As soon as they got permission to get into the ICU, a nurse reminded them that there were only two visitors allowed in the room at a time. That’s how Emmaline ended up back in the waiting room. Her mother promised to tell Em once the doctor had news about Dad. In the meantime, Emmaline sulked on the slightly more comfortable couch than the chair in the hospital room.

  She joined a couple who were anxiously awaiting news about their mother, who was having complications after a heart attack. Eventually, the husband and wife were replaced by a sullen old woman, claiming to everyone she was visiting her sick son. The crotchety old bat complained the moment she showed up of every ache she had ever had and asked Emmaline pointedly three different times why she wasn’t in school. Em thought the answer obvious and decided just to ignore her.

  Once Mom came out to check up on Emmaline, and apologized, saying that it was taking longer than expected to get the test results back, and they should hear from Williams any moment. But it was two and a half hours later, and there still had been no word from the doctor.

  Emmaline slumped in her seat, sure she was going to die of boredom and wondering what her mother and Anna were talking about while they waited in Dad’s room. Part of her was upset she’d been displaced from Dad’s side by Anna, but another part realized that maybe Mom and Anna needed this time together to talk. She hoped it helped Anna. She loved her like a big sister. It would suck if Anna suddenly decided to have nothing to do with them again.

  It was about the time that Emmaline thought about making a trip to the cafeteria when she saw a very familiar person walking across the opening of the waiting room. Emmaline almost missed him. She had been browsing through a lifestyle magazine and stewing in her banishment to the waiting room when she happened to look up. She jumped right off the couch and barreled toward the tall man with the Navy-emblazoned bag slung over a shoulder.

  “Eric!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged her other big brother as tight as she could, afraid he would disappear at any moment too.

  Eric chuckled. “Hey, Sis. Glad to see you too.” He dropped his bag and wrapped his comforting arms around her.

  Emmaline let herself sink into his warm embrace for a long minute. It felt so good to have him here, more than she expected. Michael was gone. Dad was unconscious and might never wake up again. Her trust in her mother had been shaken to the core and might never be the same. It had left Em feeling alone and lost, but her brother’s presence was like a soothing balm to her soul. And she let herself soak him in, thankful for the relief, even if temporary.

  She looked up into his soft brown eyes and smiled the first genuine smile in what felt like weeks. “You’re here! Mom said you were coming.”

  “Yep, just got off the plane a bit ago. How are you doing, kiddo?”

  Emmaline’s smile evaporated at the question. “Not so good.”

  Eric frowned. “Yeah, I bet not. Is Mom in the room with Dad?”

  “Yeah, I’ll show you where they are,” Emmaline said as she led her brother down the hall.

  But when they got there, Mom and Anna were gone. Em looked around as if she’d find them behind the chair or something, but no one was in the hospital room except for Dad lying in bed unconscious with the machine beeping just like yesterday.

  “I don’t know where they are,” Em said with exasperation.

  Eric went over to Dad’s side and just stood there. For a moment, he looked like a lost little boy rather than a full-grown man. Emmaline went to stand by him and slipped her hand into his.

  “It sucks seeing him like that,” she said.

  “Yeah,” was all Eric said as he squeezed her hand back.

  After a long moment, he asked the question she was dreading. “So, what happened?”

  Emmaline blew out a breath. She wished Mom were here to tell him everything. Maybe she could go to the nurses’ station and see if they knew where she went, but her feet didn’t seem to want to move, and before she knew it, words spilled right out of Emmaline like a catastrophic flood. She told him everything from the moment she woke up and just knew something bad was going to happen. And then finding Mom crying in her room as the muted TV played the arrival of the alien ship in the background.

  Then, when Michael and Dad came home and all the shocking relations that came after that. And all about that last moment Emmaline had seen Michael before he rushed out the door to save Dad. Mom telling Emmaline to pack a bag. The trip to the cabin and then the text they received about Dad just as they got there. And of course, the video from Helen that Mom realized had to be of Michael being beamed up into the alien ship.

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  That was the point Emmaline broke down in tears and couldn’t speak any more. Eric took her into his arms again and just held her. His only words were to soothe and comfort Em. Eventually, she pulled herself back together. Eric led her to the two chairs by Dad’s bed, and they sat down. That’s when she finished the rest of her tale, including the part where Dad had altered some of Eric’s memories. After Emmaline was done, they both sat there listening to the steady beeping of the monitor hooked to Dad.

  Finally, her brother spoke up. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, Em. I should have been here. Maybe I could have stopped Michael from being taken.”

  Em shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. You know how stubborn Michael and Dad can be once they make up their minds about something.”

  Eric snorted. “Don’t I know it. Still, I should have been here.”

  “You’re here now,” Em said as she slipped a hand back into her brother’s.

  “Yes, I am.” He gave her a reassuring smile.

  The door to the room slid open, and in stepped Mom and Anna. They both held Styrofoam containers of food. A look of surprise came over Mom’s face as she saw Eric. “Eric! You made it. You should have texted and said you were here. Anna and I just went to the cafeteria to get lunch. I could have picked you up something.”

  Mom set down the two containers and two bottles of water she carried onto the portable table and stepped toward Eric expectantly. But he stayed seated and did not get up to give her a hug like he normally did. A frown came onto her face.

  “I told him everything, Mom,” Em confessed.

  Mom’s arms dropped to her sides as she stepped back. “I see.”

  “I think I’ll go eat my food out in the waiting room. Let me know when Williams finally calls,” Anna said, still by her place by the door, holding a third styrofoam container and a bottle of Dr. Pepper.

  Mom nodded. “Of course.”

  Anna turned and walked back out, leaving the three of them to just sit there for a long, uncomfortable moment. Em squirmed in her seat. She was tiring of these moments and actually wished she were back out in the waiting room.

  Em eyed the containers Mom set down, wondering which one was for her. Could she take one and run? Her stomach was certainly reacting to the tasty aromas that were filling the room. Emmaline had almost gathered the courage to ask Mom which container was hers and follow Anna when Eric spoke up.

  “Did you really alter my memories?” Eric’s voice was quiet, measured.

  Mom’s face crumpled slightly as she shook her head. “No. Not me.”

  “But Dad did.” It wasn’t a question.

  Mom nodded, her eyes fixed on Dad’s still form. “Yes, but they aren’t gone or changed. Just locked away for a time.”

  “I can get them back?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  “Arie left instructions. A key phrase that if you focus on it, they will eventually release.”

  “I want that key phrase,” Eric demanded.

  “Of course.” Mom turned back to Eric and gave him a sad smile. “It’s in his files. I’ll get it to you as soon as we get home.”

  Eric nodded and quickly lobbed out another question. “Em says you don’t think Michael will be back? That he’s gone for good.”

  Mom was silent for a long moment before speaking. “I think it’s unlikely that he will. It’s not an easy trip from there to here, and in fact, without permission, getting past the beacon network of Ethian’s border is impossible. Michael’s father certainly won’t let him come back. But I suppose it’s possible Michael could come back sometime in the distant future.”

  “How did you and Dad get past these beacons? Surely you didn’t have permission?” Eric asked.

  “We had help from someone higher up who had the right codes,” Mom said vaguely.

  “Who?”

  “A friend” was all she would give.

  Frustration crossed Eric’s face. “So that’s it. Is that what you are saying? We are just going to give up on Michael?”

  “What are we supposed to do exactly, Eric?” Mom asked with her own frustration ringing in her voice. “We don’t have a ship to make the trip. The battle cruiser took it with them. And even if we somehow did get a spaceship that was working, there’s no way we could get back into the Empire. They’ve long since changed the code we used to get out. Michael is beyond our reach.”

  “What about sending him a message?” Eric asked. He obviously wasn’t going to give up on their brother, and a large part of Emmaline was cheering Eric on. If there were a way to go after Michael, maybe Eric could find it. He had survived SEAL training, for heaven’s sake—extracting people from impossible situations wasn’t just his job, it was in his DNA. At least that was what Dad always said, though he never explained what he meant by that. A flicker of hope sparked in Em’s chest.

  Mom shook her head. “It’s too far. Your dad tried to send a message when we first got here to the person who helped us, letting them know we were alright. Arie was never sure if it was received, and he never got a reply. Though I suppose if the battle cruiser showed up, then the message did get through. I can’t think of any other way that Michael’s father could have found us on this planet. It wasn’t like we really knew where we were going when we left Ethia.”

  “So your friend gave you up then?” Eric threw back at Mom.

  The woman looked stricken for a moment before speaking. “I didn’t think he would, but I suppose it was possible if the Emperor found out about his involvement in helping us escape and put pressure on him. Or it’s possible someone intercepted the message.”

  “But that was sent twenty years ago. Why did it take so long for them to respond?”

  Emmaline was impressed with Eric’s questions as she eagerly looked to Mom for her response.

  Mom shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  More silence, and again Eric broke it once again. “You say you had to leave Ethia because of Michael’s brothers attacking him. What’s stopping them from going after him once Michael gets back there?”

  That question made Emmaline’s blood freeze in her veins. Somehow that thought had not occurred to her, but now that Eric said it, Emmaline was shocked it hadn’t. She blinked at her mother, suddenly very terrified for her brother and the answer.