“Keya?” Ryan asked, getting concerned.

“Just leave me here,” she mumbled.

She felt a hand shake her shoulder, and another voice urged, “Keya!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Keya was only partly aware of someone helping her to stand up. Or was it two sets of arms urging her forward?

And there was shouting. Had something happened? She couldn’t focus properly, and her arms were stiff and sore.

“Wait here!” someone called.

Were they speaking to her?

She leaned against someone. Sujin, she thought from the rich, earthy, slightly exotic smell.

“You’ll be OK. Just stay with me,” he urged gently.

She heard a squeal of brakes, and then she was bundled into the back of a car. A patrol car. Had she done something wrong? Had she been arrested?

Sirens blared, and she was thrown back in her seat as the car accelerated.

“It’s not far. Just stay with me,” Sujin urged.

And it wasn’t far. The car braked sharply to a stop and hands helped her out. Why couldn’t she move her arms?

She was half-carried, and half-stumbled through brown-framed entrance doors. It felt like the police station, but weren’t its doors blue?

Inside, it definitely didn’t smell like the police station. There was the sharp smell of bleach and an underlying … sickness. Was she in a hospital?

“What’s happened?” asked an urgent, authoritative voice.

“She collapsed over lunch. I can’t see any obvious cause, but …” Sujin continued speaking as Keya screwed up her eyes and tried to see where she was. Ghostly shapes of blue and pink. Why wouldn’t her eyes focus, and why were her legs hurting?

She felt herself slipping until firm arms grabbed her.

“Get a wheelchair,” the authoritative voice called.

“Keya, can you hear me?” the voice asked as a light hurt her eyes.

She tried to speak, but her voice was weak. “Yes,” she gasped.

“I’m Doctor Lyle and I’m here to help you. Where does it hurt?”

“My head, tummy. Can’t move my arms. Sore legs,” she answered in a confused tone.

“Come this way,” Dr Lyle instructed, and Keya felt herself being pushed along a corridor. She stopped and heard a curtain being pulled.

“I’ll just be outside. Call if you need anything,” Sujin said. She thought he might have touched her, but she didn’t feel anything.

“Here we go,” another voice said, and strong arms lifted her out of the wheelchair and onto a bed.

For the next five minutes, she was prodded and poked. Her pulse was taken, and someone listened to her heart.

She saw the doctor hold up a needle and syringe, but she wasn’t sure if he had injected her until he said, “That was an antitoxin to prevent further damage to your nerves.”

Nerve damage. Is that why she couldn’t feel her arms and her legs were sore? Was she paralysed?

She tried to sit up. She couldn’t, and her heart started to quicken.

“It’s OK,” the doctor reassured her with a confident tone. “The paralysis shouldn’t be permanent, although it may take time for your arms to fully function again.”

Shouldn’t?

“Keya?” called the doctor.

Keya was aware of the curtain being pulled back and Sujin appeared, a concerned look on his face.

“She needs to calm down, otherwise the antitoxin won’t work,” the doctor instructed.

Sujin bent down so his face was close to Keya’s. He said, “Did you hear that? You need to keep calm for the drugs to work. Panicking will only make it worse. Don’t try to move for the moment. Just relax onto your pillow.”

His voice was soothing, and this time Keya felt his reassuring touch as he eased her into a more comfortable position on the hospital bed.

She looked up at him and said weakly, “Thank you.”

She must have drifted off to sleep because when she woke, she was outside, and the sun was on her face.

Beside her, Sujin said, “They’re transferring you to Cheltenham Hospital, but don’t worry, I’ll stay with you.”

Suddenly she was moving, rolling forward to the sound of metallic wheels. She lurched to one side and then the stretcher righted itself and rolled on again. Next, there was a sensation of being lifted and the sun was blotted out as she was wheeled into a vehicle. She must be in an ambulance.

“How are you feeling?” asked Sujin as he sat down beside her. Was he touching her hand? She couldn’t feel it.

“Numb,” she replied hoarsely.

“The doctor said you’ve stabilised and the fact you can breathe on your own is positive.”

It certainly was, thought Keya. If she stopped breathing, she’d be dead.

Sujin continued, “They’ve given you some antibiotics so your body can fight whatever has affected you.”

“What’s the matter?” she managed to mutter. Adding ‘with me’ was too much to say.