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Hanna’s heart thudded fast, then she picked up one of his hands "Squeeze one for yes, two for no, okay? You were in an explosion on a cruise Do you remember that?"

Grahaed in the hallway Hanna froze, watching white nurse shoes pass under the curtain "It was in the boiler roo to Aria Do you reain, Graha to tell her so her?"

Grahaht and winced in pain "Y-y-y"

Hanna’s heart pounded "Did you see her face?"

Grahaummy "N"

"No? You didn’t?"

He shook his head, as if this wasn’t right Suddenly, Hanna hit on so "Was it a him, not a her?"

Grahaht-headed She took a deep breath and continued "Do you know his name?"

Graham opened one eye all the way His iris was bloodshot His teeth pressed together, his tongue wedged between them He tried for a syllable, and then collapsed, exhausted, on the pillow

"Please," Hanna pressed "Please, tell ain "N-n" He scrunched his eyes shut, looking frustrated "N-n-n!"

Hanna leaned closer "Nwhat? Noel?"

A woozy look crossed Grahaain His jaw started to tre "N-n-n!"

"Squeeze if it’s Noel, Grahaed

But suddenly, his neck arched back unnaturally His eyes rolled to the back of his head His li wildly The machines started to wail

Hanna backed up, terrified Had she done this? Had she pushed too hard?

The beeping continued Graham’s body shook with spasms "Oh my God," Hanna whispered She stepped out from behind the curtain and looked down the hall It was empty, not a nurse to be seen "Shit," shehorrible buzzing sounds

"I just saw soo that way," Kyla’s voice called behind Hanna She shakily pointed to the left Hanna nodded at her, then dashed down the hall But that nurse’s station was e three more corridors, she finally spotted a wo to a patient near an exit door "Help!" she shouted "A patient’sHanna led the way, her high heels clacking aardly on the slippery floor She rounded the corner to Graham’s room The sounds of the machines carried all the way down the hall

The nurse pushed past her and yanked open the partition Her " She spun around and yelled forGrahaer and scarier than when she’d left But his body lay liht, his tongue lolling out of hisblistered, pink skin All of the IV tubes were out of his hands, and blood spurted everywhere And on the le flat line There were question marks where the blood pressure and pulse levels should have been

More nurses appeared Instantly, they began CPR and stopped the bleeding A second teaown off to expose his bare, blistered chest Voltage snapped through the paddles, and when they shocked him, his body arched off the bed Hanna screamed Graham slued

The doctors and nurses shocked hiently pushed Hanna out of his curtained-off area She stood uselessly in the hallway There was a sound behind her, and Kyla was sitting up in bed, her eyes black under the gauze She looked as shocked as Hanna felt

The defibrillator stopped Someone called out a time, and several nurses pushed back the curtain and walked down the hall Hanna covered her ht throw up She looked at Kelly, who had just eed from the curtain, too Her scrubs were spattered with Graham’s blood

"Is he?" Hanna couldn’t even say the word out loud

Kelly lowered her eyes It was clear she couldn’t say the word out loud, either--but she didn’t have to Her drawn, pale, astonished expression, however, said it all Graha with Hanna, who had seen A, who could have known everything, was dead

28

Seek, and Ye Shall Find

At the saht at the King Ja her arms and twisted her waist in the middle of the Four Seasons dance floor Swirl-painted silk banners surrounded her Asterisk-shaped stars looized and psychedelic It was like being in the belly of a Van Gogh painting