Lydia's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

The tea did not stay down. Lydia barely made it two steps from the table before her stomach turned. She dropped to her knees and threw up on the cottage floor. The ginger tea was gone, and her belly felt wrong now, tight and hot. She pressed a hand against it. It was swelling. Hard, like a drum. She had been sick before, but never like this. Something inside her was very wrong. Erica came back through the door before Lydia could stand. She had circled back to check the shed one more time. She saw the mess on the floor and Lydia bent over it. Her face went flat. "Okay. No. We're done pretending." Erica crouched and pressed two fingers to Lydia's swollen belly. Lydia flinched. "That's not, like, normal stomach stuff. I know normal stomach stuff." She had her own bad gut and never let it slow her, but this was different. "Get up. I'm taking you in." "The wolves," Lydia said. "Four of them, still out there. I can't—" "The wolves are safe. I put four of them in my shed tonight. All four." Erica gripped her under the arm. "I found the missing ones on my way back. They're fed. They're locked in. You can't guard anything dead, Lydia." Lydia stopped fighting. Six wolves. All six, safe in Erica's shed. The knowledge loosened something in her chest. She let Erica pull her up and walk her to the car. The hospital was small and quiet, one tidy building with soft lights inside. A doctor pressed on Lydia's belly and asked her questions. How often did this happen. What had she eaten. Did the vomiting come in waves. Lydia answered between shallow breaths. Erica stood in the corner with her arms crossed, watching every move the doctor made. After a while the doctor set down his chart. "You have very bad IBS," he said. "And what we call nervous stomach. The stress makes it worse. You may also have a mild form of cyclic vomiting. It looks frightening, but it will not kill you." Lydia let out a long breath. Not poison. Not a curse. Just her own body, pushed past its limit. The doctor wrote a prescription and handed it to her. "Take these. And rest. Not just tonight. The rest of the week, if you can manage it. Your body needs to calm down." In the car, Erica handed her the paper bag from the pharmacy. "You heard him. A week." "I don't have a week," Lydia said. "You do now. All six are in my shed. They're safe." Erica started the car. "Your only job is to get better so you can take them back." Lydia held the bag against her sore belly. Her wolves were safe. Her body was not the enemy she'd feared. But she was grounded for a week, and that meant she'd have to trust Erica to keep the whole pack alive without her.