Page 16 of In Dangerous Water

“For how long?” Eva demanded. Rolling him over, she checked Ryder for signs of life.

“A minute, maybe?” I guessed.

“He’s not breathing.” Eva swore and immediately began chest compressions.

“I’m calling 911,” Marcus said and pulled out his cell phone.

***

I sat in the emergency waiting room with Ryder’s brother Gerard, Angela’s older sisters Arianna and Amanda, and their husbands, Rafe Tremaine and Zak Parker. Someone had given me a blanket, and I huddled there wearing soggy clothes and waited with Ryder’s family.

The good news was that Ryder had come around quickly after I’d pulled him from the lap pool. Thank the old gods for Eva and her lifeguard training. She had known exactly what to do. Still, Ryder had thrown up a lot of water, and his head had been bleeding pretty badly when the ambulance had arrived.

Injured or not, Ryder had insisted that I ride along with him in the ambulance. I figured that he was either still trying to keep an eye on me…or that he simply wanted the company. Turns out he had an aversion to doctors and hospitals. So, I didn’t argue and went and sat in the front seat of the ambulance and rode along. It was the least I could do.

The Alton police had already been in to speak to me. They had spoken to me briefly at the pool when the emergency services first arrived, and then again in a more formal interview after we had made it to the hospital.

I was extremely grateful that the questioning police officer hadn’t been Detective Williams, although I knew he would eventually be informed, as would Austin.

Thank the gods for small favors,I thought, eyeballing the uniformed officers that stood across the waiting room.

Because if Brynn’s boyfriend had been there to question me, he would have immediately notified Brynn. And she would have called my other sisters,andmy cousins,andmy aunt...andgoddess help me, Grandma Althea.

My entire family would go absolutely ballistic as soon as they learned what had happened at the aquatic center to Ryder. Rubbing my stomach that had tightened painfully, I cringed, imagining the fuss they would make…

Which is why I hadn’t told any of them yet.

After allIwas fine. And they all didn’t need to know right that moment. So I was delaying the inevitable for as long as possible. I already felt bad enough about what had happened to Ryder.

Across the room one of the officers was speaking into his cell phone. I sighed and wondered how long it would be before the delightful Detective Williams did show up to ask me more rude questions. Tim wouldn’t be there to shield me, or to stand up for me as my boyfriend this time. In fact, I wondered if I’d ever see him again. As he now believed me guilty of magickal manipulation of the worst sort...

Thinking about what Tim had said to me earlier made my stomach churn even harder with a combination of remorse, misery, and shame. Everything from the past few days kept replaying in my mind. Which was tearing me up and making me extremely nervous.

Yet, I couldn’t seem to stop the dark repetitive thoughts. They circled around and around, tormenting me. It was horrible to realize that Ishouldhave been more careful. I should have taken those letters and the threat to my safety more seriously.

But I’d purposefully blocked it all out.

Why? Because it hurt too much to imagine someone hating me to that extent. Austin had warned me, Detective Williamshad too, and Tim had been after me for weeks about it all. But I hadn’t listened, and now things had taken a much darker turn.

My stalker had come after me tonight...but instead of getting to me, someone else had been hurt.

But why Ryder?I wondered for the thousandth time.Was this all a right place, wrong time scenario?I asked myself.Could it have been his blonde hair?

Pulling the damp blanket tighter to my shoulders, I considered that while we continued to wait for an update on his condition.

Ryder and I did both have long, light blonde hair. While I was tall, at five foot ten, in no way did I have Ryder’s big brawny build. And although it had been very dark, I honestly didn’t think him being mistaken for me had been the reason he’d been hit and pushed into the pool.

More likely they had simply gone after him first, to take him out of the way. Thus making it that much easier to get to me.

After Ryder had regained consciousness, Eva had assumed that he’d simply fallen in the dark, hit his head on the side of the pool, and knocked himself out. But the wound was to thebackof his head, and as soon as I saw it, I knew.

Someone had bashed him with something, and it had been heavy enough to take the big man out of the way. It was probably the same thing that had been swung at me. So, I’d made sure to tell the responding officers everything, so they could investigate this properly as an attack and not as an accident.

It hadn’t taken them long either. Before they had loaded Ryder up in the ambulance, the police had found the weapon. A large pipe wrench still covered in Ryder’s blood and sporting a few strands of his long blonde hair. It had been recovered right outside of an exit of the aquatic center.

There could be no denying now that it had been a deliberate act. The aquatic center would be closed for days while the police swept it for more evidence. Whoever had done this intended harm, if not murder. It was a sobering fact, and I could no longer deny how dangerous this person had become.

The realization of how serious this situation was had me pressing a hand to my lips as I struggled not to throw up. All of my psychic shields were shredded; I could no longer block out emotion from those sitting around me. My anxiety was severe, the guilt was suffocating, and the concern and fear I could feel radiating off Angela and Ryder’s family was pure torture.

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