Page 108 of Suncatcher

The commissioner huddled in the corner with Cecilia. Mayor Brooks and Sheriff Langly lay motionless on the ground. And Steve crouched over a prone Sheriff Oak, pressing his hands to the blood-soaked waistcoat and the wound in her gut. Good thing someone was, because Sheriff Oak wasn’t.

Spitting with fury up at him, she reloaded her revolver, her always-steady hands shaking. “Leave me. Get her out.” Her gaze snapped to Pearl’s and she stilled.

“Ma!” Pearl struggled and reached, trying to get to her. “Don’t stop. Focus, man,” she demanded of Steve, who was staring in horror over her shoulder. She twisted back to Driz, cupping her chiseled cheek. “Help her!”

A bullet from outside the smashed, gaping wall impacted the back of Driz’s wing, chipping off a tiny piece of a joint tip. Driz didn’t even flinch, but Pearl did.

“Whoever the fuck did that better never tell me!” Pearl hollered, and she was met with telling silence.

In the sunlight, Driz was otherworldly, her features even less human. Her emotionless eyes appeared unseeing as they stared into Pearl.

“Help,” Pearl begged.

Moving slowly, as if through water, Driz raised one heavy hand and brushed the dampness on Pearl’s face, her expression still unmoved.

“Take us home. To the doctor.” Pearl had seen enough wounds in her life. They didn’t have much time.

“Keep you safe,” Driz repeated, the words dredged reluctantly from somewhere far away.

“Yes. I’ll be safe there. But I need her to come with us. Now, Driz.”

Driz flared her wings, making everyone around them cower. Driz lifted Pearl off her feet, and Pearl clung back.

“Take us home. Both of us,” Pearl directed firmly, to remind her. Begging Driz would listen. She released one of her arms, reaching down toward her mother.

“No,” Sheriff Oak said, her voice too thin. Too weak. “I won’t lead her to town. Not like this. Leave me.”

Pearl’s tears of fear turned to anger. “Don’t you dare let me watch you die.”

In the end, Sheriff Oak didn’t have much choice to make. A growling Driz brushed Steve aside, sending him stumbling into the wall, and scooped Sheriff Oak up in her arms, pressing her over Pearl’s back. Pearl grabbed her mother’s forearms to help hold her.

Then they were outside, the wind rushing around them as Driz’s impossibly heavy wings carried them into the sky.

A stream of colorful, muttered curses filled Pearl’s ear, and her terrified heart clenched with a dangerous thread of new hope.

Pearl had to squint as the sun pierced the corner of her eye. What a strange sensation, to be flying during the day.

Sheriff Oak huffed as Driz banked and dropped abruptly, landing with a reverberating thud in the street between the saloon and home.

“Spencer!” Pearl called. “Doc!”

As Driz unfurled her arms to release Sheriff Oak into the dirt of the street, Pearl unwound herself and hastily turned. Her back was slick and damp, and not from sweat. She crouched over her mother. But as soon as Pearl started to scoot away, Driz snatched her back, the growl intensifying.

Spencer stuttered to a halt on the dusty porch and stared at the three of them.

“Don’t just stand there,” Pearl spat.

Driz snarled, her wings flaring. Punctuating or responding to the distress, Pearl wasn’t sure.

Pearl pressed back into Driz’s chest, hand coming up to cup her face. To ground her. “Back up. Give them space.” It was like trying to move a boulder. “Give them space,” Pearl repeated, twisting and pounding on Driz’s shoulder until her hand ached.

Driz snarled again, seizing Pearl’s wrist to stop it. “Safe,” Driz rumbled.

Despite herself, a shiver of fresh fear made Pearl still.

Spencer edged closer, eyes darting between Pearl and Driz and Sheriff Oak on the ground, who cursed again and sank her nails into the dusty road. She hauled herself away from the looming tangle of Pearl and goyle until she found Spencer’s hand.

“Your gun,” Sheriff Oak demanded, weakly reaching for his hip.