Page 128 of No Greater Oblivion

“Her…” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Her what?”

“My aunt just got back. Call me as soon as you get here!”

Istorm through the emergency room like a hell-born blaze, ready to obliterate anything and everything in sight. The first person I lay eyes on is a bleary-eyed, red-faced Brent, pacing the length of the linoleum floors with slumped over shoulders and a wave of hair hanging limply over his brow. I beeline straight for him and he flinches at the sound of my approach but doesn’t meet my gaze.

“What. Happened?” I demand.

He swallows hard and slows his pacing. “She…she was getting out of the car…”

My patience thins with every second that passes and I don’t have an answer.

“It happened so fast…the door…”

I grab him by the lapels and give him a shake. “Fucking spit it out, Brent!”

He can’t look at me. Then again, he isn’t looking at anything, only staring at some far-off point in the distance I can’t make out.

I give him a hard push and he lands on the plastic chair behind him. “Fucking useless…” I yank off my gloves and am about to reach for my phone in my pocket when Lyss materializes from down the hall. “Over here!”

Her gaze darts across the emergency room and finds mine. When she does, she comes over to meet us and waves quickly at Diego and Lettie who’ve tagged along before approaching Alejandro, Brent, and me.

“Karina’s in good hands, my aunt’s the one attending to her,” she placates. “Please don’t panic. I called you instead of her parents because I thought you’d be less likely to make a scene and upset her.”

“Is she all right?” Alejandro asks. “Can Dahlia see her?”

She nods. “Come, I’ll take you there now.”

I unbutton my coat and Alejandro helps me out of it. I hand him my purse but keep my phone. “Watch them, please. All of them.”

Alejandro glances at his brother and Brent before nodding. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

Lyss leads me down the hall and at every turn I have to avoid someone stepping on the train of my skirt. I must look ridiculous in a black evening dress and pearls in my hair but this is a hospital; I’m certain everyone’s seen far worse and far stranger.

We reach a white door at the end of the sterile hall and Lyss knocks once. “Clodagh? It’s us.”

“Come in.”

Lyss pushes the door open and Karina is sitting upright on a white hospital bed. Tears have clawed their way down her round cheeks, ruining her makeup with ugly, black lines and messy glitter. Otherwise, her hair and costume are intact and her winter coat is strewn across one of the side chairs and she wears a simple gray sweater for warmth. More than the ruined eyeliner and blank expression on her face, my attention is drawn to the monstrosity on her foot.

Karina’s half a foot shorter than I am and the boot on her right foot is massive, heavy, and goes all the way up to below the knee. How is she supposed to move around in that thing when it probably weighs more than her?

“Kay?” I approach the side of the bed and sit next to her. “Are you okay?”

“She’s in shock,” Clodagh, Lyss’s aunt, tells me. “But she’s all right.”

“What happened?”

“Karina, I need your consent first.”

My cousin inhales shakily before giving a curt nod. “You can tell her everything.”

Clodagh sets down her clipboard and Lyss steps out into the hallway to give us some privacy. “She crushed her foot.”

“What do you mean she crushed her foot? She was fine an hour ago!”

Karina’s monotone voice sends a shiver down my spine. “I…opened the door. To get out and…and a motorcycle.”

Both Clodagh and I watch her with suspicion.