Free Linked by Imogen Howson Page B

Elissa’s.
    Elissa took a long breath, then spoke gently. “It’s all right. They’re just for the fever.”
    “Sorry.” It was a whisper.
    “It’s okay.” She shook out two more pills. “Can I give these ones to you? I brought some water to help you swallow them.”
    The girl nodded. She took the tablets and gulped most of the drink down in one huge, gasping swallow after another.
    Elissa watched her. She hadn’t brought enough water. And the meds she had brought—were they even strong enough? She didn’t know who the girl was, was completely freaked at her eruption into her life, but if she died because Elissa should have called an ambulance and didn’t . . .
    “I’m just going to spray some medicine on your arm too, okay? It’ll feel cold, that’s all.”
    The girl flinched when the spray hit her swollen arm, but she didn’t make a sound. She was obviously trying to drink the last bit of water slowly, but she looked as if she were having to make an effort not to gulp it down as she had the rest. Elissa found herself chewing the side of her thumbnail sore, trying not to look worried, watching for the signs the medswere working. They were supposed to work within minutes, but the girl seemed so sick . . .
    And what am I going to do with her? Even if these meds do work, if she gets completely better, what do I do with her then? I don’t know who did this to her, or how to keep her safe. I don’t even know where to begin —
    When the thought came, it was like a light switching on in her brain. How stupid was she? She hadn’t wanted to tell her parents about going out to find the girl because she hadn’t wanted them to think she was even sicker than they’d realized. But now . . . She’s here, she’s real. It’s not me going mad. All along the doctors got it wrong. The abnormality in my brain, the thing they want to operate on to remove — it’s not what they said. It’s a link. A telepathic link with a real person.
    All at once she was floating with relief. Whatever hat’s what you”rtawful organization had been keeping this girl, however crazy it seemed that anything like this could happen nowadays on a high-security, low-crime planet, it didn’t matter now. Her parents could fix it. Her dad would know who to call to keep the girl safe, to get the organization raided and shut down. Her mother hadn’t worked in a hospital since Elissa was born, but she’d still know better than Elissa what the girl needed. They might not even have to take her to a hospital—her mother could make her better at home, where she was safe and private.
    Elissa looked down again at the girl. She’d finished the water, and the bottle had rolled out of her limp hand. She was lying with her eyes shut, flushed and damp, her breathing heavy. Her clothes—the torn hooded top and a pair of dark pants—were covered with darker stains from oil and grass, and her hair was filthy, hanging over her face.
    She’d never make it as far as Elissa’s house. And she lookedlike a vagrant—if they passed any police officers, they’d ask for ID for sure.
    Elissa would have to leave her here. Once she told her parents, they could come out here in one of their beetle-cars and take her back home.
    She cleared her throat. “Listen . . .”
    The girl’s eyes opened. They were a little more lucid.
    “Listen,” Elissa said again. “I have to go get you some more water. And more meds—I don’t think what I brought you is going to work fast enough.”
    “You’re leaving? Now?” The girl’s whole face tightened, as if to meet a blow. The shadows under her eyes showed all at once even darker, as dark as if they, like the marks on her neck and under her jawline, were not just shadows but bruises.
    “I have to,” said Elissa.
    “Don’t tell anyone.” The words were so urgent, they came out like a shout even though the girl was still speaking in not much above a whisper.
    “I—” Elissa stopped. The girl was