Page 60 of Claiming Chaos

Boy, oh boy, was that thing deep. I could see the bottom at least, but it must’ve gone twenty feet down. The guys would break their necks if we cut them free and let them fall.

“Patrice?” I yelled. “Are you still with us?”

“I’m here,” her voice sounded tiny, but she was able to respond. Whew.

“How will you build a bridge with no nails or fasteners?” he asked.

“With physics.” I began lining up the beams four across. I placed a perpendicular slat and then lay four more on top of it. Another perpendicular piece went across the center of those, and then four more. When I finished, I had an arched bridge that could easily stretch across the fissure…on one condition. “How far can you jump?”

Chaos chuckled and moved to one end of the bridge. We lifted it in unison, and I rushed forward as he leaped across with the grace of a panther. With the bridge in place, he tested its sturdiness. “You’re quite clever.”

“It happens when you read a lot.”

He stood in the center of my creation, and Ember cut the rest of the vines holding Miles, dropping him into my demon’s arms. He lay him on his back in the dirt before returning to the bridge to help down Shade.

My former nemesis’s lips had gone white, the skin on his face pale blue. I checked for a pulse, but if he had one, it was too weak to detect. Tipping his head back, I pinched his nose and blew two deep breaths into his mouth. His chest rose and fell with my effort, but he didn’t move.

“Come on. You can’t make amends and then die on me.” I clasped my hands over his chest and pumped his heart. When nothing happened, I gave him a few more breaths. Still nothing, so I pumped again. I breathed again, repeating the cycle three more times.

Miles moaned and rolled to his side. Ember found a rope in the mess Chrys had made of the space, and she and Chaos worked on retrieving Patrice.

Still, Shade didn’t move. I checked for a pulse and again found nothing. My hand beneath his nose didn’t pick up the slightest breath. “Listen to me, you goober. This can’t be your final eff you. Wake. The. Hell. Up.” I pumped his chest with each word and blew the biggest breath I could into his mouth.

He coughed. Then he sputtered and rolled to his side, gasping for air. A coughing fit racked his body, making him curl into the fetal position as he hacked and gasped, hacked and gasped.

I sat back on my butt in the dirt, my head spinning. When he could breathe normally again, he tried to sit up. I helped him get upright and rubbed his back.

“When I said I wasn’t over you yet, I never dreamed it would make you kiss me.” He smirked and laughed, which turned into another cough.

“Dream on.” I slapped his shoulder and laughed before rising to my feet and dusting the dirt off my pants. “You okay, Miles?”

He took a deep breath and rubbed his chest. “I’ve been better, but I’ll survive.”

“We all will,” Ember said, and I turned around to find Patrice sitting next to her on the ground.

I allowed myself to feel three seconds of relief before I gestured to Chrys. “She won’t if we don’t do something fast.”

---