“Milo!” I screamed, and Mae wrapped her arms around me just in time to keep from running at Jack. I fought at them in a panicked hysteria, thinking that somehow, being a sobbing crazed wreck running at him could save Milo. Fortunately, Mae was much stronger than me, and I didn’t stand a chance at pulling myself from her grip.
Ezra brushed past us, hurrying down the embankment towards them. I just kept wailing Milo’s name, as if that would help somehow, and Jack looked absolutely tortured, but I barely noticed his expression or what he was feeling. All I could see was my little brother, lying bloodied and limp in his arms, and I didn’t even want to imagine what had happened.
“Get him inside,” Ezra commanded.
Jack kept his arms around Milo, cradling him like an injured child, and Ezra very purposely placed himself between them and me, trying to shield me from as much of it as he could. I bucked futilely against Mae’s arms as they walked past us, screaming anything I could think of, and I’m sure most of it was unintelligible.
“It’ll be okay, love,” Mae tried to reassure me, but I could hear the tremble in her voice. “Ezra will know what to do.”
I watched helplessly through the glass windows. With one quick move of his arm, Ezra pushed everything off the island in the kitchen, and Jack gingerly laid Milo on top of it. Jack just stood off to the side, watching apprehensively as Ezra inspected my brother. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but neither of their expressions looked good. Finally, Ezra just pursed his lips and shook his head.
“No!” I screamed, and for whatever reason, Mae finally let me go.
I have no idea how I got from outside into the house. The next think I knew was that I was reaching out for Milo, and Jack grappled me in his arms. His bare skin was covered in lake water and Milo’s blood, and it felt slimy rubbing against my skin. I hit him as hard as I could in the chest, even though I knew he could barely feel it, and tried to escape his grip.
“Let me go!” I wailed. “He’s my brother! And you killed him!”
“He’s not dead!” Ezra interjected, and it startled me enough where I stopped squirming away from Jack.
“Then what’s wrong?” I asked desperately. I had stopped fighting, so Jack loosened his grip on me but didn’t let me go. “Can’t you fix him? Shouldn’t we call 911?”
“I don’t think they can do anything for him,” Ezra said solemnly.
“But you don’t know!” I persisted, staring down at Milo. Other than the blood covering his head and chest, he looked just like he was sleeping, and I couldn’t imagine that there was nothing they could do for him.
“We just have to call! Where’s my cell phone?”
“Alice,” Ezra said, but I was already trying to search for my cell. Or I would’ve been, if Jack would let me go. I was working myself into a frenzy, certain that a phone call could to 911 would magically fix whatever was ailing my brother. “Alice!”
“Why aren’t you doing anything?” I yelled at him. “We have to do something!”
“We are trying to!” Ezra insisted. “Milo broke his neck and cracked his skull! Even if he lives, he’ll probably be brain damaged and a quadriplegic.”
“So you’re just going to let him die?” I cried incredulously.
“I don’t think that’s what anyone’s saying,” Mae murmured. I turned to look at her, trying to understand the conflicted expression on her face when it finally dawned on me.
“We can try the hospitals,” Ezra relented, watching the very slow rise and fall of Milo’s chest as he breathed shallowly. “Or… we can turn him.”
“Into a vampire?” I swallowed hard, trying to grasp everything. Jack finally released me and took a step away from me. When I managed to pull my gaze away from Milo, I looked up at him, and saw his eyes filled with tears.
“I am so sorry, Alice,” Jack apologized, his voice thick with despair.
“His heart is slowing,” Ezra looked at me evenly. “You’re going to have to make a choice, Alice.
Quickly.”
“If he turns, he’ll live, right?” I asked breathlessly.
“If we catch it in time,” Ezra answered hesitantly. “But it’s not a sure thing. If he’s already too weakened, the turn might just push him over the edge.”
“You mean instead of saving him, it might kill him?” The room felt like it was spinning, and Jack reached out to steady me, tentatively putting his arm around me.
“I’m sorry,” Ezra said simply, but his words were filled with empathy.
“What am I supposed to do?” I cried.
It was an impossible decision. On one hand, he might die or become a vegetable. On the other, he might die or become a vampire, and I had no idea how he’d feel about becoming one.
“I can do it,” Jack offered, knowing that somehow, it would make me more comfortable with the decision. He took a step away from me, moving closer to Milo, and looked at me earnestly. “If this is what you want, I’ll do it.”
“Do it,” I whispered hoarsely.
“Are you sure?” Ezra asked gravely.
“What choice do I have?”
I knew he was just trying to gauge my certainty, but that was impossible to measure. My frame of mind was somewhere between total shock and blacked out hysteria. Tears were streaming down my cheeks, mixing in with some of the blood I had inadvertently rubbed off of Jack’s chest when he held me to him. And Milo was laying on the island, barely breathing and his heart slowing every second. If this was going to happen, it had to happen now, and as far as I could tell it would be his best chance for survival.
Turning into a vampire, or deciding that someone else should turn, was no easy decision. Even though I wanted to become one, I hadn’t let myself really think about all the ramifications, like immortality and drinking blood. I didn’t have to yet, because I planned on waiting a few more years so I could be around Milo. I wanted to help him and protect him, but that joke was on me. If I had turned six months ago, when I was initially offered the choice, I would’ve long since been out of Milo’s hair, and he would’ve just been sitting at home on the computer right now instead of dying in a kitchen.
“Everything will be okay, love,” Mae murmured. She had made her way over to my side and wrapped an arm around me. Part of me wanted to push her off, but I didn’t have the strength, so I just let her stroke my hair.
“We’ll see,” I replied quietly. Jack had started rummaging through a drawer, and he was wasting precious time that I suspected we didn’t have. “What are you doing?”
“I need a knife,” Jack replied apologetically and looked back at Mae for help.
“There’s one in the kitchen sink,” Mae told him.
Jack quickly sifted through the dirty dishes in the sink and pulled out the knife Mae had been using to cut fruit. He walked over to the island, holding the knife, and his breathing got more rugged. He was afraid of what he was about to do but didn’t see any alternative.
“Do you want to see this?” Ezra asked me, sending a new shiver down my spine.
“Yes, of course.” I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else when this was happening, no matter how terrifying or disturbing it might be. If this was where Milo died or turned or whatever, I wanted to be here, with him.
Jack glanced once over at me, his eyes burning with regret and apology. Then he looked down at Milo and nodded. With one deft move, he sliced open his wrist, and blood trickled out from it. He barely even noticed the pain and pressed his wound up against Milo’s mouth.
“Ezra,” Jack shook his head, sounding scared. “He’s not responding.”
“Give it time,” Ezra said.
“What if he doesn’t wake up?” Jack asked, panicking. His cut was already starting to close, and he had to use his other hand to pry it open, allowing his blood to drip on Milo’s mouth.
“Give it time,” Ezra told him firmly.
My heart was racing wildly, and while I knew that wouldn’t really help the situation, I couldn’t slow it. Whatever was supposed to be happening wasn’t happening. Jack was terrified, and Mae tightened her grip around me, probably in case I decided to flip out again.