She snorted in disbelief. “Serena, you’re not scared to be alone. If you were, you wouldn’t do such a great job of pushing people away, now, would you?”

I turned to stare at her. I’d never heard her sound so matter-of-fact. It was the kind of thing Kori would have said.

Maybe because of that I gave it some thought.

I spent the weekend at Lexi’s house. I just wasn’t ready to talk with Mom. Not yet. But I let Lexi call her to let her know I was fine and where I’d be. I’d been thinking about what I would say to her, when right before lunch on Monday I got a message from Parker Walsh.

Want 2 c a miracle?—park

When I got to the hospital, I was nearly out of breath. Parker was in the same exact position as the last time I’d seen him, and for a split second I feared he hadn’t moved at all.

“Ready?” he asked in that sadistically playful tone of his.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

The blue knit blanket, where it peaked over his toes, began to wiggle.

“Parker!” I screeched.

“That’s not all,” he said with a wink. He maneuvered, using his arms to help lift his legs as he swung them off the side of the bed. With a little effort he stood up. After another long minute, he shuffled one step.

“You can walk!” I screamed.

“I can walk,” he said with a grin, then he collapsed back down on the bed.

I scrambled toward him before he fell to the floor. “I gotcha,” I said, grabbing a leg and lifting it back up on the mattress. “There ya go.”

“Well, I’ll have to do some physical therapy, I’m sure.”

I helped him get his blanket untangled. “What did the doctor say?”

“I haven’t shown him. You’re the first.”

I jerked back. “You haven’t shown anybody?”

He shook his head, still grinning, even though he looked like he was about to pass out. “I killed three people. You’re kind of the only friend I have.”

“What about Doc Ramsey?”

“He came to see me, yes. But when you didn’t judge me, you gave me hope. Doc’s a good person, Ser, but he’s just doing what he thinks is right. He’s a servant to society, just like everybody else. That’s why he came to visit me; it was the right thing to do. The first time you came to visit me, you didn’t really come to see me, did you?”

I glanced at him, remembering how I needed to see him, not because I cared about him, but because I needed to know if I was going to get better. “I don’t know.”