Free Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

friendship changed after that. They were still best friends in name, but they were never really close again. Waverly knew that it wasn’t her fault, that Felicity just wasn’t very strong. But it still hurt.
    In this situation, though, the girls had no choice but to be strong.
    Waverly reached for Felicity’s hand, held on so firmly that she could feel the girl’s fingers squirm. “I need you to stay brave with me, Felicity. Can you do that?”
    “Of course,” Felicity said, but she pulled her fingers out of Waverly’s grasp.
    A knock sounded at the door. The gray-haired woman, Anne Mather, leaned into the room with a smile. “How’s our patient doing?”
    Waverly did not answer.
    The woman sat in a chair near the head of the bed. She moved the same weary way the nurse moved, and Waverly could see her face was moist with sweat. “You’re a resilient girl,” Anne Mather observed.
    Waverly looked at her own knees. She didn’t like looking at the woman because she found herself being pulled in, persuaded.
    “You’ve been through so much, child,” the woman said softly.
    Waverly lifted her eyes. “I’m not a child.”
    “Oh, dear, that’s right. You’re probably all the way through puberty, is that right?”
    This was such a strange question, Waverly could only stare.
    “Oh, I’m sorry. We’re very frank about these things aboard the New Horizon. Forty-three years alone in space makes people … comfortable with each other, doesn’t it?”
    The nurse snickered but stopped after a cold glance from Anne Mather.
    “Waverly,” Mather said, “we’re doing everything we can to search for survivors from the Empyrean. Don’t give up on them yet, all right?”
    “Really? You’re trying to help them?”
    “That’s right. We’re doing all we can.” Anne Mather put a friendly hand on Waverly’s knee. “Dear, we’re going to count on you to help us with the other girls. Felicity has been wonderful.…”
    Felicity’s eyes snapped onto the woman. Anne Mather took no notice, though the girl was standing right next to her.
    “We think the girls need reassurance from you, Waverly. Since you’re the oldest.”
    Something wasn’t right in the way Anne Mather watched for the tiniest whisper of expression on Waverly’s face.
    “What do you mean?” Waverly asked. “Reassurance about what?”
    “That they’re in good hands here. That we’ll take care of them. Good care.”
    Waverly narrowed her eyes, tried to make out what this woman was really saying.
    “They’ve been through so much. And the rescue mission must have been confusing. They’ll trust you to know what’s best, won’t they?” She leaned away primly and waited for Waverly to say something.
    She could wait forever if she wanted to. Waverly was too angry to offer cooperation. She needed to think.
    Anne Mather spoke again, her voice firmer now. “I know you’ve been through an ordeal, but all the girls have. This is no time for self-pity.”
    Rage swept through Waverly. She wished she were strong enough to take this woman’s throat in her hands and squeeze her to death. But what if what she said was true, that the girls had been rescued rather than kidnapped? Could it be true?
    “There can be no great journey without tribulations,” Anne Mather said, her gray eyes skirting the boundaries of the room. “It will be so much easier if we can work together.”
    “And if we can’t?” Waverly asked grimly. “What happens then?”
    “Let’s hope we don’t have to find out,” Anne Mather said. The warmth was gone from her voice. She returned Waverly’s stare and waited until the girl blinked before she spoke again. “We’re just so glad to have you girls aboard,” she said, the honey back in her voice. “It’s such a pleasure to see young faces again, isn’t it, Magda?”
    “It’s a good thing we came when we did, that’s all,” the nurse said cheerily. She’d come back to stand behind Felicity, who had shrunk to the