Chapter 13

Before her husband could stop her, Ashley had jumped off to meet Alex on the bed. He opened his eyes and blinked, then he shut them back again. Elliot stood on standby, and Charlotte, now beginning to get a grip of herself, had come to her mother’s side, peering down at Alex’s face.

Alex tried to move his body, but his mother stopped him at once.

“Lie still, Alex. You don’t want to hurt your back,” she warned.

Elliot was rubbing his hands all over him in the manner a doctor would do when he was looking for traces of bodily harm or anything that suggested that he was not in sound health.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

Alex tried to speak, but his voice only came out as a whisper. He tried again, this time giving it all the strength he had left.

“I feel so weak,” he stopped, swallowed, and continued. “I feel like I’m drowning.”

“You just need some rest,” Elliot said. “Relax. We can talk about what happened later.”

Without wasting any time,