Keeping Secrets (Book 1)

Chapter 12: Change

As soon as I walked through the door of Nina's shop two days later, I could tell something wasn't right. She was sitting at the table with her head down. That wasn't a good sign.

"Nina?" I asked, walking further into the room. "You good?" Maybe she hadn't been able to get the drugs like she said she would. We were supposed to be doing this today, but what if we couldn't?

She lifted her head up. "Yeah. And I got the drugs." She held up a bag with a couple syringes in it.

I had been expecting the confident Nina that I've seen this whole time. Instead, she looked worried for the first time since we started our research on this. "What's wrong?" I asked, sitting down at the table next to her.

She shook her head. "I am allergic to one of the ingredients in adrenaline. I didn't know what it was made of until I read the ingredient list this morning."

"So that means...?" I had a pretty good idea what it meant - I wasn't dumb - but I didn't want to say it out loud.

She didn't seem to have any problem saying it though. "You're going to have to do it. If I try, I will end up dead, for good. This is our only shot at saving them, so it's up to you now."

I nodded, not liking that idea at all. I had spent the last two days preparing myself for watching Nina almost die, not for me to do it. I wasn't ready but, like she said, this was our only option now. It had to be me.

"You're not allergic to any medications or whatnot, right?"

I shook my head. If I was, I would have found out after the surgeries. Thankfully nothing like that happened then, but that just meant I definitely had to do this now.

She clapped her hands together once before jumping to her feet. "Great. You ready to do this?"

I let out a dry chuckle. "Am I allowed to say no?"

"Nope."

I gave her a smile that was obviously fake. "Then great. Let's do this."

"Dylan, you know this is the only way to do this. It's my fault I can't do it, otherwise you wouldn't have had to."

I nodded. "I know. And it's going to work out, I just wasn't expecting it to go like this. But I almost died once, I can do it again."

"You never actually told me how you almost died," she said, sitting back down in her chair. "You said there was a car accident, but that's it. Have you met Death before? Do you remember any of it?"

I shook my head. "After the accident, I was in the hospital. I needed hours of surgeries. At some point in the middle of one, my heart stopped for a minute. If I did see Death then, I don't remember him."

"Well, that doesn't do us any good. But you'll be fine. You got this." Nina stood up again, grabbing the bag with the needles in it. "Now, are you ready?"

With a resigned sigh, I also stood up, holding onto the back of the chair to keep my balance. I could do this. It was just a conversation with Death. How hard could it be?

"On the couch," Nina ordered. "Don't want you accidentally falling off that chair or anything. I don't know if I'd be able to pick you back up if that were to happen."

I followed her instruction, somewhat laughing at the mental picture that she made me imagine. At least it helped me relax a bit about this whole thing. I didn't need to go into this nervous.

"Okay," Nina started once I had sat down on the couch. "I will give you the adenosine and it'll feel like you're just falling asleep. As soon as you're in the spirit realm, Death will approach you. You know what to ask him, right?"

I nodded. There were a few specific questions I had, but most of the conversation I would have to play by ear, depending on his answers.

"Good. I will give you four minutes. No longer than that. Once four minutes hits, I'll inject you with the adrenaline and you'll wake up."

I nodded again. We had gone over it the other day, although it was different now that it was me who'd be doing it.

"Good. Now lay down while I get this ready."

Nina walked back over to the table and pulled out one of the needles as I laid down on the couch. She seemed like she knew what she was doing, which helped. Her confidence was rubbing off on me.

But of course, there was still that little bit of doubt in the back of my mind. "Hey Nina?" I asked. She looked up at me. "Can you promise me something? If something were to happen - not that it will, but just in case - can you tell Travis that I love him and to tell my parents - my mom - that I'm sorry? Please?"

She looked like she was about to disagree with me - to tell me that I was being silly - but then she sighed and nodded her head. "Yeah, I can do that for you. Not that I'd have to."

I gave her a small smile. "Thanks." I knew Travis already knew that I loved him, but if I couldn't say it to him again, I wanted him to be able to hear it one more time. And my mom, she'd be torn apart if she lost both her kids, the least I could do was apologize for leaving her. I knew it wasn't likely that I'd die, but it was good to know Nina would tell Travis it for me, if necessary.

Nina knelt next to me, the needle in her hand. "This shouldn't hurt too much," she said. "Then it's going to feel like you're falling asleep. No pain at all."

"Okay," I said, nodding.

Nina smiled a little before bringing the needle to my arm. "Good luck. And remember: if you absolutely need to tell me something before my four minutes are up, I can see ghosts, so just come back here."

I nodded again, watching as she pushed the needle under my skin and into a vein. She was right about it not hurting too much, and it was only a matter of seconds before my eyes started closing and everything went black.