Mrs.Reed grabbed a book with her free hand and chucked it at Mrs.Beaumont.
Nora swung the chair to deflect, and Mrs.Reed lunged for Nora.
Nora couldn’t stop the chair’s momentum to change directions so she released it to fly across the room.Continuing the spin it left her in, she shoved Mrs.Beaumont aside and braced for the pierce of the needle.
Mrs.Reed crashed into her, sending them both toppling.Nora landed face down with Mrs.Reed on top of her.Thankfully, natural instinct had forced Mrs.Reed to throw her arms out to catch her fall, and the jolt of her landing sent the syringe skittering across the floor.
Mrs.Reed lunged for it, but Nora pushed up and threw all her strength into forcing them to roll away from the easy reach.She pinned Mrs.Reed beneath her back and jammed an elbow into her side.
The woman yelled, not in pain but in a guttural cry of rage.Her arms cinched around Nora’s waist, and a rolling side-to-side wrestle for dominance ensued.
Nora kicked and wrenched and elbowed but couldn’t get free of the woman.Far too quickly, her strength waned.
Mrs.Reed claimed her victory and shifted so that she pinned Norain place with her legs and sitting weight.Hands closed around Nora’s throat.“It’s time for you to die.”
Ezekiel dug his fingers beneath the loosened barrel of the hinge and, with Abraham’s help, pried the door free of the frame.The whimpers and cries, along with a crazed growl, from inside grew louder.When the door tilted forward, the Guardians caught its fall and dragged it aside.Visible from the hall, a nurse straddled a patient who thrashed beneath her.Ezekiel didn’t need to see her face to know Mrs.Reed was attacking Nora.
He barreled into the room, but before he could reach Nora, Ma flew into his periphery and dove at Mrs.Reed.The pair careened across the floor and into an overturned desk.
Gasping, Nora rolled to her knees and scrambled the few feet to where Ma wrestled with Mrs.Reed.
The two women he loved most in the world fought for each other like fierce Amazons—both incredible and terrifying to watch.
He jumped into the fray and freed Ma from Mrs.Reed’s grasp, or was it Mrs.Reed from Ma’s?
Miss Pelton’s face appeared next to Ma’s.“I have her.”
In the momentary distraction of Miss Pelton assisting Ma to her feet, Mrs.Reed escaped.She crawled at a racing speed toward a silver object on the floor near a chair.
Nora grabbed fistfuls of Mrs.Reed’s skirt.“Don’t let her get the syringe.It has something that kills.”
Her hoarse warning came too late.Mrs.Reed grasped the silver syringe and twisted toward Nora with it raised in the air.
Ma must have realized what Mrs.Reed intended before Nora’s warning, because she flung herself across Nora’s body as Mrs.Reed jabbed downward.
The needle plunged into Ma’s back instead of Mrs.Reed’s intended target.
Ma screamed.
Her clear agony froze Ezekiel to the spot—too far away to help but close enough to forever sear her pain into his memory.
Miss Gibson tackled Mrs.Reed, and thankfully Miss Pelton had the presence of mind to yank out the syringe.
Seeing it half-depressed brought Nora’s horrifying words into focus.Whatever was in it was meant to kill, and Ma had just taken the brunt of the dose.
“Don’t move, Helen Reed, Ursula Eckman, or whatever name you used to procure this job.”Detective Hall directed his gun at the woman struggling beneath Miss Gibson’s knee to the back.
Ma rolled off Nora to lie on the floor.Her whimper propelled Ezekiel to race his heartbeat across the short distance and gather Ma into his arms.
Nora leaned against him and clutched his sleeve.“No.This isn’t right.That dose was meant for me and—” She gasped and looked at him with rounded eyes.“Mum.She had another one for Mum.”
Miss Plane took Nora’s hand and called for Nurse Abbott amidst the chaos that had claimed the room.
The dear woman abandoned the attendants calming the two patients in the back and rushed to them with hands fluttering.“What can I do?”
“Mrs.Reed sent Nurse Ingram with another syringe for my mum!You have to stop her!”
Nurse Abbott didn’t hesitate but took off at a run with Miss Plane close behind.
