At 9:40 p.m., Lily opened her eyes. “Did Grandma answer?” she whispered.

Daniel forced himself to smile. “She knows you’re safe.”

Lily gave a weak nod, but disappointment crossed her face.

Chapter 2 — Teen Hero

At 9:57, a nurse hurried into the room and switched on the television. A local reporter stood outside the hospital as emergency lights flashed behind her.

“We are following a major development involving the collapse at Westbridge High School,” she announced. “Seventeen-year-old Lily Brennan is now being credited with saving at least eleven lives.”

Daniel froze. Security footage from the school gym appeared on the screen. Minutes before collapsing, Lily had smelled gas near the boiler room. Instead of leaving by herself, she pulled the fire alarm, warned the coaches, and helped evacuate younger children attending an after-school program.

Investigators later found a damaged natural-gas line beneath the gym floor. Fire officials said the building could have exploded within minutes. Lily collapsed only after carrying a terrified eight-year-old boy outside.

Then the reporter shared something Daniel had not known. The child Lily saved was Owen Chase — the son of United States Senator Rebecca Chase.

At exactly ten o’clock, every major station carried the report. News crews surrounded the hospital. The governor publicly praised Lily. Senator Chase appeared live, crying as she thanked the teenager who had rescued her son.

Across the city, Patricia watched from her living room. Scott saw the report inside a crowded restaurant. Both stared as Lily’s hospital photograph appeared beside the headline: TEEN HERO FIGHTS FOR HER LIFE AFTER SAVING ELEVEN CHILDREN.

Patricia’s phone slipped from her hand. Scott dropped his into a glass of water. Almost at the same moment, they began calling Daniel. Their names flashed across his screen.

For the first time in his life, he pressed Decline.