The doctor broke off feebly as Adrien ripped the cords off him and flipped out of the hospital bed.

“Really, sir, this is way too soon for you to be leaving, I mean, you’ve just had a near-fatal accident—”

“And you’ll have a near-fatal accident if you don’t let me go,” snarled Adrien, retinas burning scarlet.

The doctor backed away and wormed his way against the wall with the nurses. Greg looked sadly at Adrien and tugged him out of the room.

“You’ve really got to learn how to control this,” he whispered sharply.

“I told you, I can’t,” said Adrien.

Greg frowned and they burst through the emergency room doors, nurses staring at them in the hall. The bright lights pierced the sterilized air around Adrien. He blinked.

They passed a nurse hurrying into room 121. Adrien paused, and caught a brief glimpse of a frail body lying on the pillows just before the door swung shut. He could still hear coughing and wheezing through the thick wood.

“Asthma,” he said, not knowing why he knew.