“S-s-sa-saviour.” She smiles. On her lifeless face, it looks painful, and that pain pierces straight through my soul. “You are S-sa-saviour.”
She looks around the room, then points a shaking finger at the window. “Who is s-she?”
There’s no one there.
“What do you see?” I ask.
She presses her cheek to my chest. I hold her face in my palm, stroking her hair as gently as I can.
“A w-wo-woman.”
“She’s just a statue. She won’t hurt you.”
“How do y-you know?”
I remove my hand from her face, take hers, and kiss the back of it, then each of her trembling fingers. “I won’t let her.”
She watches me with parted lips, the back of her head resting on my bicep. A smile slowly forms, but it vanishes into a frightened flinch as her door opens, and she buries her face in the crook of my neck.
Her cousin Avira enters with a tray. Elowen peeks at her, then hides her face again, shaking harder.
Avira sets the tray on the bed beside me.
“Try to get her to eat something while she’s responsive.”
I frown.
She continues, glancing at Elowen. “Last time she woke up, she clung to her mom and talked to me about going to school for an hour, then went quiet for hours before falling asleep.”
Right then, Elowen starts crying, repeating the fragmented plea over and over. “Send her away, she will kill me.”
“Take care of her,” Avi murmurs, then leaves.
“She’s gone.” I stroke her head slowly. “She won’t hurt you.”
She lifts her head and looks around. Then her teary eyes find my face. “Who a-are you?”
I force myself to speak past the knot in my throat. “Salvario.”
“S-s-sa-salvario,” she repeats.
I nod.
I take the soup from the tray and bring it to her. “Let’s eat something.”
She looks up at me, then at the bowl. “Po-poison.”
“No poison.”
I hold the cup in the arm wrapped around her shoulders, supporting her, and fill the spoon with my free hand. I bring it to my mouth and take a sip as she watches me intently.
I set the spoon back in the bowl.
“See? No poison.”
She reaches for the bowl, trying to lift the spoon, but she can’t grip it. I take the spoon from her, fill it, and bring it to her mouth. She drinks.
She finishes the soup but refuses anything else.
