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I cringed. Thatsomething elsewas my father dying. I just couldn’t make my mind go there, because I wasn’t sure how to live in a world without my father in it. “It’s been so long since they’ve told us anything. Even the police and the press have come and gone.”
“No news is good news, love.”
That wasn’t how I saw it. “Kels.” I turned to the brother of my heart, seated catty-corner to where Luke and I were, his elbows on his knees, his frosted head in his hands and looking utterly defeated. “Was Dad able to say anything at all before the ambulance took him away?”
“I’ve already told you, Eden.” He didn’t bother to raise his head, sounding so devoid of life that it was almost as if he were the one who’d been beaten nearly to death. “Tru wasn’t coherent when I found him. Jesus, how could he be, with half his head caved in and one of his eyes gouged out? He was just moaning and… and gurgling.”
Oh God. “I just don’t understand how someone got to him at HEG. I mean, that’s ourhome. It’s been locked down like Fort Knox ever since he received those threats. There are men and dogs and cameras everywhere.”
“Not at Tamarack Meeting Hall,” Kels mumbled to his shoes. “You know street kids—they’re skittish as hell, so when Tru did this last security upgrade, he insisted that no cameras or added security be present at the meeting hall.”
Luke stirred next to me. “What’s so special about that meeting hall?”
“It’s where the at-risk teens who’ve turned to New Hope shelters for help come through.” I leaned into him, then sighed in relief when his arm at my back curled around my shoulders. Until that moment I’d never known how good it felt to lean on someone and let their strength fill me. “Not all of them, of course. Just those who show an interest in learning a trade and want to work for HEG.”
“It’s sort of like an intake center-slash-common room,” Kels put in, head still cradled in his hands. “The last time Tru spoke to me, he told me to hold down the fort because he was going down to greet an unexpected busload of New Hopers.”
“Unexpected?” I frowned. That didn’t sound right. “But… wait, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why not?” Luke asked,
“Those buses are usually scheduled by the various directors of all the New Hope Teen Shelters, and always planned days in advance so HEG can prepare for the new arrivals. Clothes, shoes, beds to put them in, food—everything a person might need to find their feet. There are no unexpected busloads from New Hope.”
“Exactly.” Kels shifted, and I realized he was nodding. “I thought it was weird at the time as well, but Tru seemed cool with it. I even offered to go along with him, but he said no. You know how he is, always wanting to be the first face they see so they’ll imprint on him better, like he thinks they’re all fucking baby birds or something. In the end, no one went with him, because he didn’t want to share that face-time with anyone else.”
“Gotta say, that’s pretty damn idiotic, considering what’s going on right now,” Luke pointed out unhelpfully. By the hospital’s waiting room door, Echo silently nodded in agreement. “Doing anything alone is just begging for trouble.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Kels’s head snapped up to scowl pure fury at Luke. “Don’t you think I know I should have put one of his guards on him despite his orders? Don’t you think I know I should have listened to my instincts that something smelled seriously fuckingwrongabout this whole thing, and insisted that I go with him down to the meeting hall? I get it, okay? I know this is all my fault. I get it, for fuck’s sake.”
“Wow, you and Eden really are brother and sister, aren’t you? Kels, listen up,” Luke went on, and when he called Kelsey by his first name I realized with a little shock that he’d never done that before. “Tru Steadfast is to blame for his bad judgment which led to his lax security. The bastard who jacked Tru up is the one to blame for Tru’s condition. You and Eden have this outsized guilt complex that’s kind of dramatic, not gonna lie. But the fact is you’re not to blame, so stop torturing yourself. You’re starting to resemble a badly written telenovela.”
Kels’s outraged expression almost made me laugh despite my tension, before it melted into uncertainty as he slid me a speaking glance. “I can’t believe you voluntarily hang out with this guy.”
“I do more than hang out with this guy, so you might want to get used to Luke being around,” I heard myself say, only to wonder where the hell those words had come from. “I was even thinking of introducing him to Dad, since I’ve already met Luke’s mother. I’m so mad at myself now for hesitating over that decision. Thanks to whoever’s making our life a living hell, I may not get that chance now.”
“Don’t think that, genius.” For the second time that night, Luke held me close and kissed my temple. “All you’re doing is borrowing trouble, you hear me? We just have to sit tight as we wait for any word on your dad’s condition, and hope for the best while preparing for the worst. That way we’re ready for anything.”
Easier said than done, I thought, and opened my mouth to tell him so when a woman in scrubs and a long white coat came in through the doorway.
“Steadfast family?”
Kels and I sprang to our feet like we feared she’d vanish if we didn’t respond fast enough.
“Ah, there you are. I’m Dr. Castillo, the one who just wrapped up surgery with Truman Steadfast. Are you his relatives?”
“We’re his children,” I said before Kels could screw things up by blurting out that he wasn’t an actual blood relative. “And this is Luke, my, uh—” Good grief, what was he, exactly?
“I’m Eden’s fiancée,” Luke slid into the conversation, as smooth as butter. I did my best not to gape at him, and he helped me out by holding me fast to his side. “I was just telling these two that no news is good news. I hope you’re not going to make a liar out of me.”
“It’s mixed news, I’m afraid—a lot of good, and some bad. Which do you want to hear first?”
“The bad,” Kels and I said together.
Dr. Castillo nodded. “Your father is in critical condition, so obviously we’ve put him in the ICU for now. That means he’s got staff assigned to him twenty-four seven, and they’re only steps away should he have any difficulty. When he first came in, he was in pretty bad shape, and we thought we’d have to remove a section of his skull due to swelling in his brain.”
“Oh, God,” I whispered, twining my arms around Luke’s middle. It meant the world to me when he wrapped me up and held on tight.
The doctor held up a calming hand. “Luckily, your father has responded well over the past several hours to medication to mitigate that swelling, so at this time we don’t think we’ll have to do that. Though please understand surgery is still an option if his condition suddenly deteriorates. I know it sounds scary, but in the long run that type of surgery would be the number-one option left to save his life.”
