“Stop, Daniel! You can’t take that out. The vent’s helping you breathe. Just breathe, honey. Just breathe.”
Daniel inhaled. There was a soft click, and cold air flooded his lungs. The clear tube fogged as he exhaled.
“There you go. Just breathe like normal. You’re fine, honey. You’re fine.”
His parents squeezed his hands and rubbed his chest. Daniel gulped down oxygen until his head started to swim. It was so delicious, he almost cried.
He stared around a hospital room. His parents’ eyes were purple-bagged, but shining. He didn’t know where his brothers were. Outside the window, the sun either rose or set. Daniel had no idea if he’d been gone for a few hours or a few days.
He tried asking a question, but the tube blocked the flow of air across his vocal cords, and he couldn’t make a sound.
“It’s a ventilator,” his mom answered, anyway. “It’s protecting your airway. Your larynx was damaged and you aspirated a lot of blood, so they need to keep you on the vent for a while. But you’re fine. Okay, honey?” She kissed his forehead. Daniel felt her tears dab his skin. He believed her, but she kept saying, “You’re fine. You’re fine,” assuring herself as much as him.
His dad went to find Daniel’s nurse. His mom didn’t bother waiting. Checking his pupils with her penlight, she asked, “Think you can write?”
Daniel nodded. She handed him a notepad and pen from her purse, then quizzed him on who the president was, what his address was, and how much was four times four. Still full of painkillers, focusing enough to scrawl the answers made him sweat, but Daniel convinced his mom he didn’t have brain damage.
“Do you remember what happened?”
Daniel touched his neck and felt the stitches holding the skin closed. He remembered the alley being yanked out from under him. He remembered dense muscle, hot breath, and Eric’s fangs biting off his scream. He shook his head, though, not knowing what his parents thought had happened.
“You were attacked by a dog. You were going to Keith’s party, you were in the alley behind the cafe, and a dog attacked you.”
Daniel turned to a clean page in the notepad. Anyone else hurt?
“No, just you. Isn’t that enough?”
Don’t lie.
“You were the only one it attacked. I promise.”
The wolves hadn’t killed anyone. Misty hadn’t fed herself to the rot-eater god. Daniel nodded, then laid his head back on the pillow. The pain didn’t go away, but its jagged edges softened a little.
UAB Medical Center rose above Southside like a sea monster, its glass-and-steel tentacles winding for blocks. The corridors teemed with doctors who knew all the body’s secrets. Pharmacies stored drugs that kept hearts beating decades after they should have stopped. Behind sliding-glass doors sat sage machines, able to peer into every organ. Almost lost among acres of medicines and monitors there was a small, plain room that contained subtler wonders.
Designed to welcome all who needed it, the chapel wasn’t decorated with icons of any particular faith, no crosses, statues, or gold-scrolled books. Six benches faced a wooden table that could serve as a lectern or altar. But the room was draped in quiet, and somehow that was enough to make the space sacred.
Wearing green scrubs borrowed from the hospital laundry, Misty slipped in during a Catholic Mass being celebrated by four people, including the priest. Sitting in the back, she listened to them recite the “Our Father” together before taking Communion.
A couple hours later, the family of somebody named Tony met with their pastor. They begged the Lord to comfort Anthony and give them strength. Lost in their own problems, none of them seemed to noticed Misty was there.
Misty didn’t pray. She’d come one staircase away from murder. She’d gone to the party ready to be destroyed, ready to watch her brother and friends be destroyed. The idea of asking forgiveness made her stomach cramp. For now, Misty just sat and thought.
Puck was a character. She’d vanished as soon as the stage lights went dark. But she’d left something behind, one last open-mouthed laugh in the face of any hurt or heartbreak that may come.
It was just a tiny spec of Puck’s magic, but this hard city couldn’t grind it down. The flames of the rot-eater god’s ritual couldn’t burn it. Nobody, not even Misty herself, could destroy it.
Misty played with her lip ring. Grampa must have carried a speck like that marching toward the waiting police line, knowing they could arrest him, beat him, but never teach him his place. And while her joints stiffened and her body wore out from too much work, Misty’s mom found the will to get up day after exhausting day. She held something unbreakable inside her.
When the pager went off, Misty jerked. A nurse had given it to her so she’d know when Daniel woke up. Misty’s stomach cramps returned, but she left the chapel and rode an elevator to the ICU family room.
“Hey, guys. Dan—”
Marc and Val sat side by side, eyes closed, their heads resting against the wall. Marc’s cheek was one snore away from settling against Val’s shoulder. Letting them sleep, Misty headed into the ICU.
When the nurse on duty came in, she didn’t have much to do except repeat everything Daniel’s mom had already said.
It was just past seven, the evening after the attack. Daniel had almost drowned in his own blood, the surgery team vacuuming three hundred milliliters of it out of his lungs. He was still at risk for chemical pneumonitis. That meant that, for a couple days, he’d be breathing through one tube, while a second fed him gray, high-calorie sludge, and a third pumped steroids and antibiotics into his arm. But everyone reminded Daniel he was young and strong. Flesh would knit itself together, infections could be treated, and he’d be on his feet soon.
“You’ll be good as new by the time you head off to Cornell,” the nurse said.
Daniel nodded, trying to smile around the tube.
She gave his foot a playful slap. “Gosh, your mom’s been telling us stories about you for years. It’s nice you finally came up to visit.”
His parents laughed, but Daniel didn’t hear her. Through the room’s glass wall, he saw Misty walking lightly up the hall. Stopping at his door, she peered in at Daniel with his family.
“Misty! Come in, come in.” His mom coaxed her in and gave her a hug. They must have finally met while Daniel had been unconscious. “Where’s your brother and …?”
“Val? They kind of nodded off.” Misty motioned toward the family room.
“Misty’s the one who saved you” Daniel’s dad said. “You remember that at all?”
Misty dropped her eyes to the floor, but Daniel nodded. He could never forget; they’d saved each other.
After another minute, his parents decided to grab dinner from the pizza place downstairs before it closed. His dad leaned down to squeeze Daniel’s shoulder. He whispered, “I love you so much.” His mom couldn’t speak. After they filed out behind the nurse, Misty was still staring at her boots.
“You’re parents are pretty cool.”
Daniel nodded. They could be. He started writing. Eric?
“He disappeared once the ambulance and police came. We decided to stick around. Me, Marc, and Val. In case he decided to come after you, but—”
Daniel shook his head. Eric wont attack alone. Wolves, natural or magical, drew their strength from the pack.
“Yeah, I hope you’re right. So how do you feel?”
Like I got gored by a unicorn.
“Or maybe mauled by a werewolf?”
Don’t be dramatic.
That finally got a grin out of her, which made Daniel laugh, sending choppy puffs of air through the ventilator in weird little hoots, which made Misty laugh, which made Daniel laugh harder, which made the hoots even louder, which made Misty laugh even harder. The absurd cycle had them trapped until Daniel’s chest started to burn. He forced his breathing to slow down.
Thank you.
“Same here.” Misty squirmed a little more. “Sorry.”
Same here. It was getting harder to write legibly. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to be with you.
Misty smiled at that but said, “Still, I mean, Cornell. Well have all summer, though, and then you’d be home for …”
Daniel shook his head and started scribbling again. I really don’t know what I’m going to do after graduation now.
“Yeah. Me neither.” Misty sat down in one of the chairs by Daniel’s bed. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking today, though, and I’ve realized how long I’ve spent looking for somewhere to belong. But I’ve hardly been anywhere besides Birmingham, you know? I’ve been thinking about going backpacking through Europe or something.”
Daniel’s ventilator hooted. Wow. Where would you go?
“Gosh, I don’t know,” Misty said, trying valiantly not to smile. “On one hand, you want to go to London and Paris and see all the famous stuff like the Eiffel Tower. But then, it’d also be cool to just wander around and not even worry about where you’re going to wind up, you know?”
That’s what Id want to do—Just get lost somewhere.
“Yeah.” Misty nodded. “That would be cool.”
They had their first conversation all over again. Except this time, neither of them was playing make-believe.
The legions of mushrooms that had threatened to overwhelm Birmingham began shriveling away. Ilie grumbled when Misty and Val showed back up at the deli, but it was less of a pain to rehire them than train two new idiots. At least they didn’t steal.
Misty visited Daniel after her Monday finals. Keith’s party was already legend. Everyone talked about it, whether they’d actually gone or not. They were all so busy trading gossip, hardly anybody noticed both Daniel and Eric were missing.
As promised, flesh healed and infections were fought. On Thursday, Daniel was taken off the ventilator and moved out of the ICU. It still hurt too much to speak and he had to stay in the hospital for a while longer, but he managed to eat a few bites of real food.
Daniel missed the graduation ceremony. Later that evening, though, Misty, Marc, and Val came up with the video Val’s dad had shot. Angie delivered her valedictorian speech to loud applause. Watching her, Daniel felt the wolf gnaw at his insides, wanting to get loose just one more time.
Then, in the parking lot after the ceremony, the camera turned to Misty and Marc. Marc laughed through a mask of puckered wounds. Misty shouted, stuck her tongue out, and hugged her parents while her mom cried. Daniel knew he could be watching both scenes or neither. He’d chosen well.
Daniel’s mom took pictures of him in his hospital gown and mortar board, Misty perched on the bed beside him. Then Val added Daniel to the end of the video.
Sunday, his mom asked if he felt up to seeing his grandparents and Keith’s family. Daniel said sure, and once she’d left, he climbed out of bed for the first time in days. Pins and needles stabbed his legs. It took two minutes to get across the room and dig his cell phone out of the bag of his bloody clothes.
Still dressed for church, his family kept the visit short, full of lame jokes and assurances that Daniel looked good. Despite the questions bubbling underneath their strained smiles, neither Uncle Josh nor Aunt Leslie asked about the strange night. As they started to leave, Daniel called his cousin back. Keith knew what he wanted to talk about and softly slid the glass door closed.
“Was it worth it?”
Daniel’s voice was a rasp, and Keith had to lean close to hear him. “What?”
“Was it worth it? Your damn—” A wet cough felt like claws scraping his chest. He had to breathe deep through the nasal cannula before he could speak again. “Your damn party. You stab me in the back. Fine, maybe I had it coming. Then, Angie calls Misty a mutt, and you don’t do anything. Then, you’re so scared people will find out you didn’t do anything, you beat down Marc before he can tell them. Honestly, was it worth it?”
“Yeah.” Chuckling, Keith shrugged. “What do you want me to say? That I’m so sorry I whipped poor little Marc’s ass? I threw the wildest party in school! People will remember me for years. C’mon, Daniel, you were the shooting star once. Would you have let a kid like him get in your way?”
Daniel thought about it. “No. I wouldn’t have let anybody.”
“Well? I’m the shooting star now. I can’t let anybody either. I’m too big to worry about a couple of mutts.”
Daniel nodded. He knew how easy he’d slept when all his silences and small cruelties served a greater destiny.
Keith shrugged again, then turned to leave. “Take care.”
Once he was gone, Daniel pulled his phone out of the tissue box sitting beside his bed. Peeling tape off the earpiece, he heard Spence’s tiny voice swearing.
“You catch all that?” Daniel asked. He’d made sure to sound extra miserable when he’d told Spence the whole story. Spence thought he was paranoid, but there was just enough friendship left between them for him to humor Daniel.
“That fucking bitch. I don’t do anybody’s goddamn dirty work. I can’t wait to see that—”
“Don’t beat up Keith.” Another coughing fit made Daniel’s shoulders convulse. “If I wanted to see Keith get his ass handed to him, I could have gone to a lot less trouble. Trust me. You need to make it up to Marc.”
“How?”
“He needs a job. He’s lousy at reading and math, but he likes being outside.”
“You want me to get him a landscaping job with Dad? Come on, man. You’ve done it; you know that’s hard work.”
“He’ll love it. You owe him the chance, Spence.”
“Yeah. I can talk to Dad at least.”
“Good. You got something to write down Marc’s number?”
There was a pause as it sank in that the only way Spence could absolve himself was to apologize to Marc Sandlin. “Yeah, give it to me,” he finally said. After copying the number, Spence added, “Listen, Daniel. I know there’s been some dumb shit going on lately, but most of that stuff, I was just joking around, you know?”
“I know. Take care.”
“Okay. Feel better, man. Seriously.”
Daniel hung up, doubled over with another cough, then lay back down. He and Spence weren’t exactly friends anymore, but they were cool.
When Daniel got home at last, he just wanted to sleep. There was one thing he had to take care of first, though. He’d known it since he’d watched the graduation video. Misty, Marc, and Val had risked—they were risking every day—telling the world who they were instead of letting the world tell them. Daniel hoped he had that sort of strength too. Calling Cornell’s admissions office, he told them he’d cheated on the SATs.
Then he told them again, speaking slower. Daniel was put on hold, transferred to somebody else, went through everything step-by-step a third time, and was put back on hold. This didn’t happen very often, apparently, and nobody knew exactly what to do with him.
His fourth confession was to the dean of undergraduate admissions. After convincing her that, no, this wasn’t a crank call, and yes, he was certain he didn’t have a learning disability, the full thunder and wrath of that centuries-old institution came hurtling down. But after facing a pack of werewolves, that sounded a lot like one middle-aged woman muttering about how disappointed she was.
“This is a very serious situation, Mr. Morning. I’m—”
“But you understand, at least, right?”
“Yes, and I’m going to have to take it up with the admissions board. I’m afraid you’ve put your future here in serious jeopardy.”
“Okay. Let me know what they say.” Daniel turned off his phone and sank into his own, familiar bed. He dreamed peaceful dreams for seventeen hours.
A few days later, Daniel got a terse letter from Cornell saying that, due to the recent discovery of academic dishonesty on his part, they were revoking their offer of acceptance. They included the number for their attorneys if he had any questions.
When Daniel told his parents, his mom jerked to her feet. �
�No, no. They what? You what?” Her body tensed with the instinct to protect her child, but there was nowhere to lunge.
“They yanked my acceptance. Because I cheated.” Scars across the cartilage of Daniel’s windpipe had hardened his voice, probably forever.
“But you didn’t cheat,” his dad said. “I mean, call and tell them it was our idea. Put it all on us. Then—”
“I’m not a kid anymore, Dad. Whoever’s idea it was, I went along with it.”
“Damnit, Daniel!” His dad swallowed his anger and tried again. “I know you weren’t comfortable with this, but doors like this don’t open for many people. I don’t want you to give up a great future just because of what we did.”
“I know. But maybe sometimes being great means being ready to give a lot up.”
“What?”
Daniel remembered waiting in the dark alley, listening to the pack coming. He’d never stood farther from the bluestone towers of Cornell, and if his parents knew, they never would have been prouder of him. Daniel shook his head. “Cornell can’t make me great. It can make me more money, make life easier, but you already taught me how to be great, to work hard, push myself, trust myself. To take responsibility for my actions. But now I have to learn how to be good, and nobody can teach me that. I have to figure it out by myself.”
His dad didn’t say anything. His mom hugged him. “Daniel, honey, you are good,” she whispered. “You’re wonderful.”
He kissed her forehead. “I’m getting there.”
Daniel wasn’t afraid of losing Cornell anymore, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have liked to have gone. They might have admitted him with his real scores. He’d never know. He could apply to other colleges in the fall, though, and in the meantime, he’d decided to wander a little, the one thing shooting stars could never do.
Birmingham inchwormed into summer. No matter how scary it had become, Misty still missed prowling the city with her pack. Then her passport arrived in the mail. Sitting on her porch, Misty held the slender blue book and felt its mystery. She flipped through crisp pages waiting to be filled with entry and exit stamps, with Paris, Florence, and anywhere else she decided to go.
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