Before she could delve too deep into the question of whether tea could get rancid, her stomach cramped. She hastily set down her mug and stumbled to the sink, dry heaving for an eternity. When she could finally lift her head, her skin seemed clammy and she felt feverish.

Something wasn’t right. She needed to see a doctor.

Knox would drop everything to take her, but she didn’t want to put him in an uncomfortable position with Ronin. She thought about calling Amery, but she was swamped. That scratched Molly off the list as a potential driver too. Fee and Blue shared a car, and she usually took public transport everywhere.

Looked like she’d be calling the car service.

Shiori found a clean pair of yoga pants and one of Knox’s old T-shirts. Normally she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing this outfit in public, but right now she didn’t care. She just wanted to feel better.

The car service sent a limo. Every twist and turn seemed magnified. Feeling completely green, she sent the limo driver away after he dropped her off at the emergency clinic.

It must’ve been the day for sick people. The clinic was packed. And now she was stuck until someone could see her. She found a corner away from the sniveling and crying kids and let her head fall back against the wall.

Names were called and people vanished into the abyss behind the clinic door.

She heard, “Shy-a-rye?”

Shiori looked around the waiting room, but nobody got up.

The nurse said, “Shy-a-rye . . . Hee-rhino?”

Jesus. She’d never had her named butchered that badly.

Luckily she didn’t feel nauseous as she walked to the person holding the clipboard. “I’m Shiori Hirano.”

“Oh, wow. Guess I got that one wrong. Pretty name. What is it? Chinese or something?”

“Japanese.”

“Cool. Glad you speak English.” She led her into a tiny waiting room. “Let’s get height and weight and all that.” She pointed to the numbers on the wall. “Stand there.” After Shiori had moved, the woman squinted at her. “Five feet, four inches. Now, step on the scale.” The nurse adjusted the weights and said, “One hundred and thirty pounds.”

Pound measurements confused her. She said, “What is that in kilograms?”

“I don’t know. Never have to worry about that. Oh wait. There’s another set of numbers below.” She leaned forward and squinted. “Looks like about . . . fifty-nine kilograms?”

That had to be wrong. She had to be misreading it. Shiori had weighed fifty-six kilos for years.

The nurse checked Shiori’s blood pressure and rattled off two numbers that didn’t mean anything to her. Then she said, “Dr. Barr will be in.”

Left alone, Shiori turned on her side on the exam table and closed her eyes.

She must’ve fallen asleep because a slamming door startled her awake.

“You really are feeling punky, if you can sleep in this madhouse,” a woman’s voice said.

“Sorry.” Shiori rolled to her back.

The gray-haired woman wore neon-green eyeglasses and purple medical scrubs with one-eyed green aliens all over them. She smiled softly and patted Shiori’s shoulder when she tried to sit up. “It’s okay, honey. You just stay like that. I’m Dr. Barr. You want to tell me why you came in today?”

Shiori explained about the car accident and how sick she’d been in the week since. “I don’t know if I’m still suffering effects or what.”

“It could be. I won’t rule it out until I’ve ruled out everything else. So we’ll do some blood and urine tests as well as a throat culture to see what’s going on. Kirsten will take you to the lab and I’ll be back after the results are available, which I’m warning you will be at least another hour.”

“Guess I’ll catch up on more sleep.”

After what seemed like a full battery of tests, Kristen returned her to the room.

Shiori closed her eyes, sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but she conked out again. She woke up when Dr. Barr returned.

“So I’ve got your test results. First stretch out on your back and lift your shirt up to your ribs.”

Dr. Barr gently poked Shiori’s lower abdomen.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You’re pregnant.”

Her mouth fell open in shock. “What?”

“Honey, you really didn’t have any idea that you’re pregnant?”

“No!”

“Feel this.” She took Shiori’s hand and placed it on a hard lump above her pubic bone. “That’s your uterus.”