1. Ash's Story (Part 0: Prologue)

Chapter 12: A Heart in Shadow

"Eve!" Alice screamed before anyone else could react.

Eve lay beside the low table, one arm trapped beneath her and dark tea spreading across the rug. Only minutes earlier, she had been teasing Flora for folding the towels too neatly.

Now she did not answer.

Alice dropped to her knees hard enough to hurt. "Eve, wake up. Please wake up."

Flora stopped in the doorway, her face draining of color. For one terrible second, neither sister knew what to do. Alice could only stare at Eve lying motionless beside the table.

Then Adam's emergency training came back to her.

Check breathing. Check pulse. Call for help.

Her hands shook as she carefully turned Eve onto her back. Alice pressed two fingers against her neck and searched for a pulse. She could barely tell what she was feeling with her own heart hammering so hard.

"Flora," Alice whispered, her voice shaking badly.

Flora hurried over and knelt beside them. "Is she breathing?"

"I don't know." Alice leaned close to Eve's mouth. A faint breath touched her cheek, followed by a pause that lasted far too long. "It is wrong. Something is wrong."

Flora covered her mouth for a moment, then grabbed the room phone from the side table. "I am calling emergency services."

Alice nodded as tears blurred Eve's face.

She placed one hand over the other at the center of Eve's chest. She had practiced this on training dummies in Atem Castle and laughed when the instructors corrected the position of her arms. She had never expected to use those lessons on her own sister.

"Come on, Eve," Alice begged her quietly.

She began the compressions and forced herself to keep the rhythm exactly as she had been taught.

Alice counted every compression aloud. Behind her, Flora gave the dispatcher Eve's name, age, and address, stumbling over the words as she spoke.

Alice kept pressing until her arms burned.

"Eve, you are not allowed to leave," she whispered between counts. "Do you hear me? You are not allowed."

The sirens finally reached them. Alice had no idea how long she had been kneeling there beside Eve.

Paramedics rushed into the room. One guided Alice away while another opened equipment beside Eve. Flora caught Alice as she stumbled back, her arms trembling from the effort.

"You did well," one paramedic told her. "You kept going until we arrived."

Alice could not think about whether she had done well.

All she could see was how pale Eve looked.

Vurgh Hospital smelled of disinfectant and floor polish.

Ash arrived with Aurora, Adam, Serena, Lillie, and Reisa. Alice sat beside Flora in the waiting area while Valerie spoke quietly with a nurse near the wall.

"Alice," Ash called as he hurried toward her.

Alice looked up at him. As soon as he reached her, she stopped trying to pretend she was okay.

She threw herself into Ash's arms and cried against his shoulder. Ash held her tightly, unsure what he could possibly say. Serena and Lillie looked close to tears, while Reisa kept staring at the emergency doors.

"What happened?" Adam asked Flora gently.

Flora drew a shaky breath. "Eve collapsed. Alice found her first. She checked her breathing and started CPR. The paramedics said... they said it helped."