I don't remember how long I sat there and cried my heart out. A couple nurses patted me on the shoulder, trying to make me believe "that everything was going to be all right". Damn liars. I flicked my hand at them, slapping them on the arm so that they left.
Finally, after minutes that had passed by like hours, a voice that I actually recognized was next to me, trying to urge me into looking up. More or less it wasn't the voice that I was familiar with, but what that voice said to me. The thing that only one person called me.
"'Lanzie?"
I looked up with my face hot and moist from crying and saw that Dad, Syl, and Krit were all sitting next to me. Syl was on my direct right, Dad on my left, and Krit was kneeling on the floor in front of Dad. All three looked genuinely worried about me and scared for Mom.
Immediately, I wrapped my arms around Dad, savoring in his sweet scent of worn leather and wanting to believe that he would make everything better again. He stroked my frazzled hair and pulled me closer as we both realized that out of all the billions of people in the world, we were the only ones who had a very direct connection to Mom. "'Lanzie, it's gonna be all right now. Nothing more."
"I don't want her to die," I whispered through his jacket, which clung to my sticky face and tears.
"She won't," he insisted and pulled away from me. "Listen to me real good, 'Lanza. Max is not going to die. I'll do anything to keep her alive…for you. I'd give her my own heart if she needed it. So whatever pessimistic thoughts you may be thinking need to be gotten rid of. She is not going to die," he told me firmly, looking directly into my bloodshot eyes. "Now, I need to go have a talk with the staff. You stay right here with Krit and Syl."
I nodded blankly as he moved away from me and to the hospital desk. Carefully, I watched him talk to the ladies and nod his head every once in awhile. One of them pointed him down a hallway, which he walked down and disappeared. Dad was charismatic; he could deal with people and coerce them into doing what he wanted.
Syl touched my bare arm tenderly. "We're all here for you, Alanza. Nothing bad is going to happen."
I turned to her, pushed my hair out of my eyes and looked at her with pleading eyes. "How do you know?"
"She knows," Krit said to me, "because Max has been through stuff worse than this. Like Zack said, we'd all do anything to keep your mom alive for you. She may be our sister, but she's your mom."
"God…" I whispered and bent my head down again so I could catch my tears in my palms. "Why do you all have to be so nice?"
"Because," Syl cooed as she cradled me in her arms, "we're family."
With that line, I erupted into yet another flood of tears, which was starting to become embarrassing for an eighteen-year-old. Syl merely ran her fingers through my hair and kissed the top of my head as if I was a little child. Her little child. Briefly, through my tears, I wondered if she would ever have a baby with Krit after they were married. Most likely not, but maybe they would adopt. Maybe I would have a cousin.
Eventually, Dad came back and sat down beside us. I pulled myself away from Syl and gasped out loud at how white his face was. It was like he had just seen a ghost from his past. Or maybe Mom was dead now.
Struggling so very hard to contain tears at what news he had, I asked quietly, "What'd they say?"
He glanced from Krit to Syl, then finally let his eyes land on me. "There's a doctor here…a doctor who knows."
"Knows what?" I asked because my brain was so utterly muddled due to my sorrow and pain.
"A doctor who knows that Max is from Manticore because she worked there. This doctor will do anything to bring Max back-dead or alive."
A strangled sob escaped my lips, and I fell back in my chair. This was getting to be far, far too much for one person in less than twenty-four hours. Krit and Syl both had wide, fearful eyes, refusing to focus on anything. Dad was looking straight at me for some unexplainable reason.
Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, Dad had to add, "Therefore, she wants to make sure Max dies so that the body can be released to her for state experimentation."
