Page 30 of Amber Gambler

Bright light seared the backs of my eyes, the waking dead rumbling through my head, and icy heat swam up my arms into my heart.

Strong hands hooked under my arms and hauled me up and up and up until the world tipped over.

“Frankie. Frankie?Frankie.”

“Death is for quitters.”

“Mary Frances Talbot.”

“…punch you in the…”

“She’s already unconscious. How is punching her going to help?”

“It won’t, but it will make me feel better. Idiot. Traipsing off in the middle of the night alone.”

“I was with her. She wasn’t alone.”

“Fat lot of good that did her.”

The argument swayed over my head like live oak branches before a thunderstorm.

“Watch out…for…lightning,” I mumbled helpfully, which set off a coughing fit that ended with me puking up half of the culvert. I didnotwant to think about what, aside from runoff and river water, was in there before it ended up in my mouth.

“Lightning?” Josie. That had to be Josie. “There’s not a cloud in the sky.”

“That didn’t stop it from striking that tree.”

“No.” I mashed my fingers against Matty’s lips until I felt teeth. “Our…secret.”

“Mmmph-hmmph.” He grasped my wrist, yanked it down, then spat over his shoulder four or five times. “I’ll never feel clean again.”

“You’re fine.” Josie swam into view. “Hey, Mary, how are you doing?”

“There are condom wrappers under that bush,” Matty ranted, “this whole area smells like piss, and you don’t want to know what I saw floating in the water. Spoiler alert—it wasnota candy bar.”

He grunted when Josie sank an elbow into his gut, but he wasn’t wrong that I had ingested horrors.

“Focus.”

Flesh met flesh in a deafening crack, and my heart galloped as fresh adrenaline shot me upright.

“Thanks.” Matty solidified from the blackness, rubbing his cheek. “I needed that, Mary.”

“Don’t fight.” I startled when another set of hands steadied me. “Harrow?”

Crouched behind me, putting my body between him and my siblings, Harrow braced my shoulders.

“I dove in right after it took you,” Harrow rumbled, “but I couldn’t see a damn thing.”

“You opened your eyes in that?” Matty sounded ready to hurl. “Um, I mean, thank you for your service.”

“We need to get her home.” Josie talked over him. “She needs a shower and sleep.”

“I’m calling Aretha.” Harrow adjusted me in his arms to reach for his phone. “I want Frankie examined.”

Head lolling from my shoulder onto his, I allowed the gears in my head to turn. “The med-witch?”

“Hey.” Harrow nodded to me before shifting his focus to his phone. “Got time for a house call?”

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