Page 55 of Beneath the Sapphire Sky

He’d wanted a veryspecificone.

He glanced up and realised the sun was starting to peek over the rise behind him, slowly illuminating the thick scrub in front of them.

“Dante! Move closer in. You’re straying.”

Dante looked across to Ewan and stepped to his left. He hadn’t realised how far he’d gone from the rest of the line while drifting in his thoughts.

Pay attention, Casellati!

A small, out-of-place sound had him halting mid-step.

He tilted his head, listening hard.

There it is again.

He spun to his right, looking towards a shallow depression surrounded by thick scrub in the distance. His eyes caught on something snagged on a bush and he squinted.

Is that …

He hurried through the undergrowth to the edge of the dip.

“Dante! What is it?”

Mac’s voice brought his head around. A massive smile widened his mouth, matching the sheer relief and joy rushing through him.

“I’ve found her!”

He noticed the shock register on Mac’s face as he spun back toward Jem Davis, lying in the hollow at his feet. He knelt beside her and pressed two fingers to her cold throat.

Tears stung his eyes. A pulse. Weak, but there.

He hauled off his shirt, something they weren’t supposed to do, and laid it over her front and tucked it gently to her sides. It was warm from his body heat. He’d be fine. It was early summer, after all. The morning might be cool, but it would warm up fast.

She needed it. She was too cold, her body temperature had dropped too low from the night outside wearing nothing but a thin, and now ripped, summer dress.

Noise surrounded him. He looked up to see Ewan drop to his knees and yank open his backpack. He pulled out a heat blanket and tucked it around Jem from neck to toe, while checking for obvious injuries.

“She’s too cold. Her arms are all scratched up, and her shins.”

The concern in Ewan’s deep voice had Dante doing something he hadn’t done since the day he’d learned his mother was sick.

He prayed.

“How did you know she was here? We would’ve missed her if you hadn’t gone off grid.”

Ewan’s voice brought Dante’s attention back. He pointed at the bush behind him. Ewan looked where he pointed. A torn piece of yellow fabric fluttered in the slight breeze.

“How in blue blazes did you see that? It wasn’t even full light.”

Dante shrugged. “I guess we were meant to find her.”

Ewan sat back and shook his head slowly. “No, you.Youwere meant to find her.”

*

Dante stood backand shielded his eyes against the flailing eddy of wind and debris caused by the downdraft from the rescue helicopter’s rotors.

Moira held the chopper steady while her crew winched the basket containing Jem Davis into the air and up into the fuselage. Mac’s sister was a hell of a pilot, only recently having been discharged from the army. She’d come home to spend time with her large and rambunctious family.

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