Heading back down to the compound, Harry and I walk side by side in silence. Our rooftop getaway was a bit nostalgic but soothing all the same. I almost trip down the stairs we go down, but Harry is always there to grab my wrist and pull me back to stability.
We make it back down to the Sphere and begin to walk down the hall up to Harry's room. I have a feeling he'll want me to sleep alongside him.
When we reach his door, it has already been opened. Harry looks at me hesitantly and places his fingers around the metal knob, pushing the door open and revealing a startled Malachi.
"Malachi, what are you doing in my room after hours?" Harry questions, walking towards him.
I hang back slightly; I don't want Malachi to question where I've been with Harry.
Malachi sighs. "Follow me."
Harry immediately obliges, as if he knows what is happening. I don't move from where I stand as they go through the doorway heading up to the Isolation Hall.
I watch his face as he exits. Stone cold, just like the concrete we're standing on.
"Serena, you come too." Malachi's voice echoes down the hall.
I nod to myself, and I close Harry's door behind me. I walk a few steps behind Harry, not wanting to anger him out of his trance. He's pretty focused on where we're headed.
And once we reach the Isolation Hall, I understand why.
Tara is slumped in the corner of the second window to the right, her skin pale enough to blend with the walls, her body as frail as a ragdoll. I can see sweat all over her body, her hands and legs spasming randomly. I have never seen her like this.
This is new territory, territory Malachi has brought me to for a reason. He wants me to see.
Harry is the first to make it to the window. The palms of his hands press against the window, his eyes pleading out to Tara's in a desperate attempt. I see Tara look up from her shaking state and match gazes with her brother and begin to crawl slowly to the window. I don't think she can see him through the glass, but she knows he's here.
She knows that he is here, which is all the strength she needs.
A few moments later, her hands are pressed against the window as well. They say no words to each other as tears begin to flow. Harry's palms slide down a few inches to meet Tara's on the other side.
This scene is so new and so familiar all at once, as if this has happened before, or as if they have been warned that this would happen.
I walk over to Malachi, who is observing from a distance.
"Is she dying?" I whisper.
Malachi nods. "This is her last night.. I have been helping them prepare for her final days."
Them? Harry has known? He didn't tell me a thing.
I frown, trying to grasp the whole situation. "Why is she shaking? Sweating?"
"She's been having seizure after seizure. It's the worst her symptom has been. For how severe and how young she is, this may be the last time Harry sees her alive."
Panic fuels my veins at that statement. "Malachi, we have to try to help her. There has to be a way to help her survive..."
Malachi shakes his head in disagreement. "There's nothing you can do now, Serena. She's already dead." He looks past me, past Harry, to Tara who has tears flowing from her eyes.
Harry's sniffles break the silence. I've never seen Harry cry, and I don't want to. So I stay back here with Malachi.
There has to be a way to save her. There has to be. They can't just assume giving up and letting Tara die is an option.
Suddenly, a thought comes into my mind and I know I have to act quick if I think this can work.
"Malachi, how much longer does Tara have?" I ask quickly and quietly.
He looks down at me questionably. "Why?"
I let out an exasperated sigh. "Just tell me, I need a time frame."
His whole demeanor engulfs in defeat. "I'll say about twenty minutes. She's in the last stages of her symptom completely killing her."
I nod and start to charge down the hall to the stairs, but not until Malachi grabs my wrist and forces my gaze to his.
"Whatever you're planning, it better work," He concludes, his voice hushed and not wanting to interrupt Harry and Tara a few steps away.
He releases my wrist, releasing me to do what I think could possibly save Tara from death.
And I have to find Caleb to do so.
"Malachi, I need your help," I call out to him at the base of the stairs.
Malachi wastes no time jogging to me, as if he already knows that I need his help, and we head up to the lab as fast as our feet can carry us.
///
"What would you say if I had a Protector here in the compound with the formula flowing through his veins as we speak?" I ask Malachi en route to the lab.
"I-I.. wait, a Protector?" He questions like he didn't hear me the first time.
I nod, my breathing becoming uneven with how fast we're running. "Could that formula save Tara with how little time we have?" I ask him back.
When the lab comes into view, Malachi slows down before we enter.
"We would need to analyze his blood sample and pray that the formula that worked for your Protector works for Tara," He thinks out loud. "Their blood types have to be compatible for long lasting effects."
I hear a rustle in my bedroom and the sound of water running, and I can only think of one person at this hour making himself comfortable in my quarters.
"Wait... you want to do a transfusion?" Malachi asks, breaking my attention from my bedroom door.
"Do you have any other ideas? We have a Protector here!" I exclaim.
Malachi gives me a quick nod before opening up the lab and rushing in, urgency fueling his motions. Urgency fuels mine as well as I jog to my room and burst the door open, looking for any sign of Caleb.
I slam open my bathroom door to find Caleb shirtless and alarmed with a toothbrush in his mouth. I don't bother to tell him anything and drag him out of my room by his arm, and waste no time throwing him into the lab.
He spits out his toothbrush onto the floor and wipes the foam from the corners of his mouth. "Earth to Serena, what the fuck is going on?"
"Caleb, what is your blood type?" I ask him hurriedly. We can't waste any time.
I look at the nearest clock. Fifteen minutes left.
Caleb scratches his head in thought. "Um... O negative, I believe. Why? Who is this guy?" He asks, pointing at Malachi prepping for blood work.
"Caleb, hold out your arm," I command, ignoring his question. I don't even bother pulling on a pair of gloves for the extraction.
I attempt not to look at his physique while I am bringing his vein to the surface, revealing toned abs and chiseled muscles in the process. I quickly cleanse the area with alcohol and allow Malachi to insert the syringe, more precision on his end than me.
"You still haven't told me why you're poking a needle into my skin," He says in the middle of a yawn, sarcasm lacing every word.
"I think your blood can save a life," I mutter, sparing the details. As Malachi pulls the syringe out, Caleb chuckles to himself.
"You think my blood can save a person's life? A Deviant, you say? You do have far-fetched ideas in that head of yours."
My blood boils in my veins at the sound of Caleb's comment, and apparently so does Malachi's as he turns away. I see it in his tense shoulders.
We don't have time for an argument about morality.
"Serena, you know you don't belong here," Caleb insists, standing up to his feet.
"No..." Malachi starts. "You don't belong here. I suggest you shut that little Protector mouth of yours before you end up dead for the whole Coalition to see."
"Caleb, just please... stop," I cut in.
I can't take anymore of this. Not here, not now.
Caleb opens his mouth to speak, but then closes it and escapes to my room, shutting the door behind him quite loudly.
Focus, Serena. You only have ten more minutes.
"Tara can't be moved up here for recovery. She's too weak..." I mention to Malachi.
"Then we go down to her," He instructs. "Grab what you can for the transfusion. We have to hurry!"
We do hurry, with a vial of Protector blood in hand.
When we reach the hallway, Harry has slumped down to his knees in defeat, his palms still pressed firmly against the window. Tara's hands are slowly falling down, losing strength.
This needs to be done now.
Malachi runs over to the window, types in a combination on a keypad, and the barrier between Tara and the outside world glides up. Tara then slumps against Harry's body, catching him by surprise.
"W-What are you doing?" Harry stammers to us, holding frail little Tara in his arms.
I kneel down beside her, carefully shifting her body to find a vein to insert Caleb's blood into.
"Make her swallow two of these," I tell him, handing him a bottle of pills. "They will help her sleep."
Harry obliges and sets the tablet in between Tara's small lips, telling her to swallow and if she does, everything will be okay. In the meantime I prepare Tara's vein, gently cleaning the area with alcohol and sterilizing the needle that will serve as the main source of transfusion.
Malachi moves towards us, and I watch Harry's arms tighten around her protectively.
"Harry, she needs to be laying down," I instruct, and he carefully shifts to lay her flat on the floor. He still remains in close proximity of her.
At this point, we have to zone in on Tara and nothing else. Nothing else matters for the next five minutes.
"Tara, can you hear me?" I ask first. Her seizures have slowed, but her body still trembles.
She weakly nods.
"Good. We are going to put a needle into your arm to flow fluids into your body. Stay still," I respond, allowing my voice to be the guide while Malachi handles the details of the transfusion. I watch his actions carefully and calmly.
When the needle is resting in her arm and Protector blood has begun to slowly move down the tube into her veins, I watch her eyes close in an induced haze.
I stand up and walk out into the hall, leaving Malachi and Harry in the room with Tara.
Or, so I think.
"Will it work?" Harry's voice speaks out to me. It sounds so small and so far away and yet we are so close to one another.
I turn around to face him, taking in a sharp inhale. "I hope so. We're not sure. She doesn't need a lot of blood, but I know that this can help her. It should help her."
"But what if it doesn't? What if she dies? What if she isn't strong enough to handle whatever you just did to her?" Harry panics, running his fingers through his already-disheveled hair. "I can't lose her. First our mother, and now Tara. I can't lose her. I can't watch her die."
I close the space between Harry and I and cup his face with my shaking hands, wiping away his stray tears with my thumb. I say nothing as he looks into my eyes, our stares bouncing and ricocheting off one another in a collection of sadness and passion.
With the thought of Harry losing someone he loves due to my efforts, I break contact from Harry, instant cold showering over me. Cold colder than the concrete walls that are now enclosing me tighter than Harry's arms ever could.
"Are you okay? Serena, are you alright?" He asks me, noticing how quickly I pulled away and how pale my face feels.
I can't tell Harry about Caleb being here. I can't tell Harry that Caleb's blood is now running through Tara's veins. I know he'll ask. But I can't say it. It would ruin everything.
Right when I'm about to reply to Harry, Malachi's voice rings out in the silence.
"I don't feel a pulse."
Those five words have now created a veil over my head. A black one. They have created a hole. A black hole. One I feel myself falling into as I venture over to Tara's now lifeless body, Harry following very closely behind me.
He falls to his knees at the sight of his sister's dead body, his tears now flowing freely. I kneel down next her and place my hand on her heart, waiting for a pulse to kick in again. I push my fingers against the flesh of her neck, her wrist... with hopes of feeling a beat.
Tara is dead, and I could've done more.
It feels like hours we're kneeled down here. Our tears and uneven breaths fill the space into the early morning, but we don't move. We wait, because moving away from this room will make it all real.
To keep faith, at some point my hand goes back to hovering over her heart. Harry clasps his hand over mine.
It isn't until I feel a heart beat under my palm that those hours condense down to seconds, and Tara's eyes open, revealing a brighter shade of emerald than ever before.