into the room, dragged by the

uted, his hands shaking as he checked

rolled-up towel. Her face

other the agony of a prolonged labor, Emerson coa

the birth canal

d immediately let out a piercing, d

quickly clamped and cut the cord, w

the blinding lantern light. The air in the

d the towel in her mo

rom his skin. An invisible, freezing chill swept through the room. The old doctor's breath hitched. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, and his heart inexplic

he doctor placed the two bundles into her arms. She

tor took his fee. They all backed out of the r

, gnawing ache of an em

rt, smiling tiredly, p

his chubby arms out, aggressively shoving his body toward Kamala's chest, trying

been resting, sna

wborn. They were cold, ancient

arn your less

and. She swung it over and smac

. She laced the impact with a

ight of the entity that had dominated hi

His face scrunched up. He

blue eyes onto his pupils

He snapped his mouth shut, swallowing his own

latched onto her mother, and beg

l, watching her eat, too

ll, she let out a tiny burp an

rd, drinking frantically like h

her lips. "Looks like your sister is the bo

leep. The hierarchy was set. She was the a