt like some kind of party was going on in there. Every single time after that, the same thing."

"There's nothing the doctor can do?"

"Not a thing," Rethia said. "She said when women try to keep going, the movement just gets worse, to the point that it's really too painful to relax enough to even try to Build. And my midwife is convinced it hurts the baby somehow. Much as I hate sitting around here, I figure it's not worth the risk."

"You're probably right," Karl said. "Moving around like normal today?"

"Oh yes, back to normal twisting and turning." She shifted in her chair before resettling her hands on her belly. "As uncomfortable as that can be, it's quite an improvement over the dancing and kicking all night long. What do you