“So, Miss Piccolo, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
I swig some water and look up. “Oh, really?” I’m not sure what she could surprise me with. We both have access to the N-tel, which I read diligently like a holy text.
“Yes, really. I spoke to Theia yesterday, and she has given Taylor permission to come to Lansing,” she reveals with a big smile.
Hope buoys me. “When?”
“Tomorrow. She—” Her watch, similar to Taylor’s, beeps loudly. Brow furrowed, she examines the briefing on her screen. “Oh my God.”
“What?” Instead of answering, she holds out her wrist to me and I read the incoming message:
Ambushed 48 clicks outside of Lansing. Have Helios. Need hospital. ETA 45 min. Advise. —E.
“E? Our E? Eos E?”
Once we get home, Delilah punches in the latitude and longitude coordinates for the hospital and relays the information to Taylor. Camped at Delilah’s desk in our running gear, we eagerly await her response.
Copy. ETA 15 min. —E.
I give up on standing or exerting any energy, and sink into a chair. I’m not sure if I feel relief. I’m teetering on a wire.
“Luciana, you should prepare yourself,” Delilah says to me over her desk. “I don’t know if the medical assistance is for her or Mason, or both. Either way, I don’t imagine she’ll be in great shape when she arrives.”
“It’s not like I expected a big hug and a kiss.” Delilah doesn’t even snort at my joke. Her eyes sink to the ground, and a pit grows inside my belly. This woman has become known to me, as I have become known to her. I have seen past the lace and the silk to the woman beneath. She is tough, funny, and honest. She is gifted in presenting painful information, wrapping it carefully as to soften the blow, like a whale’s ambergris. I recognize the half-truth. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Last night, I received a late report that Taylor was involved in an intense firefight, resulting in the destruction of a building. The area was rife with civilians. Taylor was trying to protect them.”
“And the building collapsed?” It’s stupid, of course, for me to picture Taylor trapped beneath rubble. I already know she’s onher way, but my anxiety takes a fast track to the worst possible scenarios, heart palpitating.
“Taylor was inside evacuating civilians.”
Fury and fear duke it out inside my chest. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Because Taylor escaped.” Delilah swallows, looking uncharacteristically sheepish. “I wanted her homecoming to be a surprise.”
“Who ambushed them?”
Delilah scans the report screen rolling information in a constant stream. “I don’t know yet. But I will find out.”
A threat, and a promise.
“She sent the communication to us, so she must be okay, right?” I need the assurance. I needherassurance. “Right?”
Hands splayed out on the papers on her desk, Delilah’s hard expression melts. “It stands to reason that she is at least functional enough to speak into the talk-to-text. There’s no telling how incapacitated she is otherwise.”
Incapacitated. Without capacity.If I’m incapacitated…stay with Delilah.
“Let’s get changed and wait at the hospital. I’ll brief Shuri so she can take over while we’re gone, and radio ahead for the hospital to expect Taylor and Mason.”
Within minutes, we’re riding in the back of a cream-colored sedan, eyes out the window, silence between us. Delilah’s hand brushes across the back seat and takes mine as we near the hospital. When I catch her gaze, a level of worry, sadness, and anger exists there that I’ve never seen in her before. Delilah’s even keel keeps everyone afloat. As such, I’ve tethered myself to her. She is my rock, and if she’s sinking, I am too.
Predictably, the hospital is busy when we enter, though our joint status gives many people pause. Delilah confidently strollsto the desk, arresting the attention of everyone behind the chest-high counter. “Have Eos and Helios come through?”
A tall nurse with incredible cheekbones stands, a clipboard in his hand. “Yes, ma’am. About five minutes ago. Helios is about to go into surgery. Eos is?—”
“Hey! I go with him!”
I’d know that angry growl anywhere. As Delilah begins laying into the nurse for not informing her sooner, I take off in search of Taylor.
