Page 80 of Pope's Penance

“Come on, you old fucker.You’re not going out yet.”

“Twins.Birdie,” he gasps, red tinting his teeth.

“They’re safe.”

“Mari?”

“I don’t know.She was hit, but I don’t fucking know.”

I’m so numb to what’s going on that I don’t even feel the tears pouring from my eyes until my grandfather lifts his bloody hand to my face.

“Proud.You.”

“Just stop talking, you fool.”

“Darragh,” he says then sighs with a bloody smile, his eyes closing.

“No.I amnotfucking losing you,” I roar before starting compressions.

It feels like hours before help arrives, but by the counts in my head, it’s only been about two minutes.

EMTs push me out of the way before taking over.I fall to my ass, my eyes glued to Gavel’s body.

“We have a pulse, let’s go,” one of them yells.

It’s a flurry of activity after that.

“Marigold,” Tomcat’s anguished voice screams as he rushes through the door.

“Quit your yowling,” she grumbles, climbing to her feet from behind the counter.

She’s holding a hand to her shoulder, but that’s too much for Tomcat.

My family.

Where’s my family?

I try to move, but my body refuses, my eyes drifting back to the pool of blood in front of me.

Warmth hits my sides, melting the ice that filled me the moment I saw Gavel down.The twins’ shaking bodies snuggle next to me, their cries quiet.

It’s their pain that finally pulls me from mine.

“Let’s get to the hospital,” I say, monotone.

Just as we step out of the diner’s doors, I hear the panicked yell from the EMT before the ambulance doors close.

“We’re losing him again!”

Chapter Thirty

ThethingIhatemost about this lifestyle is all the damn funerals you end up planning.

We spent hours in the hospital guest area last night waiting to see if Gavel would make it.The space was filled with so many people that the hospital staff moved us into a separate area so they’d have room for others.When I first saw the doctor come out with a grim expression, I thought we would be planning another funeral.

Stable, but in critical condition.

They lost him on the table two more times, but were able to bring him back, thankfully.The next twenty-four to forty-eight hours are the most critical.The doctor assured us that if it wasn’t for Gavel being in such peak health for his age, we would have lost him.

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