A booming voice interrupts us.

  “What in the mother’s name are you DOING? Are you trying to conceive a child?!”

  Agnis springs off of me in surprise. A large, stocky woman with bedazzled in extravagant gold jewelry blocks the doorway. Her skin is tanned and leathery, her hair graying, and her eyes filled with wrath. Feeling apprehensive, I grope around with my working arm for a loose sheet to cover my nudity.

  “Conceive a-?” Agnis shakes her head in disbelief, “What are you saying?!”

  “I am aware that you have a fancy for Sybil, but, using the doctor’s lodging for your own carnal relief?” The thundering woman presses her plump fingers into her brow in disappointment. I’m too stunned to speak. Agnis hops off of the bed.

  “Wha-? I’m telling you, it’s nothing like that!” Agnis’ indignant face burns red.

  “Letting your urges lead you around like this, it’s disgusting! I ought to beat some sense into you, girl.”

  “No! You have it all wrong. I don’t know what you think you saw, but we weren’t doing anything indecent!”

  “Oh? You accidentally slipped into bed? Forgot to wear clothes? Don’t lie to me!”

  “I didn’t say that! And I am wearing clothes! And- Pak!” Agnis gathers her wits. “Sybil is Krasa’s patient!”

  “Patient? That’s no patient. Stop yelling profanities and listen to-”

  “YOU’RE not listening, you raving bull!” Agnis steps forward, gesturing back at me with a swing of her arm. “Sybil is hurt! Is it a crime to render aid to the wounded?”

  The agitated woman glares at me with revulsion. After a moment, she sighs, changing her tone.

  “Agnis, that thing is not to be trusted, let alone nursed. You’ve been tricked.” The woman’s tone grows macabre. Agnis glances back at me, confused.

  “...What?! You mean Sybil? Don’t call her a ‘thing’!”

  “That isn’t Sybil. Sybil is dead, and you know it.”

  Agnis gasps.

  “She’s right here! She’s not dead!”

  “You saw the body up close. Don’t deceive yourself.”

  “I- I’m not a doctor! I was mistaken! Even Krasa made the wrong call! Look, Sybil is alright now, she’s going to live!” Agnis gestures to me, forcing a pained smile.

  “All I see is an empty shell.” The grizzled woman growls, “Iternians don’t come back from the dead, Agnis! That… is nothing but a hollow creature of void.”

  The woman’s esoteric statements sound more like poetry to me than meaningful arguments, but Agnis’ grave expression says otherwise.

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “Of course I am! You know even better than I do. That thing-” She points at me with disgust, “is something else living in Sybil’s body.”

  I swallow, shrinking in place. The woman steps toward Agnis. She accidentally kicks the fallen bowl of goop as she steps forward. Looking down at it, she grimaces.

  “Waste of food… Lovely. Care to explain what happened here?”

  “She… I mean, I… I just-” Agnis crosses her arms, looking away. The graying woman scoffs, not bothering to hear Agnis’ excuse.

  “No more lies. Agnis, you cannot close your eyes to this. Sybil is gone, and whatever has replaced her is not one of us.” She steps even closer to Agnis, almost on top of her. I can’t even look at her.

  “You’re jumping to conclusions! She’s just… sick! She’s sick right now! ” Agnis shouts at the floor.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “How many times must I say it? Don’t lie to me! What a poor excuse. She’s sick? Really? Does that explain speaking in tongues? Her new personality? Forgetting her own sister’s face? I heard about it all.”

  “That… idiot meathead…” Agnis mutters to herself.

  “You’re not a doctor, but you still think you can explain this all away with sickness! Well, can you?” the imposing woman growls. Agnis steps back, bumping into the table beside my bed.

  “You know that Sybil is gone.” She addresses Agnis in a whisper, loud enough for me to hear. “That’s why you were crying last night, because she’s gone and you know she’s never coming back.”

  Agnis is voiceless, cowering further away from the browbeating woman. Cornered by the massive ogress, she looks so very small. I can’t bear it. Not for a second longer.

  I stand.

  Our eyes meet.

  “My, you uncultured lout… I’ll take you down here if you wish!” The woman grins at me with violence in her eyes.

  “Sybil! No!” Agnis cries from behind me.

  So there I am, squared up against this bulky crone; she, clad in dazzling gold and silken robes; I, completely nude, save for the bandage around my shoulder. If I was thinking straight, I probably would have found it deeply embarrassing.

  “Leave her alone, you old cow! Who are you to act like you know everything? Take your nonsense somewhere else!” I shout.

  My words leave the woman speechless.

  Agnis, on the other hand, evacuates the air from her lungs with a ghastly squeal, as if her soul had left her body. I glance back. She’s turned a brilliant red color and looks about ready to kill me.

  “SYBIL! DON’T!” Agnis wheezes with painful embarrassment, “PLEASE!” Her voice comes out in a tiny, strained rasp, as if she were being choked. She doesn’t seem very grateful to have me standing up for her…

  “Why, you… You unholy brute!” Just as my focus returns forward, the woman slams her fat fist into my jaw. It doesn’t connect. I flinch away, and the impact lands on the crest of my cheek. She’s not messing around. I feel slightly light-headed, but I swallow the pain. I swing my right arm, but before it can go anywhere, Agnis catches it, hugging her arms around it.

  “Don’t fight her! You CAN’T!” Agnis begs, “It’s ARKODA!”

  “What? What do you mea-?”

  The woman’s fist slams into my nose, cutting me off. I can taste iron.

  “Let go!” I cough. I don’t want to knock Agnis down, but I can’t get my arm free otherwise.

  “She’s my MOTHER!” Agnis cries.

  I gasp, blood rolling down over my lips. The massive woman is ready to swing again, but stops.

  Agnis has thrown herself in front of me. My opponent is reluctant to swing at her own daughter.

  “Don’t fight! You don’t have to fight” Agnis begs, in humbled despair. Arkoda frowns.

  “Get out of the way! I will finish this monster!”

  “She’s not a monster!”

  “You still doubt me?! Are you blind?! She’s behaving like a wild animal!”

  “Sybil is just confused! She only wanted to help me!”

  “Agnis, may the Mother help me! If I must, I will beat you too! Leave us! Now!”

  It was right then that Krasa lunged through the doorway. She must have heard the commotion from another room, but I sincerely doubt she was expecting what she saw now. Like a wind up toy wound to the point of breaking, the precocious little doctor trembles, waving her arms as she speaks in fast-forward.

  “What? Naja Arkoda? What’s going on?! Is Sybil okay? Is everyone okay? Naja Agnis? What’s wrong?” She babbles, the bags under her eyes only making them look more huge and panicked.

  “Stay back… I’m being attacked by the undead.” Arkoda snarls, not taking her eyes off me.

  Krasa looks at me, jumping at the sight of the blood trickling down my chin.

  “Eek! Wait! Stop! Sybil shouldn’t be out of bed! Did you say that she attacked you? Did she really attack you? What happened? What’s going on?”

  Arkoda doesn’t answer. Despite the young doctor’s wishes, it seems Arkoda is set on fighting her patient, even as Krasa stands only a few meters away.

  “She started i-” I groan, but I’m knocked sideways before my lips can close.

  As it turns out, Agnis just isn’t quite tall enough to fully block me, and Arkoda decided to let me know with a quick left hook, swinging clear over Agnis’ head. Her strike nailed me in the temple like an ice pick.

  The room sways. I stumble sideways, bumping into the hard edge of the bed, catching myself as I slump down to my knee. Agnis turns to me, her face showing a mixture of conflicted woes. She wraps her body over me, squeezing her head against my own, anxiously jamming her eyes shut in anticipation of another punch from Arkoda.

  “WAIT!” Krasa shrieks.

  “Huh?!”

  With a thud, Krasa throws herself to the floor.

  “Stand back, I said!” Arkoda shouts, repelled by Krasa’s manic motion.

  “Wait, wait, please!” Krasa wails, groveling at Arkoda’s feet, “Please, oh please, pardon me for this indiscretion! I must speak, or I will regret it for eternity! Put me to death if you wish! There is something I must tell you!”

  “Hmm?”

  Arkoda is taken off guard by Krasa’s weighty declarations. She steps back, dropping her hands to her side.

  “Fine then. Speak.”

  Krasa shudders, prostrate on the floor.