“I’ll do what I can,” Enzo said.
Part of Charity knew her father was right, but she still wanted to argue. She wanted to scream and insist on another answer.
Her father smiled faintly. “I understand what the last vision means.”
“What?” She hoped, desperately, that it was something that could help them.
“They weren’t my eyes. They were your eyes.”
Her eyes looking shocked? “Why would you have a vision about my eyes?”
His voice had gone raspy. “You’ve been the best daughter. I’ve had the best family.”
He was saying goodbye. She couldn’t bear it. “You need to hang on until we get help. The family needs you. New Salem needs you.”
He put his hand on her arm. His grasp was weak. “What do you want most in the world right now?”
“For you to live.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “For all of us to be safe. You have to try.”
“That’s a good thing,” his voice was no more than a slow whisper. “You’ll be fine then.”
That’s a good thing. You’ll be fine then.Those were the words the psychic had said to her father before he died. Her father wanted to pass the power on to her.
“No,” she said. “I can’t do this. I can’t be you.”
His eyes flashed white, like a camera taking a picture in the dark, and a current rushed up her arm, tingling all the way to her heart. When the light left his eyes, they were staring and dilated.
Had he had a vision? Something that could help them.
“Dad?” she asked.
No response.
“Dad?” She gently shook him. He didn’t answer. She couldn’t have lost him that fast.
She checked for breathing. It was so slow it was hardly detectable. In serious wounds, the heart stopped working before the lungs did. She checked his pulse. Either he didn’t have one, or her fingers trembled so badly she couldn’t feel it.
“He’s crashing,” she said. CPR. She could revive him. She attached the heart compression belt around his chest and strapped the oxygen pump to his mouth. It would temporarily keep oxygen flowing through his body. “We need to find a doctor.”
Enzo hesitated, sighed. “I promised him I wouldn’t stop until you’re safe.”
What were the chances her father would hang on until they reached Whitney Farms? Not high.
Hot tears of frustration streamed down Charity’s cheeks. Enzo said something. She didn’t hear what. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. She wanted to shut down, to turn off. But she couldn’t. She had to fight her way back from shock. Enzo was right. They had to leave. Her family couldn’t lose both of them.
“I’m sorry,” Blue said.
Charity had forgotten the girl sitting in the car. She glanced at her and suddenly saw something completely different. A scene played in front of her eyes like a movie.
Charity was wrapped in Enzo’s suit coat, speaking to her mother. The stolen car stood in the background. Her mother, face pinched and pale, said, “Don’t worry. I know what to do.” She hurried away, leaving Charity standing there.
Then Charity found herself back in the car.
Blue stared at her, her mouth an O of surprise. “Your eyes just went white. You’re a psychic too?”
Enzo’s head whipped around to look at her. “What?”
“I…” The vision didn’t make any sense. It hadn’t told her what to do. And yet it gave her enough hope to breathe, to function. Her mother was alive. Her mother would know what to do.