The Goblin Warrior (Beneath Sands Book 2) by Emma Hamm (100 books to read txt) 📕

of her shoulders. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long at all.”

As Jane laid down, a large metal contraption was lowered over her. She was trapped within some kind of pod.

Before the caves, Jane would have panicked inside the tight space. Yet now, she knew what it felt like to be trapped between hundreds of feet of stone that could crush her easily. A small metal box that was pressed against her chest did not make her uncomfortable.

The bright light that blinked on did. She squinted and tried not to look directly at the white light that flooded the box she was now in.

“Catherine?” She asked. The tight enclosure did not phase her, but the light certainly did.

A shadow walked on the other side of the box. “Just a few moments, Jane! This won’t take long at all.”

The light seemed to glow more intensely at her feet. Jane squeezed her eyes shut as the light started at her feet and a bright bar seemed to hover up and over her entire body.

This was repeated twice before the light blinked out. The metal box was lifted, and Jane slowly sat up.

She was itching to rub down her body. She understood that it was unlikely that the light had done anything to her. But she did not know what they had created in the City. The experience had been unnerving.

“Hm.”

Catherine’s word made Jane jump.

“Hm? What hm?”

The other woman was hunched over a screen on the other side of the room. The light was reflected in the glasses perched on her nose.

“Well remarkably you seem in perfect health. Even your brain appears to be functioning at a normal rate.”

Jane hopped off the table silently. The thin hospital gown swished when she took her first step towards the woman, but Catherine did not seem to notice.

Instead, the smaller woman was pointing at the scan of Jane’s brain. “All the synapses are firing at the correct rate. You appear to be perfectly healthy.”

“That’s good isn’t it?”

Catherine turned with a jump, one hand pressed against her heart.

“You snuck up on me.” She said with a gasp.

“Sorry.” Jane’s tone was anything but apologetic.

Catherine nodded and pointed towards Jane’s clothing. “You can put those back on if that would make you feel more comfortable.”

She didn’t need to be told more than once. Jane stepped out of the hospital gown immediately and started pulling on the borrowed clothing that fit her poorly. She missed the comfort of the goblin clothing and the freedom it allowed her.

“You’ll tell Luther I’m fine then?” Maybe if the trusted doctor told Luther that Jane was fine, he would start to believe her. It was imperative that he help. Willow was too young to drag a half grown goblin out with Jane. The boy was probably as large as the two of them combined.

“Of course, I’d be happy to.”

Jane turned her back on the woman once more, pulling on the remaining layers of her clothing. She froze when Catherine began speaking again.

“I thought you would like to know the child is fine. Have you told your siblings yet or should I not mention it to them?”

“Excuse me?” Jane turned on her heel.

“The child.”

“What child?”

Catherine’s eyes widened. “Oh you didn’t know.”

Jane couldn’t seem to wrap her head around what the other woman was saying. Child? What child? There was no child other than Willow here.

“Didn’t know what?”

She watched with a panicked expression as Catherine leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “Jane, you’re pregnant.”

The world seemed to tilt to the side.

Jane grabbed onto the edge of the table and sat down hard. Pregnant? She couldn’t be pregnant. Not after everything that had happened. She hadn’t been with Ruric in nearly two months and wouldn’t she have noticed?

She thought back to the last time she had her monthlys. She couldn’t remember. But surely it wasn’t possible that she was pregnant. Ruric was a goblin. She was a human. There wasn’t any chance. They simply weren’t compatible, or she hadn’t thought they were.

“I can’t be.” She said quietly. Her hand hovered over her flat stomach.

“I would guess about a month along.” Catherine said. She turned to look back at the machine and nudged her glasses further up her nose. She clicked a button and the screen flickered before showing another picture. “Albeit an unusual pregnancy.”

This time when the other woman turned towards her, Jane had the overwhelming understanding that Catherine knew. She knew that the child inside of her was not human, or at least was half human.

Jane tried to look unaffected by this news. She wanted to appear to be a normal woman shocked by a pregnancy. The less the doctor knew the better. “Unusual?”

Catherine nodded. “There are some abnormalcies with the shape and growth. I would need to do another scan to see-”

“No!”

Jane hadn’t meant her words to be quite so loud, but she couldn’t afford anyone looking into this. She was supposed to enter the City and save the goblins from these people. Not provide them with yet another test subject.

“I need to see my sister.” She said firmly, hoping that Catherine wouldn’t hear the wavering in her voice.

“Of course.” But Jane could clearly see that Catherine’s intelligent eyes were watching her carefully. “But I think it would be wise if we did another scan. If only to tell if the child is healthy.”

A knock on the door made them both flinch.

Luther stuck his head through the door when neither of the women said a word. “Is everything okay in here?”

Jane lurched upwards from the table. Her knees were rubbery in shock but her spine was straight as an arrow. “Of course. Luther would you mind staying here for a moment with Catherine? I need to relieve myself and I have a few more questions for Catherine.”

That ought to keep both of them in one place for long enough. Though both Luther and Catherine looked slightly confused by her odd behavior, they both agreed to remain where they were.

Her feet fairly flew down