by Jessica Kapp
I turn to give him a smile, but Gavin’s staring at the sand, the lines in his face tight.
“This one time he fell asleep while we were at sea—well, I thought he had. I was only twelve at the time. He’d had a heart attack and we were stuck out in the middle of the water. I called out to a nearby boat, but they couldn’t hear me, and when I tried to start ours, the engine kept stalling.
“He was dying and I couldn’t save him, so I dove in the water to get help, only the closest boat was too far for me to swim.”
“Did they see you?”
“Yeah, but by the time they got to me my lips were blue. We were both rushed to the hospital.” He squeezes my hand. “My grandpa died in the room down the hall from me. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
“I-I’m so sorry…”
He takes a breath like he’s refueling his soul. “I haven’t been back in the ocean since. I haven’t forgiven it. Or myself, really.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong…”
“Maybe not. But I’ll always wonder what would’ve happened if I’d stayed, maybe kept trying to get the boat to start. At least I could’ve said goodbye…”
We walk in silence for a quarter mile, until a bird flies over Gavin’s head and he flinches. “That’s another reason I hate the ocean. Seagulls. They’re like rats with wings.” He lets out a laugh, and I take a risk while the topic of family is fresh.
“Is that why you don’t stay with your dad? Is it hard to be around him after…after what happened?” I’m almost certain his grip tightens, but he stays calm as he answers.
“No. No. It’s not that…” Gavin’s pace slows. “We, uh, never really saw eye to eye on things. My dad spent a lot of time at work, and after my grandpa passed, I thought he’d slow down.” He tries to shrug it off, but his shoulders sag like the impact is still there. “My mom was great, though, she could always tell when I needed to talk or had a crappy day. She’d throw the dishtowel in the sink and say, ‘Let’s go to Dairy Land!’ We’d share a bowl of strawberry ice cream and sit in one of the booths where we could watch people come and go. It was our thing, and it always made me feel better.”
Gavin has a far-off smile I don’t recognize. I’m still not sure why he left home, but I don’t want to spoil his fond memories by pushing the issue. His hand is warm, and I lean my head against his shoulder. He lets go and puts his arm around me. It feels good to be close to someone, to let him in.
We find a bench facing the water and talk until the beach is almost empty. The sun hovers over the ocean, ready to call it a night. I wish I could reach out with my foot and kick the orange ball back into the sky. I don’t want this day to end.
“What were your parents like, before they died?” His voice floats along the ocean breeze, and I take it in, looking up to let him know I don’t mind that he asked.
“I don’t remember much,” I say. “It was so long ago.”
“Nothing?”
“A few blips here and there. I remember baking with my mom, being pushed on a swing. My mom was pretty—so pretty—but my dad’s face escapes me. I know I loved to climb trees and would go as high as the branches would take me.”
“A daredevil. Good to know.” He gives me a smile that suggests he wants to learn more, and it makes me both nervous and thrilled. Then his arm is around me, pulling me closer. He whispers into my hair, overpowering the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, “But even daredevils need someone to look out for them.”
• • •
We stumble through the dark hallway and into the main room when we get back. We’re guided by a ragged snore that Gavin claims belongs to Ry. Tiptoeing over to Mary’s bunk, Gavin adjusts her blanket, then he walks me to my bed, his hand on my elbow to guide me. When we reach my bunk, he turns to face me. I can smell the ocean on his skin and feel the heat from his body. It’s like we’re at the waterfall all over again. I lift my chin to hint that it’s okay to kiss me.
“Thank you for taking me to the beach today,” I say, leaning in.
“Anytime.” He squeezes my fingers and lets go, walking backward like he’s being pulled by some invisible force—one that doesn’t want me to know what his lips feel like against mine.
I feel weighted down by disappointment as I watch him leave. I force my feet to move and crawl into bed, mumbling “good night” as he climbs into the bunk above Adrian.
• • •
I wake to voices in the kitchen and sit up, turning toward the smell of eggs and something I don’t recognize. My mouth waters.
Gavin sees me and waves me over. He looks rested. Happy. Is he glad he didn’t make the mistake of kissing me?
I push my confusion away and walk toward the table where Ry’s holding a bottle of mustard over Sasha’s eggs. “Just try it,” he says to her. “You’re gonna love it. I promise.”
“That’s disgusting.” She wrinkles her nose and moves her plate to the side, shielding it with her shoulder.
I start to sit but a jolt of pain rips through my head. Not now. Not on the day of the rescue. I hurry back to my bed, digging out the pills from my pillowcase to find my heart medication. I already took the wrong one which gave me ultrasonic hearing, so the two remaining pale green pills should be mine. Hopefully. I need to remind Gavin to get me more. Maybe we can steal some from the hospital today.
With my pill in my hand, I head back to the kitchen. This time there’s a plate with eggs and three strips of bacon waiting for me. I feel like I’m in one of the TV diners where the actor waltzes in and nods at the waitress, and she’s already got a plate ready to go. It makes my insides warm to think I’m starting to belong here.
When I sit, Sasha gives me a subtle grin. “Feeling okay?”
Gavin looks from Sasha to me like he missed something.
“Yeah,” I say, smiling through the throb that’s building in my head. “I’m fine.”
“Good. Because today’s the big day,” Gavin says.
I fake a cough and pop the pill in my mouth, taking a swig of water.
A few bites into breakfast, my headache subsides. I can even enjoy the bacon, the toasted meat packed with deliciousness. No one should be denied bacon.
Burk arrives and immediately goes for the coffee machine.
“Burk’ll try it!” hollers Ry. “He’ll eat anything!” Ry dishes up a plate of mustard and eggs, and in true form, Burk takes a bite.
“It’s good,” Burk says just before he swallows.
“You’d eat a worm if it had enough seasoning,” Sasha says, rolling her eyes.
Ry snatches the plate out of Burk’s hand and sets it in front of Sasha. “I’ll bet you dish duty for a month you’ll like it.”
They’re about to shake when Adrian bursts into the room.
“We’ve got a problem.” His eyebrows are raised like he shocked himself. Gavin rockets out of his seat, and I follow them into the hallway.
Adrian picks up his notepad and points at the information he’s gotten from the radio and Kenny. Notes about the room, time, and parts purchased. I hear a soft rattle of papers and notice Adrian’s hand is shaking.
“There’s more than one,” he says. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“More than one what?” Gavin’s voice is stern. He grabs the paper and squints at it, flipping back to previous notes to read the communication log from the beginning. He waves the notes in Adrian’s face. “Are you sure about this?”
“Sure about what?” I ask.
Gavin’s eyes flit from side to side as he reads. His jaw clenches. “They’re operating on twins today.”
The room sways, and I grab Gavin’s arm to brace myself.
“At first I thought it was a mistake, that they just changed the room number,” says Adrian, “then I heard the Center say twins.”
I glance at the notes, and in small writing scribbled beside the room numbers I see a P and M. It’s all the confirmation I need. My breathing stalls. “Paige and M
eghan,” I mumble. Gavin slumps against the counter, and I bite my lip when it quivers, trying to sound stronger than I feel. “We have to save them both.”
Adrian’s eyes are big and afraid. He shakes his head and Gavin puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezing until Adrian stops.
“We will,” Gavin says before he turns to me. I wish he hadn’t. All I can see is false hope in his eyes.
“Are they on the same floor?” I ask.
“Yes,” says Adrian. “But they’re at opposite ends of the building.”
A throat clears, and we turn toward the doorway. Sasha, Ry, and Burk are standing in the room; Craig stands behind them holding Mary.
“How do you expect us to pull this off?” Sasha asks, her arms folded. I see what I’m feeling in her taut expression. “We only have a replacement double for one of them.”
“We have to try,” says Gavin. “They’re being prepped for surgery at the same time. They’ll be knocked unconscious, probably operated on an hour apart if they use the same doctor.”
“Why both of them?” asks Burk. “They never do two in one day.”
Craig disappears with Mary into the main room.
“Because the buyer probably wants a backup,” Gavin says. “If they’re matched with one twin, they’d match the other. And if the buyer has taken a lot of pills, the Center could have convinced them to buy extra organs to be kept in the hospital’s cryopreservation unit.”
“Security for the future,” Adrian adds. “The buyer might not need another liver for ten years, but the number of surgeries keeps growing, so who’s to say they’ll find a match as easily when they need another one?”
“Why didn’t we know earlier?” I ask everyone—and no one at the same time. Shouldn’t Kenny have given us a heads up? Isn’t that his job?
“It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” says Adrian. I don’t miss how his eyes flit to Gavin’s. “It must have been a last-minute decision.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll never pull this off,” Sasha says.
Gavin claps his hands together. “We need a plan. Focus everyone.”
We gather around the counter where he spreads out Adrian’s notes and pulls a map of the hospital from the drawer by his hip. “The surgery units are staggered on the fifth floor, divided by prep rooms and computer docking stations for nurses and doctors. Tabitha and I will go after Paige. If our information is correct, she’ll be in room two when she’s knocked out.” He points at Craig. “You and Ry will go after Meghan. She’ll be in room six.”
Gavin shoots Ry a pleading look. “Is there any chance you can get us another body?”
“I—I dunno,” Ry says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe.”
Craig tosses Ry his keys and says, “Take my car.”
Ry heads up the ladder without another word.
“How much time do we have?” Sasha asks.
Gavin eyes the clock on the wall. “They’ll be transported to the hospital in less than three hours.”
Chapter 13
Everyone is jittery as we prepare for the rescue. Except for Ry. He returns with Craig’s car a half hour before we’re supposed to be at the hospital. We’re waiting, ready to go as Gavin hollers out the van window. “Did you get a body?”
Ry salutes him with a big smile plastered on his face.
“Not now, Ry,” Gavin mutters. “He better not be on Euphorium.”
Adrian spins around in his seat before we pull onto the road. “Keep your eyes forward. Act like you have somewhere you need to be, and don’t stop to talk to anyone.”
I nod with each point, feeling my face lose a little color every time my chin dips. My lungs fight for air that can’t seem to come in fast enough and my stomach feels like it’s being trampled on. This is it. My friends’ lives are on the line.
We’re dressed in scrubs, and I twist my newly brown ponytail into a bun, pulling the skin at my temples. I miss the red, but in less than thirty minutes, I’ll be back at the same hospital where I was about to be hacked up, and I know I can’t be recognized. I put on my hospital cap and sit on my hands to keep them from trembling.
There’s a buzz from Gavin’s seat and I jump. “What was that?” I ask.
Gavin pulls out a phone. “It’s just Ry answering my message.” Other than the clicks his fingers make as he types a response, the van is eerily quiet.
When I see the hospital sign, my heart sputters. Adrian parks behind a strip mall a block away.
“We’ll cross the street like we’re walking to work,” Gavin says.
“I’ll get the body from Ry and I’ll meet you at the exit,” Adrian says when we climb out. “It’ll take me ten minutes, tops.”
“Not on Ry’s watch,” Gavin says, his voice tense. “They won’t have much time to get Meghan wheeled out if they don’t hurry.”
When Adrian pulls away, Gavin sucks in a breath.
“We’ll get Paige first,” he says, exhaling. “Once we wheel her out safely, we’ll come back to help Ry and Craig with Meghan.” I nod and start to march around the building. Gavin grabs my hand to stop me.
“What’s on your neck?”
My fingers find the wound. The scab is thick and tender when I touch it.
“I told you. They took a skin sample from me.” Your buddy Kenny’s the one who cut me, I want to add.
He brings his face close to my neck. I feel his heat, the warmth of his breath as he traces the cut.
“It looks swollen.” He tugs on the back of my hair cap, pulling the elastic down until it covers the scab. Unless I walk without moving my neck, it’s not going to stay. “We’ll need to keep an eye on it.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I say, but when I turn back around, his face is etched with concern. “I’m not the one we need to worry about right now.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
His eyes are serious, and I realize this might be the last time I stand face-to-face with him. What if something goes wrong?
Before I can stop myself, I lean in to kiss him. His mouth is soft and my lips tingle as I pull away.
“What was that for?” he asks, his eyes still closed.
“F-for…for everything.” I look down, afraid when he opens his eyes they’ll reveal the kiss meant more to me than him. “For saving my friends.”
“We haven’t saved them yet,” he says, his voice low. He grabs my hand and leads us around the building. He lets go before we pass the bloodred hospital sign and walks a few feet ahead of me. I slow my pace to give us distance.
I’m dressed exactly like the nurse sitting on the bench outside, but I feel like the cameras on the building are zooming in on me—like security knows I’m here. I reach for my hair cover but drop my hand when I realize it might look suspicious.
The entry doors slide open for Gavin. He steps inside and stops to fix his shoelace as I go through. Before I can pass him, he stands.
I want to reach out and grab his hand, overwhelmed by the bright and busy room. A nurse at the front desk is on the phone, and her eyes shift to me as I turn down the hall that leads to the elevators. I imagine she’s glaring at my neck, and I press my back against the wall to let a man on crutches hobble by me.
Just then, the intercom above my head blares: “Security, please dial 3-4-4.”
My stomach climbs into my throat. Do they know we’re here? Did Adrian get caught? I want to race down the hallway, but Gavin keeps his composure and shoots me a look that says stay cool.
I play with my lanyard to keep my hands busy, staring at an image that’s not me. The girl’s hair is a lighter shade of brown, her face round with small features. If anyone stops us, they’ll know immediately I don’t belong here.
Gavin nods at the elevator, and panic seizes me when he cuts away to take the stairs. Splitting up seemed like a good idea in the van, but now that I’m alone, I feel exposed without Gavin by my side.
After what feels like forever, the elevator bings. My breath catches when I see Ms
. Preen on the other side of the open doors.
I wait for her to look up from her phone, to call out for security, but she doesn’t. I force my shoulders to relax and slip inside.
For a split second, I consider giving her a fat lip to go with her full hair. I quickly shove the idea away. An idiotic move like that would put us all in danger—especially Paige and Meghan. I push the number five and wedge myself in the corner, as far out of her view as possible.
Her nose wrinkles as a female voice echoes through the receiver. “He doesn’t even have a job,” she says to the person on the line. “I’d much rather see you with that Murphy boy you’ve been spending time with. At least you’d have security.”
Just before the door slides shut, she sticks out her hand to stop it. Her heels make that familiar click as she marches off. The elevator closes and I exhale. My relief is short-lived when the door bings again and a man gets on from the second floor.
He’s wearing scrubs like mine, and I fold my hands over my name badge when he glances at it.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you around…”
The elevator climbs to three, and I force myself to smile. “You haven’t. I’m new here. It’s my first day.”
“I’m pretty new myself.” He taps on his name badge. “The name’s Curtis.”
I do a double take when I notice the letter tacked on after his name: Curtis R. It’s the same name badge I saw the day of my screening. But Kenny was wearing it. Are they friends? Enemies?
I swallow my questions and smile.
To my relief, the elevator stops on four and the doors open. “Good luck today,” he says as he steps off.
The doors shut and I blow out a breath. Before I can dwell any further, I reach my floor. My anxiety lifts when I spot Gavin a few feet down the hall. He’s writing something in a notepad, and his eyes light up when he sees me. He tucks the pad away and starts to move. I follow him. We pass exam room four, then three. Two is locked, but Gavin has a universal keycard that Kenny slipped into our supply bag.