Page 18 of Dallas

I should’ve insisted on her riding with us instead of with Owen and Dallas. She could’ve fit in the back with Iris and Electra. But no. I’d let her go on ahead. I’d acted against my instincts.

And look where it got us.

“I can’t move it…!” Dallas grunted and strained as he tried to lift the dash from where it pinned Callie’s legs. She still hadn’t woken up, which frightened me worse than just about anything. While I didn’t want her to suffer in consciousness, just knowing she was capable of waking would’ve given me a great deal of comfort.

I was soaked to the skin, my rubber-soled canvas shoes hopelessly ill-suited to the task as I slipped and slid in the mud. I managed to climb in through the rear door and position myself behind Callie.

“Hold her head still,” Dallas grunted from in front of me. “If this wakes her, she might thrash and fight. You’ll want to keep her steady. If she’s injured, she’ll make it worse that way.”

“How would you know?” I asked, though that didn’t stop me from doing as he said. I placed a hand on either side of her head and held it in place as gently but firmly as I could.

“Just do.” He drew a deep breath through flared nostrils. “All right. I’m going to try again, and I’m giving it all I’ve got. You need to keep her still if you can, I wouldn’t want her to get hurt.”

“It’s a little late for that,” I whispered, touching my forehead to Callie’s ear. “I’m sorry, dearest.”

“Ready?” he grunted. When I murmured an affirmative, he took another deep breath. Then, the tendons bulging in his neck and his face red, he lifted. Metal screeched, plastic cracked.

I was watching him literally lift the dash from my sister’s legs, reshaping the steel and plastic though it protested mightily. I couldn’t help but watch in awe as he did it, knowing the dragons were strong was one thing, but watching it was quite another.

Once she was free, he pressed the lever beneath the seat and allowed it to slide back.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He sat back, breathing heavily. “I still say she needs blood. My blood.”

“I still say you’re wrong, though it’s nice of you to offer.” I felt the need to add that. After all, he’d just done what would’ve been impossible for a mere human. Even I couldn’t reshape steel.

Then, with a start, Callie joined us. She gasped as she’d just woken up in an ice-cold loch, the sound tearing me apart.

“My legs!” she moaned, eyes half-lidded, trying to turn her head from side to side even as I held it still.

“Shh, shh, try to relax,” I begged, raising my voice to be heard over hers. “You can’t panic. It’ll only hurt worse.”

“It hurts!” she gasped. “Oh, please, it hurts…” Her pitiful whimpers tore at my heart.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I kept whispering, looking down into her pain-filled eyes. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say to make the pain stop.

“They’re both broken,” Dallas informed me, as though I needed to be informed. Even I could see they were broken, misshapen under the cotton sweatpants she wore. “We might have to set the bones.”

“What?” she shrieked before bursting into tears. “No, no! You can’t!”

I looked at Dallas. He looked at me.

“We’ll have to, sweetheart,” I tried to smile. “If we don’t, they won’t heal correctly. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“You don’t know how!” There was so much desperation in her eyes, in her voice, in the sweat which rolled down her face at the thought of even greater pain than that which she already suffered.

“You know I can help you with the pain, if you let me.” I held her head still and looked deep into her eyes. “Callie, hear me. Listen. I can help you, but you have to relax and allow me to do it. Will you?”

“Just make it stop…” she whispered. “I can’t move my arm, either.”

Damn. I hadn’t thought about that. Sure enough, it looked as though the right shoulder was dislocated, where it had struck the door. Or where the door had struck her, more like.

I fought to keep the strain out of my voice, since it wouldn’t help her if I showed how dismayed her condition left me. “All right. We’ll take care of that, too. Don’t you worry about it. Just relax. Breathe with me, will you? Can you do that?”

She chewed her lip, eyes darting back and forth.

“Calliope. Look at me. Listen to me. Can you relax and breathe? So I can help you?”

---