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  “Drive!” I roared.

  Yutika flinched, and then she floored the gas.

  The van blew through a stop sign. I tightened my arms around Kaira as a car coming in the opposite direction slammed on their brakes. There was a screech of tires and a blaring horn.

  “Sorry!” Yutika cried as we raced past.

  As if things couldn’t get any worse, the horn was replaced by sirens and the flash of red-and-blue lights.

  “Oh no, what do we do?!” Yutika asked, her face full of panic.

  “Pull over,” Michael commanded in a gruff voice.

  He scrubbed at his eyes, which were bloodshot and still streaming tears.

  A heavyset cop strolled out of the squad car, one hand resting on his weapon.

  “Hands on the wheel—” he began.

  “There’s nothing wrong here, Officer,” Michael said, leaning into the front seat and squinting at the cop as tears continued to stream down his face. “And you’re going to give us a police escort so we can get to where we’re going faster.”

  “That’s right,” the cop agreed, giving Michael a worshipping sort of look. “What’s the address, Sir?”

  Smith gave the cop an address before disappearing behind his laptop screen, muttering about the police and conspiracies.

  The cop got back in his car, and Yutika floored it to keep up as the squad car blasted a path through traffic for us.

  “Gray,” Kaira moaned. “It hurts.”

  “I know, babe,” I murmured, brushing her hair back from her face. “Just hold on. We’re gonna get you help.”

  “He’s like me,” she said, slurring her words a little.

  “Shh,” I told her. “We’re almost there.”

  “Don’t let me go,” she whispered, her eyes closing.

  “Never,” I swore, cupping her face gently with my free hand that wasn’t already around her.

  A.J. cleared his throat. I spared him a glance. A.J. stared meaningfully at Bri, who was giving me a strange look.

  Like I cared about that right now.

  “I think some music will calm us all down,” A.J. announced loudly, and the radio began to play. I felt the Telekinetic’s glare, but I didn’t look away from Kaira. The others could have their suspicions.

  “How much farther?” I growled.

  “Not much,” Smith replied, which had been the same answer he’d given the last three times I’d asked.

  We were still going south, away from the city. And Kai was still bleeding. I had thought her screams were the worst sound I’d ever heard in my life. But she was quiet now, and that was worse.

  Her caramel skin had taken on an ashy hue, and aside from an occasional shudder and incoherent words, she lay motionless in my lap.

  “Just hold on,” I begged her. “We’re almost there.”

  I had nothing to do except hold her unconscious form and watch as blood continued to spread through the shirt pressed over her stomach. I didn’t know much about medicine, but I knew there were vital organs in that area. Had the bullet hit one of them? How much blood could a person lose and still survive?

  I kept one hand curled around her neck to feel her pulse. It was erratic, fluttering frantically one moment and then beating too slowly the next. I was losing my mind.

  This was my fault. If it hadn’t been for me, the Six would never have gone to that house. It was my fault that Michael got pepper sprayed…my fault that Kai was….

  I couldn’t even think the words.

  I glanced out the window and saw that the city landscape had been replaced with long, uninterrupted swaths of forest. We passed a sign for the Blue Hills Reservation. The cop car in front of us swerved onto the shoulder. Yutika rolled down her window, and Michael leaned over her to Whisper to the cop.

  “Thanks,” Michael told the man, who was looking at Michael’s red face with a blank expression. “Go back to Boston now. Forget you ever saw us.”

  A puzzled look came over the cop’s face. He rolled up his window and made a U-turn, going back toward the city.

  “We’re on the side of the road,” I said, looking around.

  “You think I’m going to lead the cops straight to one of the few places that’s still off the grid?”

  I ground my teeth, feeling murderous in a way I never had before. “Smith, I swear to God, if your paranoia keeps her like this for a second longer than she has to be—”

  “Just relax,” Smith snapped.

  The Techie watched the squad car until it was out of sight. Then, he directed Yutika off the highway and onto a barely-paved road. I thought it would be agony for Kaira as the van dipped in and out of potholes, but she didn’t react.

  “Come on, Kai,” I begged her. “Stay with me.”

  We reached an unmarked entrance that had overgrown bushes in front that scraped against the van as we bounced and jostled down the narrow driveway. It was the type of place that, if you didn’t already know it was there, would be impossible to find.

  I bit my cheek until I tasted blood to keep from shouting at Yutika to drive more smoothly. I knew none of what had happened was anyone’s fault but my own.

  I forced myself to focus on the fluttering pulse in Kaira’s neck. It was weaker than it had been, but I could still feel it.

  She was still with me.

  The driveway led deeper into the trees until the road was no longer visible.

  “You sure you aren’t taking us to some axe murderer’s?” Bri asked, sounding nervous as she stared out the window. Her hands and sleeves were rust-colored from Kaira’s blood. Fresh blood was still leaking from the wound. My shirt was saturated with it. My stomach roiled.

  There was a mansion at the end of the drive. It must have once been magnificent, but now, the dark brick of the house was barely visible through the trees and weeds that had run rampant all over the yard.

  “Stop here,” Smith commanded, even though we hadn’t quite reached the house. “And stay in the car. I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll come,” Michael said.

  “No. Just me.”

  “Hurry up,” I commanded.

  We all watched as Smith got out, walked a few yards, and then stepped over something invisible. Before he reached the house, he ducked under something else. Instead of going up to the front door, he walked around the side of the house and disappeared behind a weeping willow tree.

  “How’s she doing?” Michael asked, turning around to look at Kaira.

  I gave him a helpless shrug.

  “This is my fault,” Bri said, her lower lip quivering. “If I’d just gone with you—”

  “This isn’t your fault,” four voices said at once.

  “It’s mine,” I said, my voice breaking.

  Kaira felt so impossibly fragile in my arms. Her skin felt cool, although that might have been because of the ice filling my own veins.

  I couldn’t stop remembering the way I’d found my dad, curled on his side and unmoving, after he’d swallowed enough pills to kill him.

  Dad was fine, I reminded myself. Kai will be, too.

  Smith reappeared.

  “All electronics need to stay in the van,” he said. “Phones, mics, earpieces, and anything else you’ve got on you.”

  The others tossed their phones back into the car.

  “Now, can we go in?” I ground out, far beyond the limits of my patience.

  “There’s a trip wire about twenty feet in front of you,” Smith said calmly, like it was normal to have tripwires on one’s front lawn. “Stay behind me and step where I step.”

  “Let me carry her,” Bri told me, blowing on her fists until she turned into titanium.

  I didn’t want to let Kaira go for even a second, but her unconscious form was awkward to hold, and Bri could probably carry her more gently than I could. Reluctantly, I nodded.

  I saw the gleam of the tripwire only after Smith squatted down and pointed it out. We stepped over it, and then under another wire closer to the house.
r />   “Don’t tell us this is your summer retreat,” Yutika grumbled at Smith. She held Michael’s hand, guiding him, since he could still barely keep his eyes open.

  “I haven’t been back here in a while,” came Smith’s gruff reply.

  There was a narrow, overgrown path that wound around the side of the house. The front door was right in front of us, but I bit my tongue and concentrated on holding back the branches so they didn’t scrape against Kaira.

  When I looked up, an older man was standing in the doorway. He was watching us with eyes full of grim suspicion. Even in my distracted, panicked state, I couldn’t help but notice how the man looked like an older version of Smith. He had the same too-thin frame, the same pointed chin and large, straight nose. He even had the same shoulder-length, greasy hair, except his was white instead of brown.

  “Papa Smith,” A.J. said in a falsely cheerful voice. “What a pleasure.”

  Smith grumbled something incoherent.

  “If you ever mention this place to anyone, I’ll have to kill you,” Older Smith said, speaking for the first time.

  “Maybe we should have listened to Graysen about the hospital,” Bri whispered.

  “At least if he tries to chain us in the basement you can break down the whole house,” Yutika said in a voice loud enough for the older man to hear.

  “Smith says you can all be trusted,” Older Smith said. “And for your information, I don’t have a basement. But if I wanted to imprison you, I could just slow your heart rates until you couldn’t move.”

  “Why the hell are we here?” I hissed at Smith, not caring if his dad heard. I was beyond pleasantries or anything else that didn’t involve fixing Kaira. “I’m not letting some quack touch her.”

  “Boy, I’m a Level 8 Mender,” Older Smith said, standing a little straighter. He squinted at Kaira, who looked far too still in Bri’s arms. “The bullet hit her liver. There’s significant internal bleeding, and she’s got about an hour before she’s dead.”

  The world turned dark for an instant. Something came around my waist. Some part of me was aware that if it wasn’t for A.J., I’d be on the ground right now. The other part of me was repeating the man’s words in my head over and over.

  “If we’re done with the interview portion of today, I’d like to get to work.” Older Smith made a sweeping gesture at the door.

  My knees were weak as we followed Older Smith inside. A.J. kept his arm around me, supporting me even though I was far bigger.

  Kaira had risked everything for me…and for what? So I could have my reputation and job back? And I’d let her. I’d let her take risk after risk for something that didn’t count for jack compared to her life.

  I wanted to fall to my knees and beg for her forgiveness.

  I didn’t have time to wonder at why the house was lit only with lanterns and candles. We followed Older Smith up dark wood stairs that creaked and groaned with age. We entered a large bedroom that looked normal, except for the fact that the only light came through the windows. There was a light switch beside the door that had been taped over.

  There was a bed in the center of the room covered in a white quilt. The place looked clean enough, but there was no medical equipment or anything else that would be needed to treat a bullet wound. There was no IV pole or bags of blood cooling in a fridge. In addition to about a thousand other things, Kaira was going to need a blood transfusion.

  My panic reached a fever pitch when I realized I didn’t know Kaira’s blood type. Why the hell hadn’t I ever asked her about it?

  “Calm down or I’m going to tell Michael to Whisper you into unconsciousness until she’s fixed,” A.J. muttered to me.

  I hadn’t moved or made a sound, but somehow, A.J. had read me right.

  “This isn’t your fault. Stop berating yourself,” he continued.

  It was my fault, but I planned to beat myself up about it later. Right now, all that mattered was fixing Kaira. I wouldn’t divert any of my attention to anything else until that was done.

  Releasing a shuddering breath, I gave A.J. a tight nod.

  Older Smith grabbed a stack of towels, spread them over the bed, and gestured for Bri to lay Kaira down. Without taking his eyes off Kaira, Older Smith said, “Start flushing out your eyes with this.” He held out a small black bottle to Michael. “That pepper spray was magically enhanced, and it’ll turn you blind if you don’t get it all out.”

  Yutika whimpered, and then she yanked Michael out of the room toward the bathroom across the hall.

  Kaira’s eyes fluttered open, and she gasped in pain. My heart was in my throat.

  “Everyone out,” Older Smith commanded.

  Everyone else looked at Smith, who nodded and headed back through the door. I stayed where I was beside the bed.

  Kaira moaned.

  “You too,” Older Smith told me.

  “I won’t get in your way,” I said. Unless I need to.

  “Graysen, come on,” Smith said.

  “I’m not leaving her.” My voice came out savage and unrecognizable.

  “Oh, they’ve got this protective brother-sister thing going on,” A.J. said in a too-bright voice. “They practically grew up together.”

  “Gray.” Kai’s voice was little more than a whisper. She reached out a trembling hand for me.

  “I’m right here.” I knelt next to the bed so she’d be able to see me and wrapped both of my hands around hers.

  Older Smith huffed in annoyance, but he waved the others out, telling them to shut the door behind them. As soon as it was just the three of us, Older Smith knelt down on the floor on the other side of the bed and started peeling my blood-soaked shirt from Kaira’s stomach.

  I swallowed my panic and questions about what this man was planning to do to her. It went against my every instinct, but I forced myself to stay silent.

  Older Smith pulled up Kaira’s shirt and stared down at the wound. I looked at the bloodied, mangled skin. Horror threatened to eat me alive.

  My fault. The words circled around and around. I gripped Kaira’s hands and pressed them to my lips to keep from screaming.

  Older Smith sighed, rolled his shoulders, and then raised his hands so they hovered a few inches above Kaira’s stomach. He closed his eyes.

  I’d never had cause to learn anything about Menders, and I had no idea if this was standard practice. I hated being so ignorant…so helpless….

  The temperature in the room started to rise. A gentle hum, like the buzz of a machine or a hive full of insects, filled my ears. Older Smith’s breathing got louder, like he was physically exerting himself, even though he hadn’t moved.

  Kaira gasped and opened her eyes. “It hurts, Gray.” Tears were spilling down her cheeks.

  “Just a little longer.” I kissed her hands. “You’re doing so good.”

  “Quiet,” Older Smith hissed.

  Kaira’s eyes rolled back in her head and her whole body went rigid. I bit down on my cheek. I tasted the iron tang of blood in my mouth and smelled it on the air. It was everywhere, soaking into the towels beneath Kaira and on the heap of bloody shirts on the floor.

  I flinched when a small plunk interrupted the silence. I looked down at the floor and felt my jaw drop. Older Smith hadn’t moved—hadn’t touched Kai—and yet the bloodied bullet had just wriggled itself free from Kaira’s stomach and fallen onto the floor. It rolled across the wood until it came to rest beside the pile of bloody clothes.

  I stared at the older man. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his forehead was beaded with perspiration. I swallowed the questions that were on the tip of my tongue.

  Will she be alright? What’s the damage inside? What are you doing to her now?

  I clenched my jaw. I didn’t move, barely even breathed, for fear I’d interrupt Older Smith’s concentration.

  There was so much dried blood covering her stomach that it was impossible to tell what was happening, but at least the bloody patch on the towels hadn’t expanded outw
ard.

  It might have just been wishful thinking, but as I watched Kaira’s face, I thought I saw color come back into her cheeks. Her hands grew less icy, but I wasn’t sure if that was just because I was gripping them between my own or because her blood wasn’t leaking out of her anymore.

  Enough time had passed that my legs were numb from kneeling in the same position. Older Smith’s hands still hovered over Kaira’s stomach. Aside from slight jerks of his head and his heavy breathing, he hadn’t moved. The sun outside the window was setting, and still, none of us moved.

  Kaira, whose breathing had been labored and too fast when we first brought her here, was now breathing like she was in a deep sleep. The pain creasing her face had disappeared. She looked peaceful and relaxed.

  I pressed my lips to her hands as I willed her to be alright.

  It got dark outside. There were no lights and I couldn’t see Older Smith, but still, the other man stayed silent.

  When Older Smith finally spoke, I started.

  “She’ll be more tired than usual for the next week or two while the healing finishes, but she should be ready to get back to whatever shit you’re all mixed up with by the morning.”

  His words were gruff, but he sounded exhausted.

  I was almost too scared to ask.

  “Her liver?” I finally managed.

  “I wouldn’t suggest tequila shots,” Older Smith said acidly. “But I said she’d be fine.”

  There was the sound of a match being lit, and then a lantern on the bedside table illuminated the room. Older Smith’s face looked pale in the lantern light. When the older man got to his feet, he stumbled and had to lean against the wall for balance.

  I knew I should go and help him, but I couldn’t leave Kai. I was terrified that if I moved from this spot, if I looked away for even a second, I would come back to find her like she’d been before. I’d lived with enough illusion in my life to know I couldn’t always trust what was before my eyes.

  “Mr. Smith,” I said, my voice coming out rough.

  The man glanced at me.

  “Thank you. I can’t tell you…what this means to me.” I looked at Kai, still sleeping peacefully.

  The older man’s eyes moved from my face to where my hands were clasped around Kaira’s.