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Handing the glass back to Kai, Cinder studied the doctor, who stood with her arainst her forearm Cinder reached for the back of her head, where her panel was shut tight

"I’m not dead?"

"You almost were," said Kai "The knife penetrated one of your prosthetic heart chambers, which drove your body into survival mode That chamber shut dohile the rest of your heart was able to keep functioning … ht?"

"Close enough," said Dr Nandez with a weak smile

Cinder’s heart throbbed with every breath "My retina display is functioning again"

The doctor nodded "You were in need of a new processing unit--the one you were installed asn’t designed for full underwater submersion You were lucky it went into preservation mode, otherwise you wouldn’t have had any function over your hand or leg either"

"I didn’t, for a while" Cinder tried toon the bedspread "I’m sorry I scared you"

"Your reaction arranted" Dr Nandez gestured at Cinder’s hand "May I?"

An aardness started to creep up Cinder’s spine--her palht in front of Kai

But then she felt silly and vain, so she nodded

Dr Nandez wheeled herself back to Cinder’s side and set a portscreen on the bed A holograph flickered in the air above the screen--an exact replica of Cinder’s hand and internal wiring The doctor adjusted the iain

"You should lie back down," Kai said "You were stabbed, you know"

"I reainst her wound The pressure eased so tells me you may have just pulled souide her back onto the pillows She sank into the soft, crisp bedding with a sigh, though the doctor’s surgical light was once again blinding her and Kai had taken on a supernatural glow

"Levana’s dead?" she murmured

"Levana’s dead"

With that confirunshot and a splatter of blood burned into her mind, she opened her brain to all the other questions They tuhts Cress, Thorne, Scarlet, Wolf, Winter, Jacin, Iko--

"Everyone’s alive," Kai said as if her thoughts ritten in plain green text on her irises "But Cress is … her vitals are stable, and they’re hopeful for a recovery, but she hasn’t come out of suspension yet Scarlet had a ers, but he’s a prime candidate for prostheses if he wants the without risking serious dae, but he’s alive and seems, you know, like Wolf Jacin suffered so, and Princess Winter…" His gaze dropped

Cinder felt a jolt in her wrist, and her thumb twitched uncontrollably for aand it stopped