Flickering orange light spilled from a doorway as they neared the end of the tunnel. Sarah followed Clover into the room, surprised to find it empty. A pile of furs was heaped in one corner beside the stone wall. On the opposite side of the room was a small fire pit. Sarah wrinkled her nose at the smell of burning herbs, which hung heavy in the air.
“Is this where I’ll be sleeping?” Sarah asked.
Clover set the bag down, shaking her head. Softly, she said, “No, this is where we’re keeping Snow.”
Sarah gave her a quizzical look, before remembering that Snow was the name of the person she was supposed to be tending to.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, stretching her tired limbs beside the fire. She covered her mouth, unable to stop herself from yawning. “Is he coming down?”
Clover crouched down, motioning towards the furs. “I think she’s sleeping.”
Sarah padded over to the furs, her brow furrowing. At first, she thought that Clover was messing with her again, but leaning over, she noticed a small lump beneath the pelts, accompanied by the sound of muffled breathing. Lowering herself to the floor, Sarah reached out, carefully pulling back the blanket to reveal her patient.
Chapter 4
Snow wasn’t sleeping. Her pale eyes were wide and alert as she met Sarah’s, looking more curious than afraid.
Sarah didn’t know what she had pictured when Cain told her that a member of his pack was ill, but she definitely hadn’t thought it would be a child. With her wavy black hair, porcelain skin, and delicate features, Snow looked like a china doll. Beneath a cotton shift, her small chest rose and fell as she took in shallow breaths. Sarah knew that she was totally out of her depth, but at the sight of the little girl’s labored breathing, she felt compelled to do something.
“Hello there,” Sarah said, sitting down next to the fur pallet.
Clover said, “She doesn’t talk.”
“How old is she?” Sarah asked, frowning.
The teenager gave a slight shrug. “Three?”
Sarah gave her a flat look, but didn’t comment, choosing instead to focus on Snow. She reached down, lowering her hands slowly so as not to alarm the child. Unexpectedly, Snow didn’t protest as Sarah placed a hand on her chest.
Although she had vague memories of learning about the pulmonary system in Anatomy and Physiology, Sarah had no idea how to apply that fragmented knowledge to her current situation. She held her hand on Snow for a long time, not really feeling, but rather thinking back to her memories of Wheezy Wendy.
Her cousin Wendy was three years younger than Sarah, and she’d always had very severe asthma, ever since they were kids. Wendy was her aunt’s only daughter, so when Sarah had moved in with her, they’d had to share a bedroom. Just her luck, Wendy’s symptoms had been worst at night, and she had kept Sarah up until the early morning hours with her coughing and wheezing. As she recollected her cousin’s symptoms, she fired off questions at Clover.
“How often does she get like this?”
Clover replied, “Mostly during the day, but she’s been worse since we came to Greystone.”
“Does she spend most of her time in bed?”
“She doesn’t play much with the other pups, but I think it’s because she’s so much smaller than them.”
“Does she ever get bronchitis?”
“Bron-what-us?”
Sarah tried to explain, but Clover just shrugged.
“I’m not sure, she’s always sick.”
“And no one’s ever taken her to a doctor?” She could tell from the way Clover looked at her that it was a dumb question. No hospital was going to treat a werewolf.
“We heal quickly and we don’t normally get sick,” Clover explained. “Doctors and medicine, they were never anything we needed until Snow came along.”
“Does she have an inhaler?” She was surprised when Clover nodded.
“Yes, but it doesn’t work.” Clover patted her hand over the furs until she found the inhaler and then tossed it into Sarah’s lap.
Examining the back, Sarah noticed that it still had a few dozen puffs left in it. “Is it broken?”
“I dunno. We spray it every morning, but I don’t think it helps.”
Sarah blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘spray it’?”
Clover made a sweeping gesture with her hands. “You know, we spray it into the air. It’s supposed to help with breathing.”
“That’s not how it works,” Sarah said, grimacing.
Clover listened intently as Sarah explained how to use the inhaler. While the teenager seemed eager to learn, Sarah couldn’t help but wish there was an adult around to talk to.