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I turned back to Rose. “The school told me she was found at the bottom of the steps, out cold, and with a bump on her head.”
“The mean girls pushed me,” Reggie repeated stubbornly. “Probably Kylie.”
I shrugged. “Maybe so. Anyway. If fainting could be thought of as a first symptom, it came on about a week before the fatigue, the nosebleeds, etc.”
“How soon did the symptoms improve once you were at the clinic?” Rose asked.
Reggie frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe four, five days? It got better right away, but it was about five days later that I felt well enough to get up and see what was outside the door. That was when I found out I was locked in.”
Kat winced. “Bastards,” she murmured. “I’m glad I put the fear of God into at least one of those pieces of sh… ah. Sorry.” She coughed. “Garbage, I mean.”
“What did the garbage tell you?” Rose asked.
“He said that her medicine was in the fridge in her room. One injection, morning and evening, and the IV bags had vitamins, minerals and various other supplements.”
“Which I don’t want to do anymore.” Reggie held out her arm, and everyone in the room flinched at her pale, scrawny arm, the bluish color of skim milk, completely covered with needle scars and hematomas of every color.
Rose made a horrified sound. “God! Whoever did that was a total hack!”
“Yep,” Reggie said solemnly. “Not gonna argue with that.”
“I’m going to take one of each to test,” Rose told me. “One vial, one IV bag. Until we know what’s in it, my instinct would be not to give her any more of it.”
“Good,” Reggie said, with quiet satisfaction. “I hate those damn needles.”
It made sense, weighing dangers against possible advantages, but it ratcheted up my tension still more, reminding me how naked in the dark I was, with such a limited ability to help and protect my sister. Nothing but questions, uncertainties, doubts. Fears.
“I’ll get back to my lab right away and get to work on this,” Rose assured me.
Rose was invited to lunch, but she insisted that she needed to get to work, a sentiment I appreciated with my whole heart. I gave her a grateful hug before she even got her coat on. “Thanks for caring,” I whispered.
“Oh, God, yes.” She hugged me back hard. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, I promise. This will be my number one priority. Actually, my only priority.”
The phones began to ding-ding-ding again. Everyone grabbed them and checked.
Ethan looked up at Shane. “They’re here,” he said quietly. “Jed, Freya and Holly are back from the airport. Get ready, bro. You’re on.”
CHAPTER15
Shane
Get ready, my ass. There was no prepping for something like this.
I’d faced death more times than I could count, but I had never been so fucking scared as I was at this moment. I also hated myself for feeling afraid, not happy. And I was ashamed of being such a fucking coward. This was my baby girl, for God’s sake.
I was a tangled knot of pure, unfiltered suck right now.
But it was all happening, here and now, so I followed everyone out into the chilly mountain air. I caught a quick, furtive look from Red, but her curious gaze whipped away as soon as my own crossed with it. I pushed that mess to another part of my mind. Locked the door on it. One snake’s nest of overwhelming feelings at a time.
Holly was the first one down the steps. She moved slowly, as if she were afraid it was a trap. She looked different. Taller, thinner, her hair had grown longer. Darker than I remembered. Her eyes sought out my face as I walked toward her.
Instinctively, everyone else held back. I caught Frey’s eyes as she did the same. She stopped short, holding Jed’s hand, and letting Holly come on alone.
Just me, and my little girl, everyone watching, pacing toward each other like two gunslingers at high noon. Staring at each other’s faces. Trying to recognize each other.
She stopped a few feet from me, her lip starting to shake. “Daddy?” she asked.
The word, the tone, took me down like a landslide. I lunged forward and dropped to my knees. “Baby,” I rasped.
