Chapter 66

I’m in one of the kitchen chairs, trying to relax, but it’s hard when Tobin’s holding my hand so tight my fingers have gone numb, and not just from the drug anymore. The room is quiet, too quiet, punctuated only with Micaiah’s low laughter when he turns another page and says, “Hey Ashe, check this out.” Ashe smiles down at the magazine, just because it’s something to do. I wonder what’s so funny about the faded glossy pages. I want to ask Micaiah to show me, but Tobin’s on one side of me, Zeb and Naphalie on the other, I hear the faint hum of the scalpel wand come to life, and the moment’s lost. Now I’ll never know. A few minutes more and I won’t rememberthat I don’t know, and that saddens me.

“How long will this take?” I ask as Zeb removes the anesthesia patch and pokes at my neck with the sharp edge of the scalpel, right behind my ear, to make sure that I can’t feel a thing.