I know he won’t, but I try anyway.
He shakes his head again, taking a step back. One of his boots is in the light slanted across the rocky cliff, the other in shadow. My chest constricts, but I push away my fear. I know it’ll be okay. I know it.
“Listen.” His voice is low, as if speaking to a spooked animal. “I don’t know you, and I don’t know how you possibly know me. But you’re freaking me out.”
“I know,” I tell him sadly. “Just please…remember I’m here to help, okay? I mean, look at me.” I open my arms wide. “You could easily overpower me, right? I’m no danger.”
He takes another step back toward the trails, both boots in shadow now.
Twenty seconds.
“For what it’s worth,” I tell him, “I’m so glad to finally meet you. It feels as if I’ve been waiting for this all my life. I just wish… I wish it didn’t have to be like this.”
He stares at me blankly, and I see the first flicker in his eyes that something’s wrong. “I don’t… Why are you here?”
He takes another stumbling step backward, his water bottle falling from his fingers as he blinks several times.
My smile is both sad and resigned. “I’m here to save your life.”
Lee swallows heavily, his eyes losing focus. He looks as if he wants to say something, but then he’s dipping toward the ground. He catches himself on one knee, as I’ve seen him do dozens of times before. Hundreds, maybe. Brown eyes meet mine, genuine terror there.
“It’ll be okay,” I promise him, voice cracking.
Lee’s heart stops as I watch, the man pitching onto the rocky ground. With my own chest in a vise, I grab my backpack and do exactly what I came here to. What I’m meant to.
I bring Lee back to life.
Chapter 29
Lee
There’s a soft beeping when I wake, the sound coming from far away. An uncomfortable surface beneath me. And…the unmistakable antiseptic smell of a hospital.
I blink open my eyes, my heart rate spiking. A blanket is pulled up under my arms, an IV leading from me to an automatic fluids station. The lights in the room are set low, a small mercy. But I’d recognize this place even in the pitch black, being a frequent flyer as I am.
I press the call button at the side of my bed and try to remain calm as I wait for a nurse to arrive. I remember hiking. I remember…a man. With short dark hair and wide, sad eyes. He told me…
My hand flies to my chest, and I register the ache there. As well as the bandage beneath my thin hospital gown.
“Ah, someone is awake,” the nurse says, bustling through the door with a smile on her face.
“What, uh…” I clear my throat, the dry and scratchy feel of it unwelcome but not unexpected. “What happened?”
“Well,” she says calmly, reading the machines next to my bed, “you went into cardiac arrest.”
A beat of silence passes. “I died.”
“For only a minute or so. Not long at all, all things considered.” She offers me another smile, tapping something on her touch screen. “You were incredibly fortunate you had someone with you.”
Caspian.
His name comes to me in a burst, blue eyes, tumultuous and bright, entering my mind.
“My pacemaker?” I ask roughly.
The nurse winces some, her eyes flicking to mine as she comes over to the bed. She checks the IV line and straightens out my blanket. “It malfunctioned. They’re still investigating why, but you’ve been given a new one. Just a little ahead of schedule, hm?”
Right. I rub my chest lightly, the bandage small, covering an incision I know from experience will be less than an inch wide.
