Break Free The Night (Book 2): Loss of Light by E.M. Fitch

fading away. Kaylee's stomach sank. She hadn't even thought of that.
     
                  "What could killing us gain?" Emma asked, clear longing in her voice as she stared at the food.
     
                  "Knocking you out could gain more," Andrew murmured, his eyes still on his father.
     
                  "I'm willing to try it," Emma said.
     
                  Jack frowned. "One of us should," he said. Nick moved forward. He grabbed one of the scattered forks on the tray and plunged it into the casserole, shoving a bite into his mouth before Kaylee could say stop.
     
                  "Dad!"
     
                  He swallowed before answering. "It makes sense that it's me," he said thickly. "I'm injured and I'm not letting any of you girls do it. Calm down, it tastes fine."
     
                  "How long till we know for sure? Anna?" Jack asked, watching Nick guardedly.
     
                  "Half an hour?" Anna guessed. "Just to be sure."
     
                  Nick nodded and moved back to the window, gazing once more back to the water. Kaylee  joined him.
     
    ~
     
                  Emma swore it was half an hour later, though as she was the only one timing it, only she knew for sure. Kaylee doubted it, it felt like less than that to her. But her father was perfectly fine, no stomach aches, no nausea, no drowsiness. Even Anna was satisfied that there was nothing terrible about the meal. It was still warm when Kaylee took a bite. It was difficult not to moan. The meat was flavorful, soaked in gravy, and the potatoes were real, not the boxed stuff that she and Emma used to make with boiled rain water in the fire station. Even the boxed potatoes they hadn't seen in over a year. This meal was heavenly.
     
                  By the time everyone had eaten their fill, Emma using the utensil pocketknife she had tucked in her jeans, night had fallen. Kaylee's father kept drifting back to the window, his eyes roving the reservoir.
     
                  "I bet there's fish," he said, when Anna asked him what he was looking for.
     
                  "Probably," Andrew answered, yawning. "They build these things with fish throughways, a way to get the natural wildlife through the dam so it doesn't mess up the ecosystem. You could close the throughway off, if you wanted to, and the fish would pretty much pile up. Wouldn't be hard to catch."
     
                  "You know a lot about it," Jack observed. He was sitting on the bed closest to the locked door, his head in his hands. He had eaten with the rest of them, but he had barely said a word. Kaylee could see how anxious he was, how much he wanted to be sure Quinton was okay.
     
                  "I've read every book on power plants I could get my hands on," Andrew answered, pulling down the wool blanket to his cot and slipping under the cover. Bill was laying on the bed to his left, still fine but asleep already. "Hydroelectric is the most ideal. It would depend on the condition of the turbines, of course, but if they were okay you could keep this place going for a hundred years, no problem."
     
                  "You'd know how to do that?" Jack asked, looking up. Andrew nodded. "Best keep that to yourself, all right?"
     
                  Andrew frowned, but nodded.
     
                  "What's wrong with knowing that?" Emma asked, getting up from the end of Andrew's bed as he kicked up the covers. He settled in under the thin blanket as she collected the plate he left on the floor, stacking it with hers and placing them both on the tray that still sat in the center of the room. "Isn't it a good thing that he knows? Couldn't that be helpful?"
     
                  "Yeah, I'm sure he could," Jack answered. "But Marsden seems like the type who'd want to keep that kind of