Conduit by Maria Rachel Hooley Read Free Book Online

them.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
    “I’ve run every test I can think of,
and truthfully, nothing looks abnormal in any of the results—no flags to guide
me as to what might have caused the seizure.”
    Dr. Ronson stood before them, holding
Lizzie’s chart as she spoke. Although her voice sounded confident, her words
lacked conviction.  She was still looking at the information, trying to find
that one missing piece that would make everything else seem logical.
    Lev and Jimmie had just returned, and
Lev clenched his jaw at her words.  Part of him wanted to shout out for her to
get a clue.  What she needed to know wasn’t buried in that paperwork, waiting
for her to stumble across it.  There was no medical book which covered dybbuks —or
angels, for that matter—so she was way more out of her league than she thought. 
She just didn’t know it.
    Although Lizzie seemed, at least to
Dr. Ronson, to be sitting up in bed, looking every bit the healthy patient who
had no business in a hospital, it was one of Evan’s magical tricks.  She had
even managed to ‘converse’ with Ronson and the nurses to complete the
illusion. 
    Just before Ronson had come in, Evan
had told both him and Jimmie that whatever the dybbuks had done to
Lizzie had left her lingering in some state of unconsciousness where she either
couldn’t or didn’t respond to Evan when he tried to enter her dreams.  No, the
real Lizzie was still lying just as pale as she’d been when they’d come in, and
Evan had had to fend off at least three dybbuks from her bedside.  He hadn’t
been able to sojourn the spirits properly, so he just had to stun and ward
them, hoping they would forget about Lizzie.
    Evan was hoping that by getting her
home, he could leave her in Celia’s care and find angels who might know more
than he did, which, to Lev, was saying something, as old was Evan was.  If he sought
the cavalry, this was serious…way serious.
    “So, when can Lizzie go home?” Jimmie
asked, smiling optimistically.  He looked toward the bed.  Lev knew that he,
too, wasn’t fooled by the illusion, but he did have to keep up appearances to
get all of them out of here.  He pointed at Lizzie.  “I mean, she looks great,
so different than when she first came in here.”
    Dr. Ronson took a moment away from
trying to glean information from Lizzie’s chart to study the patient herself,
and Lev had to give the good doctor credit.  She still believed something was
off, even in the face of all the misinformation Evan had been so busily providing
for her chart.  Something didn’t add up, and Ronson knew it.
    “I just wish I knew which direction
to go to pursue this,” the doctor mumbled, shaking her head at the paperwork in
front of her.  “Perhaps we should arrange a consult.”
    “I’d rather she just come home,”
Jimmie argued, his voice sounding a bit more forceful than he intended.
    “That’s not really what I’d
recommend.”  She took a deep breath. “But she does look fine, and since I can’t
think of any logical reason for the seizure, however remote, and she hasn’t had
another one since she’s been here, I will get the nurse to draw up her
paperwork so she can leave.”
    “Thank you.”  Jimmie offered a kindly
smile, grateful to be going home.
    “I would prefer you keep in mind that
just because Lizzie doesn’t seem to be suffering from any symptomology anymore
does not mean she isn’t.  Watch her.  If you have any concerns, and I do mean
any, please bring her back so we can check her out.  She also needs to check in
with her doctor even if she seems fine.”
    Jimmie nodded.  “You got it.  I’ll be
watching over her like a hawk, as usual.”
    “All right.  A nurse should be in
shortly with the discharge forms.”  Dr. Ronson gave Lizzie a parting look, and
Jimmie was pretty convinced Evan made sure that she saw Lizzie looking right
back at her—had her smiling, even.