UnBound - Neal Shusterman Page 0,49
Winking at Lev, she says, “Take notes, Little Brother. If you hang with this one, you’ll need that move.”
Lev isn’t sure why she’s calling him Little Brother, but he feels pleased.
Una studies Wil. “Is your uncle back?”
Something intense passes between them. Lev notices that this lodge has CARDIOLOGY carved in large wood letters above the door.
“Yeah,” Wil says. “Didn’t find anything. So are you here to see my grandfather?”
“Someone has to,” she says. “He’s been here for weeks, and how many times have you visited?”
“Stop it, Una. It’s bad enough I get it from my family.”
“You get it because you deserve it.”
“Well, I’m visiting now, aren’t I?”
“Then where’s your guitar?”
Something crumples in Wil’s face, and Lev looks sideways, not wanting to see the tears building in his eyes. “Una, I can’t do it. He wants me to soothe him into death. I just can’t do it!”
“It doesn’t mean he’ll actually die.”
Wil’s voice gets louder. “He’s waiting for me when he should be waiting for a heart.”
And although Lev knows none of the particulars, he touches Wil on the arm to get his attention and says, “Maybe he’s waiting for both . . . but he’ll accept one if he can’t have the other.”
Wil looks at him like he’s seeing him for the first time, and Una smiles. “Well said, Little Brother,” says Una. “I suspect if you were one of us, your spirit animal would be an owl.”
Lev feels himself go just the tiniest bit red. “More like a deer in headlights.”
Lev follows them inside and to the far end of the building, where a spacious round room is subdivided into four open alcoves. It feels less like a hospital and more like a spa. There are large windows framed in rough-hewn wood. Blooming flowers decorate the walls, and in the very center is a fountain gently drizzling water over a copper sculpture made to look like a stylized dream catcher. There is state-of-the-art medical equipment in each alcove, but placed discreetly, so as not to disturb the calming nature of the place.
Of the four beds, only two are occupied. In the one closest to the door rests a young woman who breathes irregularly, her lips tinged blue. In the farthest bed is a gaunt old man, who looks tall even lying down. Lev stalls in the hallway with Wil and Una until Wil takes a deep breath and leads the way in, mustering a smile.
His grandfather is awake. Seeing them, he chuckles delightedly, but the laugh turns into a ragged cough.
“Grandfather, this is Ma’s patient Lev. Lev, this is my grandfather Tocho.”
“Please sit,” Tocho says. “Keep standing around me and I’ll feel like I’m already dead.”
Lev sits with the others but scoots his plush chair slightly back, disturbed at how pasty the old man looks, his face drawn and his breathing ragged. Lev sees the family resemblance, and it unnerves him that this frail man probably looked like Wil sixty years ago. This man is dying for lack of a heart. It reminds Lev of the heart he might have provided someone. Did a person die because Lev kept his heart for himself? There’s still a part of him that wants to feel guilty for that, and it makes him angry.
Wil picks up his grandfather’s hand. “Uncle Pivane says he’ll bag a mountain lion tomorrow.”
“Always tomorrow with that one,” Tocho says. “And I suppose you’ll play for me tomorrow too?”
Wil reluctantly nods. Lev notices how he won’t meet the old man’s gaze. “I don’t have my guitar today. But yes, tomorrow for sure.”
Then Tocho wags a finger at Wil. “And no more talk of changing my guide to a pig.” He smiles hugely. “Not happ’nin’.”
Lev looks to Wil. “Pig?”
“Nova’s dad isn’t the only one who divorced his spirit guide. My dad writes petitions to the council all the time asking to switch people’s animal spirit guides to something more . . . helpful. It’s no big deal.”
Tocho’s expression is mutinous. “Big deal to me. Lion chose me.” He turns weakly to Lev. “My grandson thinks I should change my spirit guide to a pig, just so I can have a new heart quick and easy. What do you think?”
Lev knows that this is a test. Tocho isn’t really seeking Lev’s opinion; he wants to know Lev’s heart. Will he say what he believes, or will he say what those around him want to hear? And whose side will he take?
Wil throws Lev a forbidding look, but Una nods at