“No!” Emmaline exclaimed.

  “What?” came from Eric at the same time.

  A frown settled on Mom’s face. “Don’t get me wrong. I’d much rather stay here with your father, but if this is going to cause you trouble, Eric, then I think it’s best I speak to General Rikker. The last thing I want is for any of this to affect you two negatively.”

  Emmaline crossed her arms, completely forgetting her lunch. “Too late for that!”

  Eric didn’t say a thing, which only made Emmaline angrier. “Tell her it’s a bad idea, Eric. The last thing we need is to have Mom taken away too.”

  “Em,” Eric said quietly, “I don’t think we have much choice here.”

  “There’s always a choice!” Emmaline slammed her container down on Dad’s bed, sending a few fries tumbling to the floor. “Dad is already…” She gestured helplessly at their father’s still form. “And Michael is gone. Are we just going to let them take Mom too? Until it’s just us left?”

  Mom stepped closer and placed a gentle hand on Emmaline’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, I understand you’re upset.” Mom’s voice was soft yet firm. “But this isn’t like with Michael or your father. This is my choice.”

  “But it’s not fair!” Emmaline shrugged off her mother’s hand. “Why does everyone in this family get to make these big decisions without asking the rest of us how we feel about it?”

  Eric stood up from his chair, his military posture clear even in his civilian clothes. “Em, I don’t like this either, but it’s clear General Rikker at least suspects there’s a connection with Dad and the ship. If Mom doesn’t come forward now, it’s going to be way worse for her and Dad later on.”

  Her brother’s words still did little to soothe Em. Eric came over and squatted down in front of Emmaline’s chair. “It’s okay. I will go with Mom to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible.”

  “But who’s going to stay with me?” Emmaline cried. She could feel the tears falling down her cheeks.

  “I will talk to Anna. I’m sure she won’t mind hanging out with you for a while,” Mom said from Emmaline’s side.

  Em sniffed and rubbed her stuffed nose. “How long will you be? Will you come back?”

  Mom didn’t have a chance to answer because her phone started to ring. She pulled it out of her pants pocket and looked at it, then quickly answered. “Jeff?”

  She pulled away as she spoke on the phone. Eric stood back up and went to Em’s side that Mom had just vacated, and brother and sister watched their mother closely.

  “Yes, we are here. Eric is too. Okay, we will see you soon.”

  Mom ended the call and turned to the two of them. “That was the doctor. The last test result he was waiting for is in. He just wanted to make sure I was in the room before coming over. He should be here within a few minutes.”

  “Should we call Anna? She’s going to want to hear this too.” Emmaline was glad for the change in subject even though she knew it was far from over.

  Mom nodded as she started to type a text. A moment later, the familiar swoosh sounded. Eric then gestured for Mom to take his seat, but she shook her head, opting to stand by the head of Dad’s bed. Anna stepped into the room.

  “I didn’t get a chance to say hi earlier.” She came over and gave Eric a hug.

  “Good to see you too,” Eric said as he pulled away, “though, I wish it was under better circumstances.”

  Anna snorted. “Tell me about it.”

  “When did you find out?” Eric asked.

  A look of guilt came over her face. “Last night. Sorry I didn’t say anything when we texted.”

  Eric shook his head. “No, it’s alright. I get it. I’m just glad I got to come home so quickly.”

  Anna nodded. “Me too.”

  The door behind Anna opened, and she stepped out of the way to let Doc Williams in. “Hello,” he said to Anna and gave Eric a nod.

  “Glad everyone is here. May I?” Doc Williams gestured across the room to the portable table by the bed.

  Everyone moved or shifted to let the doctor through. With this many people, the already small space seemed to shrink considerably. Em just hoped a nurse didn’t peek in and chase everyone out. Emmaline watched the doctor as he set up his laptop on the table much like he did the day before and positioned it so everyone could see the screen.

  “I assume everyone here may hear about the test results.” He glanced at Anna when he said this. Doc Williams knew Anna and her family too, but he probably had to be sure because of patient privacy stuff.

  “Yes, and I actually would like Anna to take a good look at Arie’s file to see what her opinion might be.”

  Williams gave Anna a warm smile. “Of course. I know you’re at Children’s. How much longer until your residency finishes there?”

  “Sixteen months,” Anna said.

  “Good for you. Well, I think the more heads on this, the better. I welcome your opinion, Anna.”

  Doc Williams then pulled up a series of brain scans. Everyone leaned in close to get a good look.

  “I ran a wide range of tests, including extensive blood work to rule out other possibilities, but nothing came back that we didn’t already know. And as you can see on the set of MRI scans we did earlier today, the damage to the brain is localized only around the hippocampus. There are no signs of loss or swelling anywhere else.”

  Em looked at the scans closely. She could see by the dates that the top scan was from yesterday and the bottom one from this morning. There were more bright spots around the lower left of Dad’s brain, but nowhere else. She leaned back in her chair as Anna stepped in closer to get a good look.

  “This is highly unusual for a stroke,” she said after a long moment.

  “Those were my thoughts,” Doctor Williams said softly.

  The two of them then muttered quietly back and forth for a few minutes. Most of it Emmaline couldn’t begin to understand. It all sounded like a bunch of nonsense, but she, Mom, and Eric remained quiet as they spoke, waiting to hear exactly what this all meant.

  After a time, Anna frowned and turned to Mom. “His analysis of everything is solid, Cassandra. There’s not much I can add here.”

  “So what’s the prognosis, then?” Mom asked.

  “It really hasn’t changed,” the doctor said. “There’s clearly a block of blood flow around the hippocampus, including significant swelling, but it’s just around the hippocampus, which is not normal. There should be damage elsewhere, especially in the posterior cerebral artery, which we aren’t seeing.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “And that means what?” Eric asked.

  “It means this is leaning toward something more unique to his Ethian genetics than what we would call a stroke,” the doctor said.

  Mom pressed her lips together. “I see.”

  “What can we do about this?” Eric asked.

  “Well, as I suggested yesterday, we can continue to treat him with fluids and medication and see if there is any change, though as you can see by the scans between yesterday and today, there appears to be more damage. This isn’t altogether a negative thing. Sometimes, it takes the body time to react to the medication and time to heal. The other option is surgery, of course.”

  Mom shook her head. “It won’t make a difference.”

  “Mom, come on. We should at least try,” Emmaline said, frustrated at her mother. She did not understand why her mother was so against the surgery idea. Didn’t she want Dad to get better?

  Mom blew out a breath and leaned down to pick up her purse she’d set against the wall near the head of Dad’s bed. She pulled out the thin silver thing that Emmaline had seen in the storage shed last night. Em sat up straight. Her attention full on what her mother was doing.

  “Arie kept a journal of sorts about his Dome-ni. He often recorded them in our bedroom in the evenings after everyone else went to bed, and I got to hear at least some of what he said. I do remember the entry he made about Mind Bender injuries. But it’s been years, so I didn’t remember everything he said. It took a bit of digging, but I found it again last night.”

  Once it was out of her purse, Emmaline could see that the object was a small rectangle about the size of a book, but it was impossibly thin, almost as thin as a piece of cardstock. Em could see the very edges were silver, but the rest looked clear like glass. Mom pressed on the end closest to her, and the glass part lit up with a pale blue light.

  She pressed on the middle of the glass, and Em could see an image of her dad start to play. Mom swiped her fingers up, and all of a sudden a translucent image was hovering in the air just above the device. Now Dad’s image was clear to see, but facing Mom, so she swiped her hand to the left and the image swiveled around so it was facing everyone else.

  So cool!

  Em listened to her dad’s words as the recording continued to play. She felt her heart squeeze at hearing his voice. “And it’s important to note that in using the Mind Bender Dome-ni, one must do so carefully and with clear intention. Any distraction or faltering can cause injury not only to the one the Dome-ni is used on, but to the one using it.

  “There is a list of potential hazards in the misuse of the Mind Bender Dome-ni. That is why it is so regulated. Most Mind Bender injuries can be reversed by treatments, sometimes many treatments, but it is clear that a Remaker cannot do anything whatsoever to reverse what is called the living death.

  “This injury is called the living death because it essentially traps the practitioner inside his or her own mind. The body lives, but the consciousness cannot interact with the world. The mind is either in a suppressed state or there could be a shattering of memories that creates a disconnection between the practitioner and his reality. In both cases, this leaves the practitioner in a coma state, which can only be reversed by another Mind Bender.”

  Mom gently tapped the device, causing the image to disappear and the rectangle to go dark. The room was very silent for a time before Doc Williams spoke up. “Well, based on his explanation and his symptoms, I am inclined to agree with you, Cassie, that this is the living death you spoke of yesterday. It’s too bad we don’t have another of those Mind Benders to help him.”

  “Even if we could get another Ethian to help him, none of them would touch him without the Emperor’s say-so, and considering everything, Ghar wouldn’t be inclined to lift a finger to help Arie,” Mom said bitterly.

  “So what, then there’s nothing we can do? We just leave him like that?” Emmaline asked as desperation ate at her.

  Mom looked at her, and Emmaline could see the hopelessness there. It made Em want to scream and cry and yell at her mother, but before she could open her mouth, Eric spoke up.

  “I think we should at least try the surgery. Maybe it won’t work, but it’s better than doing nothing.”

  “I agree!” Emmaline said as she stomped her foot and crossed her arms, daring Mom to disagree. She was just glad that Eric was on her side.

  Mom pressed her lips together. A sure sign she was indeed about to disagree, when Anna spoke up. “What exactly is your hesitation in trying the surgery, Cassandra?”

  Mom blew out a breath. “In Ethia, Remakers do almost all our healing, whether the injury or illness is big or small. The machines can even regrow limbs and organs. Most illnesses and diseases in the Empire have been eradicated for years because of Remakers. If that sort of technology can’t heal the living death, then what chance does surgery have?”

  Anna’s expression remained thoughtful. “I can understand your hesitation. It’s clear that there’s a difference in healing methods between Ethia and Earth. I don’t know exactly how this Remaker works, but surgery is an invasive approach, which in Arnold’s case might be the only way to help him. Sometimes targeted surgeries help patients when nothing else can.”

  “I understand that, Anna,” Mom said, “but the other fact is that his brain is different. He is an Ethian. And while his scans appear similar to humans, there are differences, which means bringing more people into the secret. And what if something goes wrong during the surgery because of the differences and makes things worse?”

  “How could things possibly be worse?” Emmaline asked.

  “She has a point, Mom. If we do nothing, it is very unlikely he’ll come out of this on his own,” Eric replied.

  “Well, we can wait a few days, see if there is any more change. Give the medication time to work,” Williams offered.

  “How effective has the medication you gave the Laytons been in the past? Do they respond the same as we do?” Anna asked.

  Williams looked at Mom to get her permission to speak again. She nodded, and he turned to Anna. “Honestly, I haven’t given them much at all. Besides Cassandra delivering Emmaline and Michael breaking his arm when he was a teenager, I haven’t had to do much in the way of medical care for them. Eric, yes, but not the others.

  “Arnold and Cassandra have given me some genetic samples to study over the years, so I know their immune systems are supercharged, which makes them impervious to most of our garden-variety illnesses. But between the few tests I’ve run, and including Cassandra and Michael’s responses to medication I’ve prescribed them, they seem to response as most humans would, except I had to give them slightly higher doses of pain medication for it to be adequately effective.”

  “And what’s been Arnold’s response to what you’ve been giving him so far?” Anna asked.

  “I’ve been getting a normal response with the usual range of dosages, but you can check his chart, see what you think.” Williams gestured to a clipboard slipped into a pocket holder on the wall behind Anna.

  She retrieved it and looked through it for a moment while everyone stood by quietly in their own thoughts. After a moment, she put it back with a frown. “The only thing I would suggest is maybe upping the prasugrel to 10 mg, see if that helps.”

  Williams nodded. “That was my idea too, but I wanted to make sure he didn’t have a reaction to it before doing that.”

  Anna looked over to Mom. “It wouldn’t hurt to at least get the ball rolling on the possibility of surgery in case the wait and see option doesn’t seem to work. And I actually know a neurosurgeon whom I would certainly trust with my life, and he loves tackling problem cases.”

  Mom stood there for a long moment as she tapped a finger on the device she had set on the portable table. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to at least see if he’d be open to treating Arie.”

  Emmaline almost sighed out in relief when she heard that, but she kept quiet, not wanting to rock the boat. Em was just glad Anna had come today, and at least gotten Mom to a maybe with doing surgery on Dad.

  Doc Williams was quick to speak up. “Well, in the meantime, I will keep Arnold on fluids and medication and closely monitor his condition for any changes. We will have to consider moving him soon to a facility more capable of handling his condition. I would recommend Langone or Mount Sinai. They are the best where neurology is concerned.”

  “Mount Sinai is where the one surgeon I was telling you about is located,” Anna replied.

  Mom nodded. “Sinai would be a closer drive for us.”

  “For me too,” the doctor replied.

  “Then let’s plan for that,” Mom confirmed.

  The doctor closed his laptop and picked it up. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  Emmaline let out a breath and sunk into the back of her chair, glad to at least have some forward motion on the Dad situation, even if he wasn’t waking up and smiling like she wanted.

  “Anna, do you think you could stay with Emmaline for a while? Eric and I have something we need to do,” Mom said.

  Emmaline sat straight up in her chair, knowing exactly what her Mom was planning to do, but with all the talk about Dad, she’d almost forgotten. “No, Mom! Please don’t go!”

  Mom came over to touch Em on the shoulder. “It’s going to be alright, sweetie. I need to do this. It’s past time, really. Anna will stay with you, and you both can hang out here with Dad until you get tired, and then she can take you home. Right?” Mom looked at Anna to confirm.

  She nodded. “Sure. You can tell me about school and how things are going with Brad.”

  Normally, Emmaline would jump at the chance for some girl talk with Anna, but not this time. She hopped out of her chair and wrapped her arms around her mother. “You will be back, won’t you?”

  Mom hugged Em back, but instead of responding, she spoke to Eric. “You should call him. Let Rikker know I want to talk.”

  “Yep,” was all he said before he brushed past them and out the door.

  When he was gone, her mother released Emmaline and handed her the styrofoam container of food she’d tossed on Dad’s bed earlier. “Here. Why don’t you eat something?”

  She then turned to Anna. “I don’t know how long we will be. It could be awhile. Maybe a long while.”

  “I’ll stay with her as long as you need, Cassandra.” Anna replied as she sat down in the chair beside Emmaline.

  “Thank you,” Mom said as she quickly grabbed her purse from the floor and rushed out the door before another word could be uttered.

  Emmaline felt like leaping up after her, but before she could, Anna touched Em’s leg gently and gave a half smile. “So, tell me about Brad. Has that fool boy gathered up the courage to actually kiss you yet?”