I took the needle from her and asked her to step back.
The nurse, who had a “student” next to her name, looked at me wide-eyed before taking a healthy step back.
While Sage and the student nurse were watching, I stuck myself, got the bag flowing, and removed the tourniquet from my arm that was way too tight.
Sage shook her head. “I’m guessing that means it didn’t go well.”
The student nurse winced.
“You can head to the room next door and…”
“She will not be taking blood or giving the blood to Wendy,” I barked.
I was all for student medical staff.
What I was not for was making children suffer.
Willing adults was one thing. Children who had no concept of learning students and pain didn’t need to be experimented on, no matter if the student needed to learn or not.
Sage snorted. “We’re not that crazy. I only sent her in here because I figured she’d be able to get you stuck. You have massive veins.”
I nodded, watching the blood spill from my arm into the bag that would then be transferred to Wendy.
The nurse squeaked. “I’m sorry!”
I shrugged. “You have to learn somehow. I think it’d help if you were more confident in yourself. It was obvious that you hadn’t done this before, but you’ve learned how to do it. You’ve likely practiced it on other people. Just go with your gut, and don’t overthink it.”
“O-okay.” She smiled timidly at me. “What did you need me to do next door?”
“Get the room cleaned up and the tray table set up. We’ll head in there to start this IV as soon as he’s done bleeding for us.”
I smirked. I squeezed my hand into a fist since I wasn’t given anything to squeeze.
The nurse left, and Sage suddenly got very serious. “I think I know who did it.”
Twenty-One
I just cried because I ran out of coffee creamer. So I don’t think I’ll survive the apocalypse.
—Constance to Odin
Constance
Dropping Wendy off at school the next day was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.
I wanted to keep her at home with me, but Wendy wouldn’t hear of it.
She was the most aggravating kid on the planet.
Always “school is necessary” and “being on time is nonnegotiable,” not “let’s skip and have a girl day.”
What kind of kid had I raised?
Yesterday had been wild.
And I hadn’t had much time to process all that I’d learned.
Odin was the reason I’d moved here.
