Free Phantom Universe by Laura Kreitzer Page B

like he’s surprised by his own actions too, unsure of what to do next. He releases her. She stumbles and immediately grabs his forearms to steady herself. She glances down at her feet and then back up at him. He’s smiling at her, and she grins back, unable not to.
    “ Can you walk?”
    She shrugs and tests the waters—or sand, as it is. She’s already dizzy from lack of food and water, but she’s able to take a few steps. On her fourth, her legs quit working, and she starts to fall. Gage catches her and sweeps her off her feet. The whole thing is so cliché she tries not to verbally chuckle. She knows this won’t last—she’s an Outlander (whatever that meant). They want to put them in prison. His expression is very serious when he stares into her eyes.
    “ I guess that’s a no.” His eyes snap up, and he gestures with his head for someone to come forward. It’s Cameron, and her face is crestfallen as she looks Summer over. “Cameron, I need you to check her out. Even if she’s an Outlander, she deserves our care,” he adds before protests can start.
    “ Of course,” she agrees in a sweet voice as her brown eyes meet Summer’s. “Is that okay with you?”
    She doesn’t know what to say—she’s not sure what “check her out” means. She bites her lip and frantically looks between the two until Jaden comes to the rescue again.
    “ She doesn’t know what you mean.” Jaden sighs like this should be so obvious. “You need to explain to her what you want to do, if it’s permission you want.”
    The whole idea of someone asking Summer for permission is so mind-blowing she actually turns giddy with the thought. She can say no if she wants. She can deny them—but what if she is punished for it? She frowns, the giddiness gone.
    “ Oh.” Cameron smiles kindly.
    Jaden sees Summer’s expression and hastily adds on, “If she says no, you won’t punish her, right?”
    Gage and Cameron both snap their heads in Jaden’s direction. “What?” they both say, disgusted.
    “ Of course we won’t,” says Gage with fervor.
    “ As a slave, you either answer how your master wants you to or you are punished and eventually do,” Jaden tells them when they continue to look at her in horror.
    “ That’s not what we’re about,” says Cameron, offended.
    “ Okay. Explain away then.”
    “ I’m going through school to become a doctor. I know back in the day it was rare for someone so young to already be going to school for it, but now they start when we’re children. I’ve been training to be a doctor since I was eight. I’m twenty now. I only have one more year.
    “ What I’m going to be doing is checking you for injuries internally and externally just to make sure you’re okay. Understand?” asks Cameron.
    Summer nods and worries there might be something wrong with her now. She hasn’t been checked over by a doctor since before she was taken.
    “ You want me to—” Gage gestures putting Summer down. Cameron shakes her head.
    “ Not yet.” Cameron pinches the bottom of Summer’s ragged shirt. “May I?”
    Summer nods again and glances up into Gage’s face. He’s watching Cameron with a serious expression, his eyes steady and his mouth a straight line.
    Cameron lifts her shirt up above her belly button and folds her pants down a few inches. Cameron gasps and so does Gage. Summer’s eyes go wide at their reaction, and then she looks at her belly. She’s skinnier than normal, but not by much. She’s got a few bruises from tumbling into the ocean and being lost at sea, but other than that she can’t see what everyone is gasping about. She looks towards Gage first, whose eyes are closed tightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows thickly.
    Is something wrong with me? she wonders.
    She then looks at Cameron who’s shocked; her mouth’s absently ajar, and her eyes are frantically moving as she examines her. Cameron continues her assessment by pressing Summer’s belly down and asking