“Becky!” Madeline had turned and was looking past Eric. “What are you doing?”

Becky had pushed the stool up to the washbasin and was looking at the things on the shelf above it. “What’s up here, Ricky?”

“That’s just my shaving stuff. Get down before that stool tips over.”

“What’s this?” She waved a brightly colored object.

Eric looked more closely, puzzled for a moment. “Oh, that’s a candy bar from my dinner tray last night.”

Becky jumped down, waving the bar. “Can I have it, Ricky? Can I?”

Eric started to nod, but before he could say yes, Lori’s hand snaked out and snatched the bar. “No, I get it.”

Becky’s reaction was as swift as Lori’s hand. “Give me that!” she yelped, and, doubling up her fists, she pounced on Lori’s back. But even as she lit, she gasped, her body contorted wildly for one second, and she collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor.

“Becky!”

Eric wasn’t sure if his mother or Stephanie had screamed, but he beat both of them to the still form on the floor. He scooped her up, her legs, arms, and head dangling limply.

“Becky!” Madeline cupped the small head in her hands and lifted one eyelid with her thumb, but the eye was rolled clear back in the socket. She took the limp body from Eric’s arms. “Get help, Eric. Quick!”

But even as Eric turned, the door whisked open and Travis darted into the room. “Bring her here,” he commanded, shouldering Eric aside. “Stephanie! Lori! You come too. Let’s go!”

As they hurried out, he straight-armed Eric back into the room. “You’ve got to stay here. We’ll let you know as soon as we find out what’s wrong.”

Too stunned to resist, Eric stared at the door as it slid closed again.

“Eric?” It was Nicole’s voice. He half turned to the mirror.

“I’ll go down to the infirmary and find out how she is. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” The speaker crackled softly as she clicked off the mike.

It was nearly half an hour later before Nicole slipped into the observation room. The soft pop of the speaker jerked Eric around from his erratic pacing in the cell.

“Nicole?”

“Yes, it’s me,” she answered, still breathing hard from her swift pace back from the infirmary. “She’s fine, Eric. Everything’s okay.”

His shoulders sagged visibly as the air whooshed out of him in a great sigh of relief. “What happened?”

“They aren’t sure, but the doctor thinks the implantation may have been programmed too high.”

“What?”

“She’s small for her age. The stimulation triggered by her anger should have given her only a light dose of pain. Instead it was strong enough to knock her unconscious.”