afi

ain s

ed. Stopped. Like a

ned m

te lights hummed overhead. Stainless steel gleamed on every surfa

state. I'd been stitched up here more times than I could count-broken bones, allergic reacti

racter, my fath

a breath. My l

my heartbeat. Th

as

t crept in at the edges, cold and quiet, fil

de

kill

ne c

it-no body to produce the chemicals that would have made me fight or

ness, something else. Som

trat

to speak, to reach down and shake the people below me until they understood

I got to my father, the stronger the pull became, like he was

face a mask of stone. He was in his late fifties, but he looked older tonigh

tried to touch him. My hand passed t

a

nd. Didn't flinch.

t here. Pleas

rst through, drenched from head to toe, ra

itory," he said. "Three body bags. Untouched by

s voice. "The dismemberment is Dante's sign

to double the guards on Carmela and Ser

d. He pulled his sleeve free

hter should have di

. I'd known it for eight years. But hearing him say it-hearing him wis

there. I'm righ

edics dropped thei

will, every shred of whatever energy a ghost was made of. I sc

n't he

ed on a pair of

he zipper of the

lled i

-