I was lying on the ceiling.

Below me - in front of me - people walked, ran, fussed, searched for me.

Here is a quick step flashed Flora. Ranita flew past her towards the fireball. They almost collided, exchanged a couple of phrases and went their separate ways.

Then the twins ran in single file.

Behind them, saber-rattling, Benedict marched forward.

Then Trent walked in the opposite direction, creaking loudly with rubber soles.

And I lay there, hiding my aura and merging with the ceiling pattern.

Shane entered the dining room, glanced at me and went out through the same door.

Parker shuffled down the corridor ...

How tired I am ... everyone needs something from me - Jeremiah is that, Jeremiah is ... Tired ... pulled up ... zadolbalo ... I can’t even pick up the words of such a person to express the depth of my disgust.

I closed my eyes. Maybe take a vacation? About two hundred years away from here? In some provincial Shadows, where no one would guess to look for me?

"Dad, where are you?"

I sighed and slowly planned on the floor. I landed on my feet and answered:

"In the dining room. Something urgent?"

"Not really..."

"Speak ..."

"Light is giving birth ..."

Great - the obstetrician king! I bet grandfather did not dare to dream of such a thing!

I walked to the dining room door, flung it open, and entered Shane's room.

Light lay on the bed.

As there is no more sexual and attractive spectacle than a pregnant woman, so there is no more asexual and repulsive than a woman who gives birth.

His forehead and cheeks are covered with large drops of sweat, his hair stuck together, bruises under his eyes, his mouth convulsively enough air, his hands tightly squeeze the sheets, heavy breathing and feces ...

No, there is a more repulsive sight - this is when something goes wrong ...

I bent over her and felt his forehead - she had a fever. Poorly...

“Water, towels, clean diapers,” he quickly ordered and sank to the floor at her feet.

I would like to stroke her stomach now, to say that everything will be fine, but the tongue did not turn. Normally not work ...

“Strain,” he ordered, placing a diaper under her hips. “Trent, help her.”

He helped Sveta half to eat. The girl screamed.

I put my fingers into her vagina. Poorly. The neck has not yet fully opened, and the waters have already moved ...

“We have to cut it,” said, wiping the blood on the diaper.

Trent nodded, laid her on his back and put his hand to her forehead. She went limp and breathed evenly.

I took a scalpel and gloves out of the Shadow. Trent ripped off her nightgown.

Bad, too much blood ... no matter how late ...

One incision is about three fingers below the navel ten centimeters in a semicircle. Moved the skin and muscles ... The curled up fetus, entangled with the umbilical cord, like a rope ... Carefully pulled out ... Heart beats ... Good ...

I gave it to Trent, he gently took him by the legs - her, this is a girl - and lightly slapped the tiny buttocks. She first quietly grunted, and then began to cry - loud and drawn out. And with each breath louder. Trent gently lowered her in warm water, then wrapped her in a diaper ...

In the meantime, I had healed a cut on Sveta’s stomach, simultaneously stopping the bleeding and removing hematomas ... I felt my forehead and my fever was asleep

He exhaled and fell at the feet of her bed, his arms wrapped around his head.

Trent put the baby on her chest and sat next to me, after replacing the diaper under the hips of the young mommy and covering her with a blanket.

- tired?

There is no sympathy in his eyes, no participation, no care or love. He simply states a fact. But at the same time, I know - he doesn’t care, he really worries, worries, cares and sympathizes.

I nodded and removed my hands from my face.

- Well, now they are safe ...

- Yeah ... Shane warned that he did not touch Sveta for at least a couple of days ...

“I'll warn you,” he gently patted me on the shoulder and rose to my feet. - You need to rest.

I sighed again - you can rest here, how ...

* * *

Green meadow, silky grass, dark midnight sky and bright midday sun.On the shore of a small round lake, children of Trabble and Freya run to race, on a flat stone, twins snake like a cat in the sun. I'm sitting on the grass and smoking a pipe ...

- Is the crown too hard for you? - Father clapped me on the shoulder and sat down beside me.

“Not funny,” he replied gloomily and blew smoke, simultaneously giving him the shape of my black dragon.

“You have to go on vacation,” he said, watching the smoke figure rush towards the lake and melt a foot from the water's edge.

- And what will I do there? - I sighed.

But really, what do I do on vacation?

Everyone has a hobby - Trent enjoys killing and playing the guitar, his father periodically goes to other worlds and works there as a doctor (studies the anatomy and physiology of various creatures inhabiting the Shadow), Merlin at his leisure makes computers, twins play cards and dominoes, Shane ... it's a different story altogether. What should I do?

I don’t like to kill, I don’t play musical instruments, I’m not interested in medicine. Play? I remember how I once participated in a chess tournament - thanks, I don’t want repetition ... And if I find myself in a brothel, Ranita will unscrew my head ...

You can, of course, just hibernate - let Eddie drive for as long as I sleep for two hundred years in a row ...

- Son, well, not all of you alone keeps ...

- It was necessary then to agree ... - I whispered.

- What? - father looked at me in disbelief.

“Nothing ...” I replied in syllables. - Just thinking out loud ...

And lay down on his back, putting his hands under his head ...

* * *

I sat on the edge of the bed, clasping my head with my hands. Ranita sat on the bed with her legs, hugged my shoulders and pressed her cheek to my back.

- It's not scary, honey. You do not worry ... In another time it will ...

I sighed and took my hands off my face.

- This is who you calm now?

She pulled away from me and sobbed:

- It's just ... you're still so young ... and here it is ...

I grinned and turned to the window.

- I'm just dead tired, honey ...

“Then lie down and sleep, and in the morning we'll go hunting, do you want?” Just you and me. Forget about everything for at least a couple of days ... - she clung to my shoulders again.

- Sorry, I can not ... I'm so tired that even a dream does not bring relief ...

“Jeremiah,” she buried her face in my back and burst into tears.

I patted her hand:

- I'll go get some fresh air ...

She let go of my shoulders. I got up and pulled on my pants.

Ranita sobbed a couple more times:

- to wait for you?

“Not worth it,” I leaned over and gently kissed her cheek. - Sleep, love ...

She took a deep breath and rolled over on its side, wrapped in a blanket. I went to the door of our bedroom, pushed it and went straight into the garden.

Two guards, about something fun talking at the gazebo, stretched along the bar at my appearance.

“At ease,” I said, and walked along the path to the depths of the garden.

Start moving around the bend.

He accelerated his step, then moved to a slow run, then began to accelerate ... twenty steps, ten, five ...

And shifted at random ...

In the forest. Night.

There were no tracks under my feet, I ran along the fallen leaves, only slightly crushing it with my bare feet. The moon was unbearably bright, unfamiliar stars glowed like white bonfires ... But I didn’t move any more - in such a state I can run so far that I won’t get out of there. So I just ran straight, not thinking about anything, not reasoning, not sorting the roads.

The trees gradually grew taller and thicker, their branches intertwined overhead, giving such a welcome gloom ...

And then thin mist lines crawled through the air. They broke on my chest, swirled under the arms and behind my back, gathered in thicker strands, twisted and folded. The air was filled with moisture and aromas ...