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“No! Of course I don’t remember. It... it just happened, didn’t it? The car accident. I remember him going too fast on a curvy road in the rain. Have I been in a coma or something?”
“No. You’ve been unconscious for a few hours, but the doctor said it was from a concussion. It wasn’t a coma. You think the car accident just happened?”
I don’t know Arthur all that well. He’s been in the background of my life for a long time, but we never interacted in anything more than a cursory way. He’s not showing much expression at the moment, but his posture looks stiff. His jaw is working slightly.
He’s upset. I’m sure of it.
He’s really upset.
My eyes burn, and my throat tightens again. “Didn’t it? That’s the last thing I remember. The rain and the curve of the road. I know my dad is dead, but I don’t remember how I know. It’s really been six months? Why are you even here?”
“Why am... I...?” He stands up with a jerky move, his head turned away from me. “I’m going to get the doctor. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
I have no idea what else to say. That dark fog is still swirling in my mind—so many things I should know but don’t. My head throbs painfully, and there are lesser aches all over my body.
But none of that matters as much as Arthur Worthing’s reaction.
He’s always been smart. Aloof. Slightly sarcastic. Completely unflappable.
But he was about to lose it just now, which means something is terribly wrong.
***
ANURSE COMES INTOthe room almost immediately and then a doctor several minutes after that.
The doctor has gray hair and a kind face. He shines a light in my eyes, tells me to look in different directions, and then starts asking a series of questions.
“What’s your name?”
He has my chart, so he clearly knows who I am. He must be testing to see if I can remember it. “Scarlett Elizabeth Kingston.”
“What year is it?”
“It’s 2023.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No. It’s just me and my dad. Or it was. Until he... My mom took off when I was a baby. I never even knew her.”
He nods, affirming my answer. For a moment it feels like I did well on a test in school. “And your dad?”
“He’s Jack Kingston. The one you’ve probably heard of.”
Anyone who’s paid attention to national news in the past year would have heard of Jack Kingston, the supposed financial guru who embezzled millions from his ultrawealthy clients. He was arrested and convicted, but he fled the country before he could be sent to prison.
“How old are you?” the doctor asks quietly.
Pain flickers briefly in my head as I reach for the answer. “Twenty-seven.”
I’m watching the doctor, so I notice when he glances back to the corner of the room where Arthur retreated after he brought in the nurse.
“Is that wrong?” I ask, trying to straighten up. I don’t like lying in bed while everyone else is standing. “If six months have passed, does that mean I’m twenty-eight now?”
I close my eyes, trying to search my mind for all the memories that must be lurking beyond the fog. It hurts my head so much I gasp.
“Yes,” the doctor murmurs. “You’re twenty-eight.”
