Page 15 of The Turning of the Tables

The door to the testing room opened, revealing Doc Tierney with a bright pink bandaid on his arm from where they’d drawn blood for the test. The nurse behind him, looking bored, called out “Maza” without even looking up. Maza waggled his eyebrows as he traded places with Tierney, walking into the office.

It was a rapid test—they’d have the results within fifteen minutes—so once you had your blood drawn, they sent you to a separate waiting room from which they could either admit you into the hospital or send you back to your life, Arcana-free.

Quincy and I chatted until she was called in, talking about the fact that she wanted to start fostering senior cats. Apparently she just couldn’t stand the fact that old cats got left at shelters—which, okay, that was really sad, but I also knew that if I got a cat that was going to die in a few years, I’d just be heartbroken over and over again. But I told Quincy that was really awesome and asked if I could come play with her old cats if she did it.

She’d grinned at me, her eyes turning up. “Hell, yeah!”

I grinned back, and then the nurse released Maza and called Quincy.

A couple uniforms—Mattheson and Lombardi—had shown up by the time they got what they needed from Quincy, and the nurse called me.

“Mays.” She sounded bored.

I got up and walked into the tiny room.

And then we did the fun and exciting rundown of my medical history. Name. Date of birth. Previous surgeries. Allergies. Then the full explanation of Lyme and Alpha-gal.

And after allthatwe got to why I was here.

“Any symptoms since yesterday? Congestion? Upset stomach?”

“Nope.”

“Which arm?”

I held out my left, and she swabbed the inside of my elbow, then deftly slid the needle into one of the prominent veins on my arm, drawing a vial of blood.

Then I was band-aided—mine was purple—and sent on my way to await the results after fifteen minutes.

Tierney was putting on his coat as I walked in.

“Clear?” I asked him.

“Indeed,” he replied. “I’m sure I’ll see all of you soon.”

Maza was cleared next, then Quincy. Mattheson and Lombardi were both waiting with me when the med tech came back with mine.

“Mays?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re clear. Have a good one.”

I’d essentially known I would be. Notreally, but the likelihood had been extremely low. Coupled with the lack of any symptoms, and I’d been ninety-five percent sure I was good. I still felt a surge of relief when she saidYou’re clear. Funny, that.

“Thanks,” I said to her departing back. “See you guys at the next scene,” I said to Mattheson, Lombardi, and now Schitikova, who had just come through from getting his blood drawn.

Back to the lab.

4

ELLIOT CRANE

Any chance you’re not busy at the moment?

SETH MAYS

Yes?