As soon as we arrived in Christchurch, Kennedy was whisked away to surgery. I slumped onto a chair in a waiting room, and a few minutes later, Asher joined me. They’d wanted Max in the operating room. Time passed in a weird vacuum. We drank terrible coffee, bought a bag of peanuts from the vending machine, and Asher ate them while I stared into space. Sometime in the late hours of the night—or early hours of the morning—Max emerged and told us Kennedy was out of surgery and seemed to be stable but was still unconscious.

“Can I visit her?” I asked, desperate to see with my own eyes that she was okay.

“Not yet,” Max said apologetically. “She’s still under observation. They’ll let us know as soon as you can.”

Damn.

More coffee.

I choked down a protein bar.

As the light of dawn was breaking, the door to the waiting room opened, and my family spilled in. Mum and Dad, both travel weary and exhausted. Summer and Toby, with matching expressions of concern. Connor, still clad in his park ranger uniform and scowling at his surroundings as though they offended him. And lastly, Grace, with her arm around a deathly pale Blair. The only one absent was Nate, who must be dealing with Tyler and the paperwork associated with the arrest.

I stood up, and Mum enfolded me into a hug. The others gathered around, expressing sympathy and asking for an update.

“She’s stable,” Max said, and I was glad for it because I wasn’t sure I could talk. I just soaked in the comfort of their presence. “We haven’t been able to visit with her yet.”

“We got here as soon as we could,” Mum said. “But we thought we’d better pick Blair up on the way so he could see his sister.”

“Not that I deserve to,” Blair grumbled. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was Tyler all along. He is—was—one of my best friends. We were staying together. I should have picked up on something. If not that, then I should have at least put up a fight when he drugged me. Kennedy needed me, and I let her down.”

“No, you didn’t,” I said, touching his arm. “You did the best you could. He caught you by surprise. You trusted him. There’s no shame in that. I was the one who left her there. I should have insisted on taking a shift off.”

Blair shook his head. “You left her with me. She should have been safe.”

“Boys,” Grace interrupted. “Stop with the self-blame. You can’t change what happened, and Kennedy wouldn’t want either of you beating yourselves up about it.”

I opened my mouth. Then shut it. She was right. Blair met my eyes and gave me a slight nod.

“Family of Kennedy Carter,” a voice called from behind us.