Tangled

192

192

192 Ava: Mom's Legacy (V)

The hospital is eerily quiet, our steps echoing through the halls. Visiting hours are long over, and night shift reigns.

Vanessa is unfazed by the creepy quality of the place at a late hour, but I jump when the elevator dings, signalling its arrival in front of

1. us.

"You okay?" she asks, concern knitting her brows.

Selene-who's finally out from beneath my bed, though she refuses to talk about why she avoided me for the rest of the day- leans against my leg in silent comfort. "It's just so quiet. I'm not used to hospitals without people bustling around."

There's a giant machine coming down the hall in our direction, cleaning the floor with whatever algorithm powers its movement.

I always wondered how hospitals kept their floors so clean. I guess everything's automated these days.

Vanessa nudges me onto the elevator, pressing the button for my mom's floor before we've all even made it in.

Four bodyguards flank us. Massive overkill, considering that there isn't much we're expecting to happen on this visit.

Still, Lucas-and Jericho-are taking no chances on my safety.

Marcus, at least, is getting a break, and a new guy seems to be the one to shadow me for the night. He's a little short, but his eyes are black and intense, and I wouldn't want to be found in an alley with him in the dark.

•

10:27

log Ave Mom's Legacy (V)

He smells like death, Selene says. To me, such words are atrocious, like I should avoid the person. To her? She speaks as though she

admires him.

And that's a good thing?

Selene's ears flick toward me, and I can feel her side-eye even without her eyes moving. He is a capable guard. This is a good thing. Right. I guess that's true.

forward

about my mom, or her wolf. Avoidance

But habits are really, really hard to

heavy with dread. Selene presses close to my side, her warmth a small comfort in the sterile hallway. After a

the last, and yet it

move her?" I ask, confusion lacing my

glances back at me, a strange smile playing on her lips. "They had to make some adjustments for

response does little to ease my apprehension as we enter the room. Two of our guards take up positions outside, whil the other two follow us in their presence both reassuring

suffocating.

dim, the steady beep of machines filling the silence. Vanessa makes her way to the bed where

She checks the IV bags hanging beside the bed, her movements practiced

figure beneath the sheets.

and yet she looks so much smaller, her cheeks hollow and skin

long

voice tinged with something I can't quite place. Pity,

resignation.

I've always associated with her. But when they land on me, they sharpen, a glare that pins me in place. "You must have come to curse me into the

voice thin and brittle.

physical blow, but

nothing.

with the effort, before finally giving up. The vitriol in her eyes never fades, though. "To gloat? To see me

10:27

317

Ava: Mom's

vile,

so much that even the sound of her cough is

you're here,

holding a syringe and an impossibly tiny vial filled with clear liquid. "We're about to give you something for your agitation." "I wouldn't

at

me grounded. Don't let

like a cornered animal. She scurries out, leaving an unsettling silence in her wake, broken only by the beeping machines Questions

the clear liquid into the syringe, Selene's voice

hollow comfort, but, I'll take

out the vitriol spilling from her lips. Her features, once soft and warm, are now

Ava: Mom's

with loathing. It's

mother I remember from my earliest years. Back then, her smile could light up a room, and her laughter was infectious. She'd pull me into her lap, tickling me until I was breathles The memory rises unbidden, a bitersweet pang in my