Hadrian's Wall Read Free Page B

animal kingdom when a snake
appeared from nowhere, waving its tail and hypnotizing a helpless
mouse. It was exactly the same look—that of a predator.
    I noticed that she was holding a folder
containing my medical records with enough force to tear it in
half.
    “So...it’s you!”
    Huh?
    She evaluated my confusion and then
continued, twisting her thin lips as she spoke. “The girl found
unconscious on the Mountain of Polish Man.”
    “Mountain of Polish Man?”
    “You do not know anything about us, right?”
Her accent was British, her question sounded scornful.
    “No,” I whispered. “Should I? Who are you?”
She laughed at my confusion.
    “No, you should not...if you really came to
Hadrian’s Wall by accident...and to answer your question, my name
is Asia.”
    Mmm...a strange name! Definitely not
English. Does she also consider herself to be as great as a
continent or is the name a tribute to her almond-shaped eyes? I
thought that English people were more friendly and formal in their
first meetings, but this girl obviously didn’t fit that
description.
    “I still have no idea how I got here.” I
glanced at her coat, looking for a badge to confirm her full name
and specialty, but there was none. It made me even more
apprehensive, wondering why she would not want her status to be
acknowledged.
    Asia seated herself on the edge of my bed.
Her eyes were strange—a brown color that I had never seen
before—somewhere between burgundy and chocolate. They were eyes
that evoked fear in me.
    Suddenly her eyes were yellow. Yellow? When
I blinked, she quickly picked up her glasses hanging from a chain
around her neck and put them on her face. Like Adrian’s, the lenses
were slightly shaded.
    “In fact, it is very strange, especially
when you have such a powerful weapon...” She looked meaningfully at
my left hand and casually pointed at it. “Interesting tattoo.”
    I followed her eyes to my tear-shaped
birthmark between the forefinger and thumb on the back of my
hand.
    “It’s not tattoo. I was born with it.”
    “How convenient,” she murmured. “Why
now?”
    “I don’t understand.”
    Suddenly, another resident appeared in my
room—a tall, frail-looking young man with flyaway hair the color of
rust.
    “Asia, you should not be here. This ward is
mine today.”
    She smiled. “I just wanted to meet the new,
mysterious patient from Caledonia.”
    His scowl did not match his baby face. “Go
back to your patients. Must I remind you what our orders are?”
    I looked at Asia and could have sworn I saw
a flash of anger cross her face, though it wasn’t easy to decipher
her emotions because of the darkened lenses.
    “That’s not fair, Jay!” Her indignant
reaction seemed to have more than one meaning.
    Worried, he glanced at me and then back at
Asia again. “Stephen is in the building now. You might wonder what
will happen if he finds out you are here.”
    A hint of dread crossed Asia’s face. Within
one second her eyes widened and her mouth opened. “Stephen,
Stephen...the eternal guard dog!” she muttered.
    She looked at me one last time. “Saved by
the bell!” Smiling, she passed by Jay and left us.
    Jay looked down for a moment and then at me.
“I’m sorry, I should have been doing my rounds earlier.”
Embarrassed, he scratched his head. “I believe that Asia saved me
this effort.”
    Of course, I was not buying this charade,
but I let it pass. I got the impression that he didn’t expect me to
believe it. He approached my bed and picked up my records.
    “Another resident,” I sighed. “Where is
Adrian?” I glanced at his nametag, which read, “Jay O’Neal /
Neurology.”
    Mmm...Irish, Welsh, or Scottish boy? That
would explain his red hair and freckles, but does not explain the
contrast between old worn shoes and the wristwatch that very few
people could afford—Rolex or Omega? So many contradictions...it
seems that I am surrounded by them lately.
    O’Neal stopped in the middle of room