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Dr. Carlson scowls at her. “Just now. I know you’ve been anxiously waiting, but if you—”
“Sadie,” I interrupt. “What’s going on?”
She presses her lips together, scrutinizing my face. “Don’t say anything else. Not until after we talk.” She shoots the doctor and nurse a warning glare. “Privately.”
A scream would rip through my throat like a fistful of razor blades, but I can feel it building. If someone doesn’t tell me something… I suck in a deep breath, ignoring the ache in my lungs.
One of the machines gives an angry buzz. “Calm down, Mrs. Stockton.”
Sadie’s arm creeps around the back of my neck, drawing me into a gentle embrace. “Just relax. I’ll explain everything.”
Bright spots appear at the periphery of my vision, and there is another angry buzz. Can’t they just unplug the damn machines already? In her ear, I whisper, “What happened? Why am I here?”
Sadie pulls back, a strange expression on her face. “You don’t remember?”
“No.” My heart pounds against my lungs, trying to escape. “Tell me.”
Dr. Carlson clears her throat, scribbling something on the papers affixed to her clipboard. “There is an FBI Agent waiting outside. He’s asked to speak with you as soon as you’re awake.”
“Absolutely not,” my sister answers immediately.
“FBI agent?” My whisper is barely audible against the blare of the machines.
“Yes. Given the circumstances, he’s quite insistent.” She pulls a card out of her pocket and reads from it. “Special Agent Gavin Cross. He said you know him.”
Gavin. My cracked lips form the shape of a name I so rarely allow myself to think, let alone say aloud.
Sadie merely scoffs. “And you believed him?”
As the machines continue their frantic alarm, I turn pleading eyes on the nurse. Gavin. Get Gavin. But she doesn’t look at me as she injects a needle into my IV bag.
A drugged numbness charges through my bloodstream, Sadie’s voice becoming distant. “No one is going to accuse my sister of murder until…”
The warm embrace of sleep rolls over me and I surrender to dreams of a stolen past. A beautiful, broken boy. An enchanted forest. And a love that evaporated like mist in the morning sun.