Chapter 29-The plan

Chapter 29-The plan
CLAIRE

I pushed open Lila’s door, and it felt like stepping into another world. I felt nervous in a way I couldn't explain.Machines beeped steadily in the background—meant to be comforting, but they weren’t.

Lila lay there so still she could’ve been mistaken for a statue. Her skin was drained of color and her lips were dry and cracked. Around her neck, thick white gauze wrapped tight. Beneath the bandage, I could see the edge of a bruise.

Her eyes flicked to me. They weren’t the same. The light I’d seen in them before—the spark that fought back when she mentioned mason's name at the funeral —was gone. Now they looked empty, as if she’d set down her spirit and walked out of herself.

I cleared my throat “Hey. You made it through. You’re safe now.” I felt myself cringe at my words .

Lila didn’t answer. Her lips trembled. Then, without warning, tears spilled down her cheeks. Her voice broke on the words:

“I felt him… he came up behind me… I felt him.”

Her whole body shook and even her arms flailed weakly at the sheets as she tried to push them away, It was as if she could see herself back at that night.

“Lila—breathe,” I said, moving to her side. “It’s not real anymore. You’re here with me.”

But she couldn’t hear me. Her breathing turned rough and fear took over her whole body. One moment her hands grabbed at me, pulling me close like she needed to hold on, and the next she shoved me away, as if she couldn’t decide whether to cling to me or escape.

“Stop—it’s okay, you’re safe!” I said quickly, pressing my hands to her shoulders to steady her. But it felt like trying to hold down someone drowning.
The door slammed open.

Evan stumbled inside, clutching a bunch of flowers in his hand. His eyes went wide as he saw what was happening. “My God. I heard—Lila.”

He froze in the doorway, staring at her thrashing body and me struggling to calm her. His eyes dropped to the flowers and he set them down on the chair beside the bed.—”

“Don’t just stand there!” I snapped. “Get the nurse—now!”

“Don’t just stand there!” I snapped. “Get the nurse—now!”Evan jerked like I’d slapped him, then he turned around and ran.

Moments later, a nurse rushed in. She already had a syringe in her hand. She brushed me aside without a word, slid the needle into Lila’s IV, and pressed the medicine through.

The effect came quickly. Lila’s wild gasps turned into shallow breaths. Her body stopped thrashing. Her eyes flickered open once, then shut again and stayed closed.

The nurse’s eyes turned to Evan and me “Out. Both of you. She needs quiet.”

We didn’t argue. Instead We stepped into the hallway immediately .
Evan let out a long breath, like he’d been holding it the whole time. He dragged a hand over his fact
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I should’ve come sooner.”

“You weren’t the one with a syringe at her throat,” I muttered. My hands were still trembling. I wiped them down the sides of my jeans.

He glanced sideways at me. “You saved her again.”

“I almost didn’t.” The image flashed behind my eyes—the nurse’s blank stare, the knife, the sound of the body hitting the floor. “Whoever is behind all this doesn't want her alive. And they’re not going to stop trying.”

Evan’s jaw tightened. “You believe that?”

“Believe it?” I laughed. “It’s written all over this place. They sent someone into her room. Into her bed.”

He leaned back against the wall, eyes closing for a moment“Then we can’t keep her here.”

I turned sharply to him. “What?”

“She won’t last a week if we leave her in this hospital,” he said, opening his eyes. They were clear and unflinching. “You know it. I know it. Whoever they are, they’ve got reach in these halls. The only way she survives is if we move her.”

“You’re talking about smuggling her out.” My voice sharpened. “She just had surgery, Evan. She’s fragile. She needs doctors, not a road trip in the middle of the night.”

“She needs to be alive first,” he countered softly. “What good is a team of doctors if she never makes it to morning?”

I crossed my arms. “Even if I said yes—which I’m not—where would we take her? Who would take her in? You think she’s safe anywhere in Grayhaven?”

“I don’t know yet,” he admitted. “But safer than here. Safer than a bed where the next stranger who walks in might finish the job.”

I hated how much sense it made. My body wanted to rebel against it“Do you even hear yourself? Smuggling patients out of hospitals like contraband?”

His lips twitched with the faintest smile. “I was a lawyer once. I know how to bend the rules without breaking them in half.”

“This isn’t bending,” I shot back. “This is ripping them to shreds.”

He tilted his head, studying me, not arguing. “What are you really afraid of? That we can’t keep her safe… or that we can?”

That stung. Because he was right—I didn’t know which terrified me more.

I rubbed my face with both hands"Even if we tried, we’d need help. Dr. Cross. Someone who can actually monitor her. She’s not exactly fit for a midnight stroll.”

Evan nodded, as if he’d already thought it through. “Then we get him on our side.”

“And if he says no?”

“Then we ask again. And again. Until he says yes.” His tone was calm, the way you’d say the sky was blue. He looked at me like he knew I’d cave eventually.

“You’re out of your mind.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But better mad than mourning.”

I let the silence sit for a moment, pressing in like a hand around my throat. Then, finally, I exhaled. “we will talk to Dr Cross.”

Evan’s smile was small. “Good. I’ll start figuring out where we can take her.”

I gave him a hard look. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” But his eyes told me he already had.