Chapter 7

“Poppy!” Heather rushed through the electric doors, Haddy on her hip. Brady, close behind his wife. Her eyes swept the ER waiting room, landing on their target. “Oh, Poppy! Are you alright?”

Heather touched her hair, then ran her hand down her arm. The girls leapt from their chairs. Chelany followed suit. “Aunt Heather, Uncle Brady!” All three exclaimed.

Haddy kicked and wiggled, wanting down to play with her cousins. “No, you don’t.” Heather challenged her. “It’s filthy on this floor.”

Brady took his daughter from her mother. “Come with me, girls.” He walked them down to a “well-child” room where she could get down free of God-only-knew-what was contaminating the floor.

“What happened?” Heather couldn’t take her hands off her sister.

Poppy frowned. “Oh, Heather.” She lowered her voice. “A huge truck ran smack-dab into us. Just t-boned us and—

“Mrs. Fields?” A nurse in green scrubs emerged from two heavy doors that seemed to open on their own.

Poppy leapt to her feet. “Yes. I’m Poppy Fields.”

“Jeremy is asking to see you.” She came close to Poppy’s ear. “He’s insisting on letting the girls in too. But we don’t allow more than two at a time. If you can be a little more patient, we will be transferring him to a room and then...” Her eyes roved around the waiting room. Confusion evident in not seeing any children. “You all can go in. I understand you have three little girls with you?”

“Yes, they are in the well-child room, and my sister and brother-in-law and my niece are here too. Uh. How is he? If he’s being put in a room, is he okay?”

“Well, you and the girls can go in once he gets settled, but you’ll have to see what the floor nurses say about extended family.

Poppy inhaled quickly. “Oh we’re not fa—”

The nurse turned on her heels and disappeared through the heavy doors.

Poppy turned to Heather with wide fearful eyes. “That’s a good thing, right?”

Heather pursed her lips. “It should be. Otherwise, they’d move him to CCU.”

Poppy nodded and slowly walked back to her sister. “Oh, Heather. I thought I’d lost him!”

Heather put her arms around her shoulders and held her close. “But you didn’t. It’s all alright.”

“Mrs. Fields?” A man’s voice boomed from the automatic doors.

Poppy spun around. “Yes.”

A man in a white lab coat and street clothes took long strides to approach Poppy. He put out his hand and shook hers, vigorously. “I’m Doctor Sterling. I treated Jeremy. We are going to move him to a room and then you can see him. I understand you have his daughter with you?”

“Yes. Chelany. And my two daughters. We were going for ice cream.” Her words pinched with her throat tightening. Tears sprang into her eyes. Heather put her arms around her sister and gave her a gentle squeeze.

The doctor nodded. “Well, I’m sorry your excursion turned out to be so scary. Jeremy is alright. We think he’s suffered a concussion. We’ll keep him overnight to be sure everything is okay, but he should be able to go home tomorrow morning, as long as he doesn’t have any setbacks during the evening.”

Poppy frowned. “But, doctor. They had to shock his heart.”

“Yes. It could have been a very different outcome. But he’s a strong, healthy man, and I suspect he will recover nicely.” Dr. Sterling smiled.

Poppy brightened. “Thank you, doctor.”

A growl-like scream echoed from the playroom. Heather spun to look toward her husband and child. Brady lifted Haddy from the floor. She arched her back and cried out. Her body partially morphed, then returned to her human form. Heather tsked her tongue and rushed to Brady’s aid.

He spoke gently to his daughter as Heather and Poppy entered the playroom. Thank goodness no one else was in the small room. “I know you wanted to play with that doll, Haddy. But Mable had it first. Let’s find you another doll. Shhh. It’s alright. Come on. Let Daddy find you another doll.”

He looked up at Heather with smiling eyes. “Your daughter wants what she wants when she wants it.”

Heather frowned. “Yes, most eight-month-olds do, but not all of them shift into a creature when they don’t get it.” She turned to Poppy. “Honestly, this child is getting more and more challenging with each passing day.”

Poppy sighed. “I have no words. This is all new territory for me.”

“I know.” Heather took Haddy and sat down with her, separate from the older girls. “I want to go see GiGi and see what advice she has.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Poppy mused. “Or Jeremy.”

Heather jerked a look to Poppy. “You know, I forget he has knowledge of this.” Her eyes darted to Chelany. Has she ever...”

Poppy nodded. “As a matter of fa—”

“Mrs. Fields!” The nurse called from the heavy doors.

Poppy heaved a sigh. Would she ever get to tell her sister what had happened tonight? “Yes. I’m here.”

The nurse handed Poppy a piece of paper. “Mr. Black has been moved to this room. The elevators are down this hall, turn left. Third floor.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

They all followed the nurse’s directions and soon they were gathered in Jeremy’s room. A heart monitor beeped, and an IV drip hung above his head. When Poppy crossed the threshold, Jeremy opened his eyes.

Poppy lifted Chelany and set her on his bed, opposite the IV lines. Jeremy drew a long inhale. He blanched, jerking his eyes among the faces around his bed. He seemed to be examining each of them. Then his eyes settled back on Poppy. “What happened?”

“A truck ran—”

“No.” Jeremy shook his head. “I know we were t-boned.” He glanced past them, verifying who would hear. “I mean, you and Chelany smell of remnant shifting. Did you two shift in the accident.”

Poppy just stared at Jeremy. “You can detect that?”

His eyes swept the faces again, landing, this time on Brady. “Tell ‘em, man.”

Brady lifted his brow. “Yeah. Jeremy shared with me a while back, that even though he doesn’t shift, he has the heightened ability to distinguish ... certain scents.”

Jeremy took Poppy and Chelany’s hands. “Are you alright?”

Poppy smiled. “Yes. We did shift. Chelany and me.” She glanced at her sister. She had intended to tell Heather about this privately. But now, the cat was out of the bag ... or creature as the case may be. “That was how we were able to get everybody out of the car. We stood up and shoved our shoulders against the sunroof. Chelany thought of it first, I followed her lead.”

Jeremy frowned. “And then what?”

Poppy hesitated. “Are you mad?”

“No, no.” Jeremy shook her hand slightly. “I’m just concerned. Go on.”

“We helped the girls out, then I helped Chelany, and ... you were unconscious, so I dragged you out. I don’t know how I knew— when in the shifted state my awareness is super heightened— but I knew Chelany and I needed to hide, so I laid you next to Marla. Chel and I ran down low, like dogs, to hide in a little alcove. It wasn’t long, we both changed back and we—” Poppy choked. “When we came back, they were shocking your heart! I was so afraid I’d lost you, Jeremy!”