“Hey.” Bugz looked up and noticed her father entering the room. “So is it really going to take him from us?” She studied their faces and developed an instant fear of the truth, a truth she both wanted never to hear and couldn’t stop herself from pursuing. Tears formed in her eyes.

Bugz let her mother pull her close. Her dad walked over and crouched next to the chairs where she and her mom sat.

“Tell me,” Bugz said.

“We have to remember your brother’s strong, very strong, and he’s going to fight this. Remember your brother’s a warrior,” Bugz’s mom said.

“Strongest warrior I’ve ever known,” her father interrupted.

“Don’t try and protect me.” Bugz felt more tears pushing up from inside. “Just tell me the truth!”

“The doctors are amazed at how long your brother must’ve been fighting this—”

“I know, I heard. But is he going to die?” Bugz interrupted.

“Buggy, you know we’re not supposed to talk like that,” her dad said.

“Just tell me the truth. Is he going to die?”

Her parents’ silence brought the truth closer to her. Bugz pulled out her phone and searched for “osteosarcoma,” swiping through answers about mortality rates, symptoms, and treatments. The search results painted a picture of a particularly brutal road ahead, of the road Waawaate had already walked on for so long without telling anyone. Bugz sighed loudly and pressed her head against her hands, one of them still clutching her phone. A tear ran across the screen.

“Why?” Bugz asked. Both of her parents shook their heads. “So, how long?”

“Buggy, you know your mom and I raised you not to talk like that.”

“Your dad’s right.”

“What can they do to help him?” Bugz’s voice betrayed her frustration. Her parents looked to each other but didn’t answer.

“What can they do?!” Bugz’s face reddened with anger. She stomped to the door and threw it open. In the hallway her phone lit up with a video call from Feng.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Liumei said I should call. How’s your brother?”

“I can’t talk right now. I’m just leaving the hospital,” she sobbed.

“Okay, well, can we talk—”

Bugz terminated the call. The heavy exterior doors of the hospital slid open silently at her approach and she ran into the twilight.

CHAPTER 37

When Bugz reached the mouth of the bush trail, Feng stood waiting for her on his bike.

“Hey,” Bugz said. “How’d you know where I was?”

“How could I forget this place?” He examined the surroundings. “Scared the heck out of me.” They both chuckled. “Besides, you told me you like to come here.”

Bugz felt lighter. Feng remembered. Perhaps he knew her better than she thought. Maybe he really was more than just a Clan:LESS goon. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “He’s got cancer.”