My boyfriend pulled me back, and I slumped against the warm and comfortable strength of his body.
"What's wrong with her?" I heard Hadrian ask over my head.
"I have my suspicions, but..." Dr. Ace's thoughtful gaze flicked back to me. "What's the last thing you remember, Saoirse?"
"Before losing consciousness?"
Dr. Ace nodded.
"I felt...panicky," I admitted in a small voice. "And you don't have to tell me. I know it doesn't make sense." I was a ghost and a goddess, and those two things didn't exactly make me easy to kill. "I was obviously being stupid—-" To my horror, I heard my voice rising with each word, and I abruptly cut myself off.
What was happening to me?
Warm, strong fingers suddenly covered my hand, and it was only then I realized that I had my fingers curled in a fist.
"You weren't being stupid." Hadrian's voice was deep and calm like usual, the sound so wonderfully and reassuringly familiar that I felt myself relaxing. I looked up, thinking to thank him, but instead I found myself distracted.
Oh wow.
There were just times like this when I couldn't help but marvel at how incredibly, amazingly hot Hadrian was. Not an appropriate thought to have, considering the circumstances, but oh well.
I thought hitting the big four-oh would make me more mature, but the way my mind was working right now, middle age only seemed to have made me more hormonal. And hornier.
Then again...that could just be Hadrian's doing. He was, like, super hot—-
"What you're going through is normal."
Dr. Ace's words made me blink. What's normal? Being horny?
"I believe it's one of those side effects I warned you about."
Since Aesculapius was responsible for performing the magical procedure that allowed ambrosia to bond with my blood and have my former ghostly self regain human flesh...
"Are you saying something's wrong with me?" I asked with a gulp. "Physically? Medically? Magically?"
"As I've informed both of you before, the procedure is the first of its kind. With no precedent to guide us, we can only wait and see..."
"Just get to the point," Hadrian gritted out.
"Very well." Dr. Ace's voice was unruffled. "While it will require more tests for me to give an accurate diagnosis, from what I can tell...I believe there's a strong possibility that Saoirse is suffering from the most extreme case of menopause."
I waited for the punch line to come. Or for Dr. Ace to laugh. But when he kept looking at me—-
My jaw dropped. "You're serious?"
"Yes."
"B-But...I haven't even had the thing that happens before menopause! And I'm just forty-one. And...and a goddess!"
"I am truly sorry for this, but..." And you just knew it was bad, when Dr. Ace actually sounded sorry, and his tone had changed from grouchy to gentle. "The fact that you're a goddess is actually the reason the symptoms of your condition are likely to be exacerbated."
I could only stare at him, in a stage of utter denial, and the tightness in my chest only eased a little when I felt Hadrian take my hand in his.
It was a good thing neither of us wanted kids, I thought numbly, or this could be a major deal-breaker.
"This situation is obviously undesirable," Dr. Ace said, "especially in light of the other dangers we have to face, but the good thing to keep in mind is that this side effect is temporary. I fully expect it to go away on its own, in a matter of weeks at most. But until then, you must be prepared for the worst."
"What is the worst?" Hadrian asked quietly.
"On one end of the spectrum, Saoirse may suffer from hot flashes and muscle pains, sleeping difficulties, and headaches."
None of those sounded good, I thought, but they were all bearable at least.
However...
"That's the bad end, right?" Please, please say it's so.
"No."
Oh, Dr. Ace. You're only supposed to burst a person's bubble, and not shoot at it with a machine gun until there's nothing left.
"The bad end comes with the possibility of frequent anxiety attacks, such as the one you experienced earlier."
Shit.
"Mood swings are also likely, along with sudden heart palpitations, a low attention span—"
So that's why I was easily distracted...more so than usual.
"Maybe even memory problems—-"
Was this really a bad case of menopause, or couldn't he just tell me the truth and say I could be have anything from Alzheimer's to dementia?
"And lastly..."
My heartbeat sped up, and as cold sweat broke over my skin, Hadrian started stroking my back, almost as if he could sense my apprehension.
"You must be ready to experience—-"
Or maybe...this was already another anxiety attack?
"A vastly reduced sex drive." Dr. Ace gave me a rather apologetic look, like he knew I would find his last words tremendously upsetting—-
I started hyperventilating.
AND HE WAS RIGHT!Chapter ThreeSince I've only been "inside" the bookshop once, I still had Narnai-ish enter-the-wardrobe goosebumps popping over my skin as we crossed its threshold. One moment, we were still in the world of humans. Another moment, and we were In Between.