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.

straight forward as the elevator numbers

thinking about my mom, or her wolf. Avoidance has always been my

But habits are really, really

walk to my mother's room feels longer than it should, each step heavy with dread. Selene presses close to my side, her warmth a small

as the last, and yet it

did they move her?" I ask, confusion

a strange smile playing on her lips. "They had

to ease my apprehension as we enter the room. Two of our guards take up

suffocating.

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

bags hanging beside

the bed, my eyes drawn to the frail figure beneath the sheets. The sight of her steals my breath. It's only been

she looks so much smaller, her cheeks hollow and

long for

Vanessa murmurs, her voice tinged with something I can't

resignation.

always associated with her. But when they land on me, they sharpen, a glare that pins me in place. "You must have come

voice thin and brittle.

physical blow, but I stand firm,

nothing.

to sit up, her arms trembling with the effort, before finally giving up. The vitriol in her eyes never fades, though. "To gloat? To see me wither away?" "I'm not here for

10:27

317

Mom's

that sound is vile, coming

much that even the sound

yet you're here, aren't

as a nurse steps in, holding a syringe and an impossibly tiny vial filled with clear

not to flinch at the

me grounded. Don't let her bait you, she whispers in

silence in her wake, broken only by the beeping machines Questions burn

syringe, Selene's voice whispers through my

hollow comfort, but, I'll take what I

focus on my mother's face, trying to block out the vitriol spilling from her

Ava: Mom's

It's

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