Page 45 of Protector

She closed her eyes and shook her head in disappointment before climbing out. “Thor doesn’t have a sidekick. Pick me up at five, okay?”

I gave her a thumbs up. “You got it, crazy.”

“Oh…I almost forgot. Your friend told me to give this to you.” She placed a large manila envelope in my hand. “He said it was important.”

“My friend?”

With a shrug, she slammed the door and leaped over a puddle before jogging up the steps into the library.

The rain pelted the roof of the car, and I shivered despite the warmth from the heater. Jamie’s warnings from over the years came rushing back, leaving me with a head full of worst-case scenarios.

Anthrax.

A bomb.

It wasn’t until I glanced up at the clock that I realized I’d spent the last ten minutes turning the envelope over in my hands while imagining all the ways in which it might kill me.

The sound of my nervous laughter was magnified in the silence. “You’re being ridiculous. Just open it.”

I pinched the metal prongs together and carefully lifted the flap before emptying the contents onto my lap.

A picture.

I studied it with a frown, wracking my brain for a memory that wasn’t there. Was it a middle school yearbook photo sent home for me to review? If so, why had they blown it up so big? And why had they given it to Dakota?

In it, Kate stood against the side of the school, hand shielding her face from the sun as she talked to a friend. I flipped it over and sucked in a startled breath, my chest heaving in panic.

Wonder if she’ll cry when I break her in…

Fear took over, and my foot slipped off the brake pedal. The car rolled forward several feet before I managed to regain control and shift it into park.

“No, no, no,” I growled, letting the picture fall to my lap. It hadn’t been a hallucination. Manny had been at the school; within arm’s reach of Dakota.

Images of them being forced to endure what I had flashed through my mind and my breaths turned shallow, leaving me clawing at my throat as I fought for air.

With clammy hands, I fumbled around for my cell phone, sending my purse and everything in it rolling across the floorboard in the process.

“Molly,” I whispered when she answered, instinctively flinching as someone slammed a car door nearby.

What if he’d followed me here?

“Celia, what’s wrong?”

Like a drowning victim breaking the surface, I sucked in a ragged breath while scanning the parking lot. “He was at the school! The library has Dakota, but Kate—I can’t leave her.”

“Can you give me just a second?” she asked someone in the background before coming back on. “Where are you? I’m coming. Take a deep breath in…”

“I’m at the library near Broadway,” I choked.

“In and out, nice and even,” Molly said, before laughing softly. “Jesus, I sound like a porno.”

I caught sight of my reflection in the rearview mirror while she attempted to keep me calm. My cheeks were flushed from the heat blasting through the vents, yet I continued to shake and tremble.

My desperate pants turned to wheezing, and I reached up to pinch my forearm, digging my fingernails into the sensitive flesh until I felt like I could take a full breath. It was going to leave bruises, but pain seemed to be the only thing that could bring me back to the present.

“Celia?”

I exhaled slowly; my limbs weak with exhaustion. “I’m here. I’m okay.”

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