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"How oing down into Chinatown, because that’s where the only decent doctor is for a hundred miles And yes," she snapped before anyone could contradict her, in case they’d been planning on it, "I’d count Tacoma in that, too Anye don’t have reat rabbit warren of a city, there under the earth In some places it looked almost normal: Mercy walked wide-​eyed past rows of aparto, all of them perfectly ordinary except for the lack of s and the persistent use of false lights and candles stashed in every corner The whole underground s in a yard, since that’s what it was

They passed curious ht away But all the other residents nodded, dipped their hats, and offered friendly greetings When Mercy looked perplexed at this, Lucy explained that everyone kneho Mercy was, and why she was co Mercy didn’t kno to feel about this, but she tried to be polite back, even as she was ushered along Always down stairs and up steps with rails, or no rails, and down corridors with floors of polished marble or no floors at all--just da what it looked like, up there in the city itself She occupied her thoughts with speculation about the roving dead who she’d been warned roamed the streets, and considered that they very likely looked ht doo trains in the Utah pass And just about the tis to wonder about, she beca were China, and they also wore their hair in ponytails or braids shaved back away froarded her with curiosity but no h some of them hailed Lucy with a few quick words that she didn’t understand

Finally Inevitably

They arrived at a door at the very ruff sords and a general air of aggravation in the rooodda to drink it any Mercy think that everyone everywhere who had ever had a grouchy patientto Lucy, who nodded

The one-​are him too harsh He’s lived hard, and nearly died to save the lives of strangers And you were the only thing he wanted, ould’ve done anything to lad you cahter would’ve done it, and I think it speaks well of you Briar, honey?"

"Lucy?"

"It’s tiue with them, to demand that they acco her just when she needed them most

But she didn’t

And they didn’t stay

They slipped away, and back, these toh to be heraunt Her only connection to anything above, and her only way out if she refused to step through that cracked-​open door

She put a hand on it Took a deep breath of air that smelled and tasted stale, and faintly like sulfur Pushed the door an inch, then stalled Recovered her willpower Pushed it far enough to admit her

She stepped into the doorway of a rooainst a far wall; a dresser with a mirror squatted beside it The walls theht red that was ale, and a deep blue that was alas lanterns on the end tables on either side of the bed

On this bed was a ainst aquite peevish about it

He lounged there with one leg braced up and reinforced in a cast composed of wood stays and canvas Around his torso was a similar set of stays, nearly corsetlike, and Mercy understood at a glance that some of those ribs had been broken, and that his chest had been carefully ie to his lungs or other organs She took all this in and ad of the partial hat he wore over an otherwise shaven and naked head She understood that this, too, was a bandage, and that so a requirement

It was easier for her to see him that way, as a patient

She’d dealt with many patients on many beds, and there were a handful of types, but no real ather that he’d survived solean the nature of if she looked closely enough: A badly broken leg; compound fracture, no doubt An assortone down to the bone and ht even have splintered the hard bits beneath the skin The telltale pockmarks and seams that shohere stitches had been rereed to remain closed

But it was harder to look at the h to see that battered face with the flattened nose (broken long ago, she could tell, as easily as if he wore a sign) and the broad cheekbones that she’d inherited, giving her the saht And it was a struggle toher back froh with the first threads of silver One had a scar that cut across it, healed years ago, by the look of it

She took all this in, and she stood in the doorithout knohat to say, or how to move, or if she should take up the chair that his physician had used to examine him, there beside the bed

He took her in, too, and did not say anything either, did not seem to know if he should invite her inside or ask her to leave His stubbly face was turned on the pillow, pressing against it so he could get a look at her He cleared his throat with a eak sound that probably wasn’t the noise he’d meant to ainst his uncertainty

She clutched the door’s latch and stood in its fraical space that would protect her from whatever happened next But she replied: "Daddy?"