Free The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks

wheelchair spun around, and her whole face lit up.
    ‘
I-forgot-about-the-cafe
,’ she said.
    ‘So did I. Sorry.’ After a moment’s awkward silence, he jerked his chin at the elevators. ‘I thought we were going to be running trials on the weekend?’
    ‘
Just-checking-them-out
,’ was her synthesised response. Cadel sensed that she was waiting for something – reassurance, perhaps. She was probably worried about Prosper English.
    But he couldn’t talk about Prosper just yet. Not in such a public place, while the cameras were running.
    So he tried a more subtle approach.
    ‘I wonder what would happen if I asked for help with my homework?’ he remarked, endeavouring to calm her with his breezy, careless tone. He strolled towards the button, which was located right at the top of a very steep staircase. ‘I wonder if an overdue assignment would count as an emergency?’
    Smiling, he glanced over his shoulder – just as Sonja’s wheelchair lurched forward. He didn’t have time to speak. He barely had time to move. While she hurtled towards him, her face contorted with shock, he stood frozen. Confounded. He literally couldn’t believe his eyes.
    For a split second, he found himself trying to calculate the wheelchair’s impressive rate of acceleration.
    ‘
No!
’ screamed Judith.
    This scream was like a trumpet blast. It galvanised him. Snapping out of his daze, he threw himself to one side. Then he slipped, stumbled, and fell.
    He was still on the ground when Sonja’s wheelchair whizzed past him, straight down the stairs.

SIX
    Cadel couldn’t eat.
    He sat staring at the slab of lasagna in front of him: at the thick red sauce and glistening layers of pasta. Red and white. Blood and bone.
    He felt nauseous.
    ‘Just a little bit,’ Fiona urged. She was sitting across the table, picking at a caesar salad. ‘You need to get
something
into you, sweetie. It’s going to be a long night.’
    Cadel nodded. Then he picked up his fork.
Perhaps if I don’t look at it while I’m eating it
, he decided, letting his gaze drift as he transferred a sloppy fragment of lasagna from the plate to his mouth. After all, there were plenty of other things to look at. The enormous glass mural on the wall, for instance. The array of cakes under glass. Even the other diners, some of whom were laughing in a fashion that Cadel found abrasive.
    He realised that the noisy customers were probably medical staff, while the people who chewed stoically through their meals, grim and silent, were people like him – people whose loved ones were being treated at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
    Why else would they be having dinner in the hospital cafe?
    ‘Here he is,’ said Gazo, who was occupying the seat next to Fiona’s. Glancing around, Cadel spotted Saul Greeniaus descending a nearby staircase. The detective had taken off his jacket and tie; his expression was shuttered and his feetwere dragging. Behind him, through a wall of windows, other windows were visible as golden squares in a sea of darkness.
    When his eyes met Cadel’s, he gave a thumbs-up signal.
    ‘She must be all right,’ Gazo murmured. Cadel didn’t say anything; the lump in his throat was far too big.
    Fiona reached over to squeeze his hand.
    ‘She’s in Recovery,’ Saul announced, upon arriving at their table. He dropped into the chair beside Cadel’s. ‘She’ll be there for a little while, and then they’ll be moving her to the Surgical High Dependency Unit for a couple of days. Apparently they’ve done an MRI scan, because of the head injury, and the results won’t be back for another twenty-four to forty-eight hours.’
    ‘Where’s Judith?’ Fiona interrupted, her voice tight with anxiety.
    ‘She’s coming.’ Saul produced a ragged little smile. ‘She tried to bull her way into Recovery, but
no one’s
allowed in there. Not even relatives. I told her she should grab a bite to eat while she’s waiting.’ He nodded at the bowl of chips that had been