Chapter 63

“Petrified all the way,” Liam said. “Because there were no shocks. I knew that meant you were not alive.”

“But he is, and you saved him as much as I.”

“Marion. Marion…saved me too…Vaughn.” Liam must have felt the same frustration whenever he spoke before. “If I am…alive, and I still have…doubts I am, she deserves…the credit.”

“Yes,” Vaughn said. “You are, and she does.”

“Is it…gone?”

“That is the first thing you ask?” Vaughn said, checking the machines.

“There used to be more of them,” Liam said. “More machines. Then fewer and fewer.”

“Now they tell me you are alive, rather than making it so,” Vaughn acknowledged. “Your vital signs are good.” He smiled—sort of. “That is much better.”

“How are you, Vaughn?”

“Old.”

He looked it, so close to Frank’s eyes.

“It has been a struggle, Franklin, but I fought so you could live.”

“Thank you. Is it gone?”

Vaughn smiled again, more warmly this time. “I believe it is.”