BooksBarbecue
Back When Villains Rise Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
  50. More Books from HMH Teen
  51. About the Author
  52. Connect with HMH on Social Media

He did indeed need blood, and they set up the transfusion bag as the ambulance screamed toward the emergency room.

Nita wasn’t actually O negative, but she could manipulate her body to be anything, and she changed her blood as it filtered into the bag, hoping desperately that all those fools on the black market were right, that consuming her body really did give a person immortality or faster healing or anything remotely useful. She’d never wanted any of the marketing scams around her to be right before, but at this moment, she wished she were made of magic, that everything said about her was true, that it was within her power to save Kovit.

Drops of her blood filtered into his veins, but his eyes remained closed, and his wound remained open and vicious.

At the private hospital the policeman had insisted the ambulance go to, the halls were sterile and strangely empty, making it feel creepy and haunted. Nita had expected a big crowded hospital with thousands of people and beds in the hall, overworked and underpaid staff. This place gleamed with money, and a small part of Nita wondered how she was going to pay for this. But that was a problem for later, and she shoved it aside.

Nurses wheeled Kovit away, right into surgery. Nita grabbed the doctor as he followed beside Kovit, and she whispered, “Will he be okay?”

The doctor looked at her, and she knew, she just knew, in that moment, that Kovit would not be okay. That no one here believed he would survive this.

But all the doctor said was, “We’ll try.”

And then they wheeled the stretcher away, and he was gone.

Thirty-Eight

NITA STARED AFTER KOVIT as though if she watched the white surgery doors long enough, she would develop x-ray vision and be able to see what was happening beyond. A nurse directed her to a short row of chairs and a small table with pop culture magazines on it.

“You can wait here,” the nurse said, her face lined and her eyes soft. “It will be a while, but I promise, the minute I have news, I’ll come tell you. Okay?”

Nita didn’t respond, only sort of hearing what the nurse was saying. The nurse gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder and then quietly retreated.

Nita stood there, staring at the wall, hands covered in blood, Kovit’s blood, wondering if she’d just seen him for the last time. The nurse returned at some point with wet wipes, a towel, and a pair of scrubs. Nita took it all in her bloody hands and let the nurse lead her to the bathroom.

The nurse spoke slowly and carefully, as though if she said too many words too fast, Nita would just shatter from the pressure. “You take all the time you need. Wash the blood off. You’ll feel better after you’re clean, I promise.”