Page 31 of Raven

The hallway is cool when I walk in. The receptionist knows me and has been to one of my fights, in fact.

“I’ll get someone to look at your wound,” she says with unusual eagerness, biting her lip to hide a smile but avoiding looking at me. She picks up the phone and says something into the receiver.

I don’t request Maddy. I’m waiting to see where this goes, whether my instinct was right.

Doctor Hodges walks out into the hall, studying a chart in his hand, then raises his brows when he notices me.

“Mr. Levi.” He checks his watch and nods, returning his eyes to me over his glasses.

Doc was brought to Zion with his wife and four nurses right after the Change. Specialty surgeons are on call. We can fly them in within several hours. In case of emergency, we contact the ones in Port Mrei. They are retired ex-pats and alcoholics, but they do the job.

But Doctor Hodges is a miracle worker. Doc knows why I’m here, too. It’s not my first time. He also puts in many requests for specialty medications that need a long time for approval whereas I can wiggle through my connections on the mainland and get it done faster. He is also the only one on Zion who I let call me by my name.

Right now, Doc gives me a quick up-and-down look. “From Carnage?”

I nod.

“Anything serious or just a check-up?”

“Just a check-up.”

That’s when I get another little cue. The receptionist jumps up from her seat too eagerly. “It’s all right, Doctor, Maddy will take him.”

Doc looks surprised for a second. “She’s here tonight? She needs to work fewer shifts before she runs herself into the ground.”

I agree.

The receptionist smiles shyly. “Maddy will take care of him.”

“Maddy will take care of me,” I repeat, inwardly cheering.

“Hmm.” Doc studies me again, his kind gaze puzzled.

“She will take you in room eight,” the receptionist tells me, interrupting the silence.

Maddy will take me anywhere I want, I say to myself as I start walking down the hall.

13

RAVEN

I first saw Maddy when she came to Ayana from the Eastside when Bo was shot. She stood out immediately with her soft confidence and disregard for everyone. Like she was in her own world.

Unusual, right? Well, for an Outcast.

Here you have the richest young people of the Western world. But she didn’t try to rub shoulders with them. In fact, she seemed to stay away from them. She put on her tennis shoes and scrubs or dresses and came to work as a nurse in the medical center. Worked double shifts, too. Stayed overnight for emergency cases. Hardly ever went out.

Out of the ordinary always draws my attention.

I thought, trauma. I looked up her file. Parents gone, but all right, this happened to half of Ayana’s residents.

I thought, mental issues. Didn't look like it.

Archer Crone, the Chancellor himself, called her “the good girl of Zion.” Archer has an eye for good people when he's not high or drunk, and Katura took care of that part. Now he is clean and continues to save the world. Women can do that—either send men to the darkest pits of madness or become their steppingstone. Or just fuck really well—that's my experience.

Maddy? Hmm. I don't care how good a person she is. There are no gods, devils, or saints. All said and done, bones broken and wounds cut open, we are disappointingly very human and simplistic in our needs. I'll make her crack.

The first time Maddy looked at me reminded me of Mac, the way he looked at me the night I stood in his backyard, nineteen, drawing a gun on him, and I felt hate for a second. Hate that he saw right there and then who I was, what I've done, all the nasty things that were done to me by my foster monster, the stuff that made me whimper like a little girl when I was a kid and begged for mercy. Mac looked at me like there was nothing I could hide from him. Later, that's what drew me to him. That he didn't pity me, didn’t despise me, wasn't scared. He saw me for what I was and wanted me around. I wasn't used to people enjoying my company.

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