"Have they told you anything?" she asked.

"Not really," Sophia answered, her voice flat and lifeless. "They said they had to operate urgently—something about internal bleeding. And they said something about a coma and—and—and—"

She broke down in rattling sobs, and her shoulders shook beneath Catherine's arm. Catherine rubbed her back.

"It's going to be okay," Catherine said. "Linda is strong—you'll see."

Privately, she had doubts. In her last life, she remembered getting news from ...