Page 162

Her mother’s fingers gently took hers and turned the arm a bit more. “Oh, honey,” she said with a teary voice. “I’m so glad it wasn’t worse. I’m so glad you’re safe.”
“Yeah,” Maddie muttered, trying not to think about the alternative.
“Can I roll your pant leg up?” Saff’s low, strained voice asked.
“No, no,” Erin answered. “There are others here that need your help much more than I do. I can wait.”
“You sure?” Saff asked before letting out a string of coughs.
“How are you doing?” Erin asked with concern. “Did you get hurt?”
Maddie waited, but the coughing continued, turning into a high-pitched wheeze.
“Hey,” her dad’s smooth voice joined in. “Maybe you should sit down for a few minutes.”
Her body tensed involuntarily, waiting for Saff's coughing to stop.
Even with everything that had happened before the attack, everything she’d told her, she couldn’t avoid the worry she felt for her.
Then she heard the familiar click and whoosh of an inhaler close by, and Maddie relaxed slightly.
“Here,” Erin said. Maddie felt her shift down the bed. “Sit down for a minute.”
“No, its ok—“
“Honey, sit down. At least just for a minute to catch your breath.”
Maddie almost laughed. It was the exact same stern, motherly tone she used every time she told her to do something that wasn’t up for discussion. It left no room whatsoever to argue.
Good, she thought. It was about time Saff listened to someone.
The bed dipped near her hip, and she felt the warmth of Saff’s back press against her.
“Maddie, where were you when they got through the wall?” her dad asked.
Maddie cleared her throat, pulling her focus away from where Saff’s body was touching hers. “Sylvia’s.”
“Sylvia’s house caught fire?”
She cringed, not wanting to explain. “No—uh, the storing house did.”
Maybe it was her uncomfortable tone, or her hesitation, but something stopped him from probing further.
“Are you okay, Dad? Did you get hurt at all?”
“No. I was with your mom at the dining hall when it happened. Luckily, they didn’t seem to be focused on hurting people.”
Maddie took a small sip of the water.
“It seemed more like they were trying to scare people rather than really take over,” he continued, seeming to talk more to himself than to her.
“Really?” she asked. “Why would they do that?”
There was a brief pause. Then her dad muttered, “I—I don’t know.”
“It could mean a number of things,” Saff answered quietly. “Or it could mean nothing. Could just mean they underestimated the size of the community.”
Maddie pressed her lips into a hard line.