Page 145 of One More Heartbeat
Odds are great Peony and I won’t make it to the cover of dense leaves in time. We’ll be shot first.
The late afternoon sunlight shines through the leaves, painting dappled patterns on the driveway. Even the shadows don’t have a solution for getting out of this predicament alive.
“She’s not here,” the man behind me tells his…his friend. “But I got the child.” His voice sounds different this time, like he’s talking through a mask.
I glance back at him, and a new wave of fear engulfs me. A tsunami-sized wave. The thing he was holding earlier that I couldn’t identify? It was a mask, like the rubber kind worn at Halloween.
A wolf mask.
Peony referred to the picture she saw in Athena’s sketch pad asbad.
This man…the wolf in the sketch pad…is it a coincidence or was Athena drawing this man in wolf form? The wolf that represents my new nightmare.
The man-wolf shoves me toward the SUV, and I stumble once more, the rough surface of the driveway digging into my bare soles.
“It’s illegal for babies and young children to ride in a car and not be in a child seat,” I remind them. Neither man looks the sort to care about child safety, but maybe they’ll surprise me.
“Hey, Zara.”
At Emily’s cheery voice, a jolt of hope shoots through me, and my muscles turn rubbery. The relief is short-lived, fear and panic overriding it. And a wave of dizziness hits me, steals my ability to speak, to scream, to cry out in warning.
I turn my head to where she’s walking up the driveway.
“Kellan sent me to pick up some…” Her gaze shifts from the two men who caught her attention and back to me. Her face is pale, eyes owlish. “What-what’s…” Her hand moves slightly, inching to her dress pocket.
Movement in my periphery is the only warning I?—
BANG.
My heart stops beating for a fraction of a second, the world around me suddenly quiet, other than the ringing in my ears. A sharp, acrid smell taunts me.
Then the flapping of wings and panicked squawks fill the air as birds in the trees take flight. The sudden movement and noise send my heart rate into overdrive.
Ice-cold horror immobilizes me, and I watch Emily collapse onto the driveway. Fear and confusion and anguish root me to the spot.
“Em!” Her name scrambles out on a broken scream. I can’t tell if she sees or hears me. Her hair covers her face.
Blood seeps from her torso and spreads across the ground. And that’s all it takes to shake me from my shock. To tell me this isn’t a bad dream I’ll wake up from and everything will be fine. I need to save her. Now.
My focus narrows on Emily, and everything else, other than the screaming toddler I’m clinging tightly to, fades into the background.
In my mind, I’m racing over to Emily.
In my mind, I’m frantically stopping the flow of blood.
In my mind, I’m checking her pulse and performing emergency first aid.
But in reality, Peony is snatched from my arms. In reality, I’m being handcuffed, kicking and screaming, and shoved into the back of the SUV.
In reality, heavy metal music is turned on, the pounding beat cranked up, and I’m told if I step out of line, Peony will pay the price.
Please be okay, Em. Please be okay. Please be okay.
I’m vaguely aware of moving my lips to my new mantra as I rock on the seat, my heart racing, my body a block of ice. Tears soak my cheeks and drip onto my lap. The wetness is not enough to smother the scream-ignited fire in my throat.
She’s gotta be okay. A neighbor must have heard the gunshot.They have to be calling the police.
Please hold on, Em. Please hold on. Please hold on. Help is on the way.
