“I need to talk to you,” he said, low and urgent.

“Right now.

Away from this waiting room.

There’s something I have to tell you, and I promised her I would, and I can’t keep it in anymore.” I did not understand.

But there was something in his face I could not refuse, and so I followed him, away from the double doors, down the dim corridor, into the quiet.

Chapter 16 — The Alcove

He led me into a small, secluded alcove near the concrete stairwell, a forgotten little pocket of the hospital where the fluorescent light buzzed and no one else was, and he stopped, and he turned to face me, and he gathered himself with visible effort.