“Yes, but your mother is right there to help her.”

“I see her!”

“Yes, she’s right there. She’s helping. Everything’s okay. See, that other girl is already right-side up again.”

“Yes.”

“Everyone is safe now.”

“Everyone’s fine,” Jillian said.

“You’re fine, aren’t you, Jillian?”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay. Why don’t you relax for a few minutes, and then we’ll do it again.”

“Sure.”

Over the next hour, they repeated the entire recollection four times. By the third time, Frankie didn’t need to prompt her. Jillian told the story from beginning to end, and in her telling, she didn’t topple under the weight of the current. She kept control. Another kayaker fell, just for a moment, and her mother helped her get free.

That was her reality now. That was what she remembered.

The terrible irony for Frankie was that her patients forgot the past, but she kept their secrets in her own head. She could still feel Jillian’s panic as she suffocated under the water. Thinking about it made her own chest heavy, and she had to struggle to breathe. The same thing happened with every patient, whether it was a soldier or a child. She heard the vibration of every bomb, saw the torn limbs of every victim, winced under the touch of every abuser. It was as if their memories became hers.

When the session was over, Frankie left Jillian in the therapy room to sleep before being brought out of hypnosis. She kept the music on and the video of flowers playing on the screen. Outside, the girl’s mother was waiting. Her face was anxious, and there was a question in her eyes. Frankie smiled.

“I think we’re there,” she said. “We’ll know soon.”

Ten minutes later, Frankie used the speakers to awaken the girl and let her come back to full consciousness. Not long after, the door to the therapy room opened, and Jillian walked out on her own. She stretched her arms over her head, gave a bleary yawn, and beamed at her mother.

“Hey,” the girl said. “You been waiting long?”

“No, not long at all,” her mother replied. The woman got up and hugged her daughter.

“Would you like a drink, Jillian?” Frankie asked. “I poured you some water.”

Frankie pointed at a glass of water on the bookshelf by the door. She could see Jillian’s mother wince and hold her breath. Jillian’s eyes shot to the water glass. Her head jerked once. A sharp inhalation swelled her chest, and confusion blew like a fast-moving cloud across her face.

Then she relaxed and grinned. Her freckles danced.

“Wow, yeah, thanks. I’m really thirsty.”

Jillian picked up the glass and drank the whole thing.

5

5

“I can’t believe Brynn’s gone,” Gabriel Tejada murmured, not for the first time.