Beyond the Dawn (Life and Death, Book II)

12. BIRTH

There are no words for what came next. Huilén was suddenly limp, slumping toward the floor, but her body was bent in the totally wrong place. Not at the waist like it should, but in the middle, just under her ribs.

I stared with my mouth open as I realized it was her spine that had just snapped. And I was pretty sure that wasn't something Carine could fix.

All three of us froze in horror for a split second, and then we caught her just as she was about to hit the floor.

"Huilén!" Edythe yelled.

Huilén's eyes unfocused and started to roll back into her skull.

A half second later, she screamed again, and it wasn't just a scream. It was a blood-curdling shriek of pure agony. The horrifying sound cut off abruptly, and her eyes rolled back into her head altogether this time. She twitched violently, arching up in our arms, and then she vomited a fountain of blood.

Huilén's body, covered in her own bloody vomit, started thrashing around violently like she was being electrocuted. But her face was blank, and she was entirely unconscious. It was the wild jerking from inside her body that moved her. With each convulsion came more sharp snaps and cracks.

My mouth continued to hang open as I looked helplessly at Edythe, waiting for her to say something.

Royal was the first to move into action; he had her whipped up into his arms, and he was running. Edythe darted up the staircase to the second floor.

"Morphine!" Royal yelled to Edythe as he followed after her.

Archie came bounding in from the door.

"Archie, get Carine on the phone!" I yelled.

I followed them to the ward upstairs. Royal had placed Huilén on the table under the bright operation lights. Her body flopped like a fish out of water. He pinned her down and yanked her clothes out of the way. Then Edythe was stabbing a syringe into her before I could fully process anything.

"What's happening, Edythe?" I shouted.

"The baby is suffocating," she said in a hard voice. "The placenta must have detached!"

Suddenly, the light came back into Huilén's eyes, just in time for her to start screaming at us, her words a mix of Arabic and English.

"Get him OUT!" she screamed, along with something unintelligible. Then she shrieked again, "He can't BREATHE! DO IT NOW!" This was followed by some more of something I couldn't understand.

I saw the red spots pop out in her eyes as she screamed.

"The morphine has to spread," Edythe said hastily.

"DO IT NOW!" she shouted, grabbing Edythe by the shirt. Another gush of blood choked her off. She slung her head around violently, trying to clear her mouth so that she could breathe again.

Archie darted into the room and put a Bluetooth earpiece in Royal's ear. Then he backed away, his eyes gold and burning. Royal hissed frantically into the phone.

Deep red was seeping beneath the skin over the huge, twitching bulge of Huilén's stomach. Royal's hand came up with a scalpel.

"Let it spread, Royal!" Edythe shouted.

"We can't wait any longer!" Royal protested.

Then Huilén's body thrashed even harder, and the taut skin over her belly started ripping open in a jagged split on the left side. Blood poured out of the wound.

The thing was going to rip its own way out, just like the legends.

The scent of the fresh blood ripped through me instantly, and I took three steps back away from her. Fire blazed down my throat, begging to be put out. I gasped, sucking in a sharp breath and holding it there.