We weren’t in danger. In fact, we were back in the lookout, tucked away high above the forest. Except, all the color and life we’d brought to it was gone. Instead, everything was cast in deep shadow.
Diminished.
Charlie’s twinkle lights didn’t glow, and the stove was cold.
But nothing hurt in this place, and we were together. What else was there to want?
“You shouldn’t be here. Not yet. Wake up, now. Please,” he implored, pushing me backwards toward the door.
An echo of pain, distant and muted, made my whole body throb. I took one of his hands in mine, shaking my head no. “I don’t think I want to go back there, though. It hurts a lot, and you’re not there.”
Tears ran down his face. “I know, baby. I’m so sorry. But you need to try.”
“Will you come with me?”
He sobbed. “I can’t. I need to help them find you.”
My brow furrowed. “But I’ll see you again after that, right? You promised.”
“Reece,” he said, frantic. “We’re out of time. You need to wake up.”
“But—”
“WAKE UP!” he shouted and shoved me out.
The world tilted and rocked beneath me.
I blinked, and it hurt. So did breathing. I whipped my head to the side just in time to vomit without choking, and gasped as pain bolted up the side of my skull, searing and sharp.
Coughing, I tried and failed to wipe my mouth, unable to lift my hands. Why were they stuck behind my back?
I tugged again, and the world rocked more fiercely. Wait. They weren’t stuck; they weretied. Blinking some more, I groaned and struggled against the bindings.
“Stop moving,” a voice growled from above.
A heavy boot connected with my leg, and I gasped in pain, ears ringing as stars danced behind my eyelids.
Gotcha.
My heart raced as memories flooded back. Charlie’s pained cry just before he left me echoed along with the ringing. With horrific clarity, I now understood just how terrible that had been to relive.
The shed, wide open and inviting.Luring.
The bear traps.
That haunting, raspy voice.Gotcha.
It didn’t sound like Dad, but he’d said so little, I honestly wasn’t sure if my mind merely protected me from a truth that would destroy me.
I tried to peer down at my ankle, certain I’d only find a bloody stump remaining where my foot used to be. Only, I couldn’t see anything at all.
Oh, no, no, no!
After everything that’d happened in the last twenty-four hours, I hadn’t thought about my MS once. I’d only worried over Charlie, and Bobby, andDad…
I blinked again, eyes darting back and forth, and caught a dim flash of light, almost as if?—
Scratchy fabric pulled at the hairs on the back of my head, matted and clumped together.
