Page 52 of Ensnared
Ty’s frantic voice is muffled, so I pick up the phone again with trembling fingers.
“I’m here,” I whisper.
“What the fuck is happening?” he demands.
I gulp in a shuddering breath. “I saw something in the trees. Eyes.”
He murmurs to Jack, then says louder, “Can you tell what it is?”
I don’t want to turn the beam in that direction again. If I can’t see the thing, I can pretend it doesn’t exist. The darkness around me is absolute, so everything apart from that small wedge of light snuffs out of existence.
I switch the light off. “I don’t want it to know where I am,” I whimper into the phone.
“Skye, I need you to calm down. Is your light still on? We’re so close to you.”
“No,” I reply, then crouch behind the tree. “But I’ll switch it on again, I promise. I just want the animal to go away.”
“It’s probably just a fox. Or even a weasel. That fence is designed to keep the big game out. And you’ve been making noise, so most animals will avoid you anyway.” Ty keeps up a steady stream of chatter to calm me down.
I’m more grateful than I can tell. His voice is a tether to sanity.
When they instruct me to, I turn the light on and rotate in place until I’m sure I resemble a lighthouse. Minutes later, crashing footsteps announce their arrival.
“I’m here,” I yell, crying from relief. “Oh gods, you came.”
I barely register that they’re making a huge amount of noise compared to their usually soundless movements in the woods. I’m just glad it’s them and not a fucking grizzly, so I illuminate their path as best I can. Jack reaches me first, his headlamp blinding me for a second before he wraps me in his arms.
I yelp in pain, and he jumps back as if scalded.
“What?” he asks, frantic. “Oh shit, your arm.”
With tender hands, he takes it out of my makeshift sling, then replaces the woolen yellow scarf with a proper one from the first-aid kit he brought. Ty helps him splint my lower arm with some sticks, but I still nearly pass out from the pain.
“We’ll take you to a hospital in the morning,” Ty says. “You need a proper cast.”
“Don’t you have a doctor in the village?” I ask.
Jack shakes his head from side to side. “We have Nurse MacLeod, but she’s more of a midwife who can also bandage scraped up knees and such. She’s not used to working with humans.”
I start to protest that I’m not a human, but he lifts his palm to stop me.
“Sea dragons heal a lot faster,” he says. “And our bones set almost overnight. You need an X-ray and proper care, so this isn’t even up for debate. I’ll take you in the morning.”
“Where’s Aiden?” Ty asks, shining his light into the trees as though his friend might be hiding behind some bushes.
I shuffle over to the birch tree and show him Aiden’s safety precaution. “He’s at the end of this string. He was really weak when I left, so he might have fallen asleep. We need to get him back soon or he’ll freeze to death.”
Jack takes my shoulders and forces me to look at him. “You’re not going anywhere. Ty will take you back to your cabin while I go collect Aiden.”
I shake my head in protest. “No way. I need to know he’s all right. I put him in that state.”
He clenches his jaw, then gives me a curt nod. “Fine. But you’ll wait here. Don’t even think of following me.”
I’m not mad, so I stay with Ty, who carefully wraps himself around me so my back is against his chest. He’s blessedly warm, and I find some strength in having company again. My arm throbs with pain, though, and I think Jack is right: I do need a doctor.
We seem to wait for ages, though in reality only twenty minutes pass. Shuffling footsteps announce Jack and Aiden’s arrival.
I hurry forward despite Ty’s protest—I can see well enough now with all of our flashlights on. Jack is supporting Aiden who is upright and conscious, though weak as a kitten.
