“What if they’re watching him? He’d lead them straight here. He’s related to you, however distant. And, by extension, to me.” Lynell’s throat starts to burn. “You’ll have to do the best you can with what we can find here.”

Daniel scowls but concedes. “I’ll be back.”

When he’s gone, Lynell turns and lies down on the couch, head on the armrest. She stares at the conventional white ceiling that used to be popcorn. Before she can wonder what else has changed, she closes her eyes, hoping to imagine herself anywhere except this house.

But then she returns to the bed frame in the Elysian basement and her chest tightens. Her eyes fly open with a gasp. She mutters a string of curses, forcing her eyes to stay open. To keep any other memories at bay, she focuses on her breathing, counting to five between each breath.

“It’s a miracle,” Daniel says. Lynell lifts her head and sees him walking toward her holding a red toolbox.

“A first aid kit?”

Daniel nods, sinking onto the couch. He puts the toolbox on the coffee table and unlatches it. Lynell leans forward to watch as he sorts through the kit.

“His new fiancée must have brought it over here,” she says. There are bandages, gauze pads, medical tape, band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotics, and even painkillers. “Will you get me some water from the kitchen?” she asks, gesturing to the door next to the TV across the room.

Daniel nods, hurrying away. She opens the painkillers and drops three pills in the palm of her hand. She hears Daniel open and close cupboards and the sink turn on. Then he returns and hands the plastic cup to her. She tosses the pills in her mouth and follows them with a gulp of water.

“Okay,” Daniel says, squatting next to her. He lifts up her shirt and presses his hands against her stomach. Lynell tenses and grits her teeth as he gently cleans the cut. “This needs stitches,” he says. “But the bandage will do for now.” He places a gauze pad over the wound and secures it with some medical tape. She tugs her shirt down as he digs in the kit again.

“I’m never leaving you again,” he says, cleaning her lip, chin, and the small cut on her temple.

Lynell feels her throat tighten and her eyes heat up. “Danny . . .”

He shakes his head, applying healing gel to the wounds on her wrists and neck before wrapping them, too. “What happened?” he asks.

She doesn’t want to explain the details. He moves to her ankles and feet next, making her flinch when he touches the arch of her foot.

“Lynell.”

“Eric Elysian,” she says. Daniel doesn’t react, which means he probably knew who was behind it. Or Zach told him. “My uncle.”

She hopes Zach explained it all, but from the look on Daniel’s face, she assumes he didn’t.

“Elysian?” he repeats. She nods and he sucks his cheeks in between his teeth the way he used to when thinking too hard. Then he pulls some splints from the kit and says, “I think you’ll have to explain that to me.”