When Jesus Counted the Names Beneath the Freeway
Chapter Ten: The Meeting Where Mercy Kept the Record By the next morning, the hospital room had become a place where too many worlds met. Nico’s bed stood in the center, surrounded by oxygen tubing, folded blankets, the gray notebook, receipt notes, a half-eaten cup of applesauce, and a city-sized trouble that had somehow found its way through the door. Mara had cleaned the mud from one boot but not the other before stopping, because Jesus had told her not to forget where the day began, and she had decided one muddy edge was enough memory for now. The red duffel had been found, Celina had received the letter, and Harbor Hold had been named, but the discovery had not made the danger smaller. It had only made the hidden parts of the danger more visible. Nico was stronger than he had been, but not strong enough to pretend. He sat propped against pillows, breathing through the oxygen line, with the gray notebook open beside him. He had asked Mara to read back what he wrote the night befo...