Page 20 of Tear Me Apart

“I see that. Sorry, just wanted to check the storm, my phone battery is dead and the charger is out in the car.”

The nurse isn’t buying it, but Juliet ignores her stares and goes to Mindy’s side. “Hey, kiddo, it’s all good. Just your clumsy aunt knocking everything off your tray.”

She bends and picks everything up, mind whirling. She needs to move fast if she is going to get in touch with Cameron.

“Don’t let me catch you messing with the computer again, ma’am.”

“Of course not. It’s of no use to me, I couldn’t get in. You have a password on that thing, you know.”

The nurse glares at her once more, then leaves the room, probably to report the incident and get the passwords changed. The system is secure, yes, but this is a hospital, one of the most insecure environments in the world. Anyone can walk in, take an elevator up to any floor, and walk into a room. Who’s to say they couldn’t pick up a password or two, dive right into the patient files? Records can be hacked, altered, stolen. It’s a nightmare for security, both in person and online.

Mindy rubs her eyes. “What’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.”

“That chick scared the you-know-what out of me, that’s all.”

“Why were you snooping in my chart?”

Oh, precocious child. She hadn’t been asleep the whole time.

“Don’t tell on me.”

“I won’t.”

“I was looking to see if the DNA results were back yet. Which they weren’t. It was all a waste of my oh-so-excellent covert ninja skills.”

She spies the ChapStick across the room, picks it up.

Mindy giggles. “Yes, you’re a ninja all right. Where’s Mom?”

Eating her dinner in happy ignorance.

“I sent them to the local broom closet for a date. Figured they could use some alone time.”

“Eww, Aunt J! Gross.”

Perfect, she’s distracted her. “How do you think you came to be, child?”

Mindy obligingly sticks her finger in her mouth and makes gagging noises.

“Hey, want some tea?”

“Yes, please. Peppermint.”

“I’ll be right back.”

9

Mindy wants to know what Aunt J was looking at on the computer. Clearly, something was wrong; Aunt J went white as snow and jumped like a rabbit when the nurse caught her snooping.

Probably there isn’t a match, and they are going to have to go out of the family to the donor database. Mindy doesn’t like the idea of a stranger’s DNA floating around inside her, though the idea of being a chimera is pretty cool. She could be two people at once. She should start looking at images of chimeras online, a tattoo of one would be awesome. She’ll do it on her left shoulder blade, intricate and coiled, like a snake about to strike.

As she is playing with this idea, Aunt Juliet comes back to the room with her tea. Her aunt is so pretty when she’s not worried. Now she is still white-faced but tosses Mindy a box of Hot Tamales candy with a grin. For some reason, the spicy cinnamon candy helps settle her stomach as well, or better, than the tea, but Lauren doesn’t like her to have them.

Mindy wants to be more like Aunt J. Carefree, smart, not constrained by whatever weirdness her mother has. Lauren and Juliet are nothing alike. How did two people from the same parents who grew up in the same household turn into such different people? Mindy catches Juliet’s eye, points at the computer, and raises an eyebrow. She could swear Juliet blanches again before she bites her lip, then shakes her head slowly.

No match, then.

Mindy lets out her breath, slow and controlled. It is good of Juliet to let her know. Now she can better school herself and be prepared while everyone freaks out about how to tell her.