Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) by Joshua Grove Page B

check his vitals and a few other
things.”
    “Oh, uh, well
there’s somewhere we need to be,” Simon said. “So we were hoping to spend a few
minutes with him.”
    “I’m sorry,”
Nurse Poppins said. “Who might you be?”
    Panicked, Simon
grabbed the first coherent thought he could find in his mind. “I’m her
brother,” he lied.
    “You seem like
close siblings,” Nurse Poppins said. “And I am so sorry, but I need to ask you
to leave. It should only take about fifteen minutes. Why don’t you grab a soda?
By the time you come back, he’s all yours.”
    “Okay,” Jena
said, defeated. “We’ll wait outside.”
    “Sounds good,”
Nurse Poppins said. She was already getting her medical equipment ready,
patiently waiting for them to leave her to her work.
    Simon
reluctantly pushed Jena out the door. Anish was already waiting for them.
    “What do we do?”
Simon whispered as quietly as he could. “Why aren’t you at the desk?”
    “The nurses are
busy at the moment,” Anish said. “And the receptionist is on the phone. So
there’s nothing much I cando.”
    “This is not good,”
Jena said. “We can’t leave him here. We have to wait.”
    “Agreed,” Anish
said.
    “But they’re
going to know it’s us,” Simon said. Then he shook his head. “Duh. Of course
they’ll know. Cameras.”
    “Duh, indeed,”
Jena said.
    Simon cringed.
Jena realized that she had probably hurt his feelings, but that wasn’t her
intention. She totally agreed with him. Of course they would obviously be guilty.
But there wasn’t much they could do about that. Busty will be so pleased.
    “We need to
move,” Simon said. “We look kind of obvious.”
    “Why don’t you
wait here,” Anish said. “I will go tell Trevor that it is going to take a
while.”
    “Okay,” Jena
said nervously. Anish turned and walked away.
    After about five
minutes of waiting, Jena began to panic. “Are you sure we should just sit
here?”
    “I don’t know.
Do you feel nervous?” Simon asked.
    “Don’t you?” she
returned.
    “A little,”
Simon confessed. “And a little more with every minute that freaking passes.”
    Jena laughed
dryly. “I hear ya,” she said. Without warning, Simon began pushing Jena down
the hall.
    “I think we
should move a little,” Simon said.
    “Thank God,”
Jena said. “I didn’t want to make the decision,” she said. “I’m sorry. That
sounds terrible.”
    “No, it’s all
good. I’m there with you. I’m sure that was hard to see Nicholas like that.”
    “Wow,” was all
Jena could say at first. “It sucks hardcore.”
    “I’m sure. Where
should we go?”
    “There were a
few couches over by the elevators,” Jena said. “That way at least we can keep
an eye on who’s coming and going and not look suspicious.”
    Simon smiled.
“Good plan. Let’s do it.”
    Jena and Simon
spent ten minutes watching people come and go. At times they would crack a joke
and laugh, helping to regulate the adrenaline coursing through their veins. It
was giving Jena a headache.
    Jena started to
get antsy. Just as she was about to scream from the building stress, Anish
walked through the elevator.
    “Good to see
you,” Jena said. She figured it was better than saying, It’s about time!
    “Give me two
minutes,” Anish said. “Then, we make it happen.”
    “Ready,” Jena
said, thinking the conversation probably sounded weird if someone had been
listening.
    After two
agonizing minutes, Simon and Jena began walking toward the nurses’ station.
Before they rounded the corner, however, Anish appeared. He seemed to fill the
entire hallway with his presence. At the moment, however, he didn’t fill it
with the feeling of good news. Quite the contrary.
    “He’s missing,”
Anish mumbled.
    “He’s what ?”
Jena and Simon said simultaneously.
    “You heard me,”
Anish said.
    “But … but … but
…” Jena felt like a parrot again, just like the night before on Welsh Road with
Nicholas.
    “How could