“Oh no,” whispered Frank. “Not again.” He fell back into his chair. The man in the white coat dashed to his side and gripped his arm, speaking softly to him.

“Becca, did you do this?” another woman angrily asked.

Nurse Becca didn’t say a word; she just seized Amy by the arm and walked her to the waiting room.

“You need to leave now,” she said in a hoarse voice.

“Please,” cried Amy. She struggled against Becca’s grip, but the woman was strong. She opened the door and all but flung Amy into the rain before locking it behind her.

Chapter 20: The Shelter

Outside, the rain was coming down in thick, plopping drops that Amy couldn’t avoid and that soaked through her sweatshirt. The damp and the veil of hair in her face only made her feel even more sick and hopeless. She trudged toward the bus station, her sneakers splashing in puddles and squelching through grassy sections at the curb’s edge. Her shoes were full of water in no time, but the cold of the rain was nothing compared to the chill she felt inside, the cold wind that had come off those people’s eyes in that break room and blown her out the door.

“Hey!”

Amy jumped. With the noise of the rain, she hadn’t heard the car pull up alongside her. Nurse Becca, still in her scrubs, glared out at her, the rosiness gone from her cheeks. Now Amy noticed the deep, dark crescents under her eyes, the hard lines going from her nose down to the sides of her mouth. After a moment, the woman nodded to the passenger seat, and Amy climbed in.

The car was warm and dry, but Amy felt the tension inside overwhelm her immediately. By the look on Nurse Becca’s face, the thump of the raindrops and the whir of the windshield wipers felt like echoes of the noises running through the woman’s head. In the shadows of the car, her eyes seemed to glow white as they stared out the windshield.

“You made a mistake coming here,” she said to Amy.

“What do you mean?” asked Amy.

“You put a lot of people in danger today,” snapped Nurse Becca. “All of us, but also yourself. Your family. Do you have any idea what it’ll do if it finds out? It’ll come for you, and then it’ll come for us.” She shook her head and said a word that would’ve gotten Amy thrown out of school. “You should’ve left him by the side of the road.”

“We couldn’t just leave some poor dog like that,” said Amy, thinking about all the good that had done her family.

“Some poor dog.” Nurse Becca laughed. The sound was like a pebble rattling around in a glass bottle. “You still think it’s your pet, don’t you? That you’re in control.”