Page 103 of Fangs
I didn’t respond, and eventually, I heard him get up and lower the ladder down. Down below, a quiet, heated argument broke out. I closed my eyes and let myself drift away again.
Around noon, Wolf shook me awake.
“Em, you should eat somethin’.”
I stared at the rafters in the ceiling, hollow and heavy simultaneously. “I’m not hungry.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked hesitantly after a pause.
“I don’t feel good,” I muttered, rolling over and burying my face in my pillow to hide the tears gathering in my eyelashes. It wasn’t a lie. My entire body ached.
I couldn’t see him anymore, but he didn’t move or speak for a long time.
“Can I get you anything?” he finally asked quietly.
I shook my head, tears silently dampening my pillow.
“Okay,” he murmured, “well, maybe you’ll feel better after some rest.”
I slept all day, interrupted only when I had to use the bathroom or when Wolf or one of his crew would shake me awake and ask stupid questions. Sable apparently handled all the patients who came in, which made me feel even more guilty, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The weight of this grief crushed me into my mattress, trapping me.
Every time I fell asleep, I longed to and dreaded seeing Trey again. It had been soreal.I’d had plenty of vivid dreams, and this was different. I felt the sun and the wind against my skin. I smelled the flowers. He had been there. He’d held me. I wanted to be back there, safe in his arms, but if he vanished again—whenhe vanished again, I wasn’t sure I’d survive it.
In the end, my fears were pointless because he didn’t return.
“Em, c’mon.” Wolf’s voice dragged me from sleep again. “You gotta eat something.”
I opened my eyes to see the single bulb lighting up the clinic, and the sky outside was dark. I didn’t roll over from where I faced the wall.
“We brought you some fresh broth.”
In the long silence, I waited for him to lose his temper, but his voice was even softer when he spoke again, which surprised me.
“You remember that time Dune tried to sneak one of those big orange lizards into our room?”
It was such an unexpected thing to say that I turned and looked at him. He was crouched next to my mattress, his elbows on his knees and a mug of broth in his hand. The corners of his mouth twitched up a little at the memory.
“You were probably three, so I don’t know if you remember. Dune was eight. I don’t know how the fuck it didn’t bite him. He’s lucky I found it before Pa did. He thought he could tame it and keep it for a pet. A fuckin’ venomous lizard.”
I didn’t remember that, but it didn’t surprise me. Dune loved all animals, no matter how deadly they were. I glanced at Wolf again to see him studying my face.
“You look so much like Mom,” he said when I made eye contact.
His earlier words seared painfully through my head.At least Mom isn’t alive to see what you’ve become.I swallowed hard and looked away. “Is Mac back yet?”
“No, they had some sort of situation come up.”
A sharp stab of anxiety cut through the fog. “What?”
“I don’t know the details, but Nemo said it wasn’t anything to be concerned about. They’ll just be gone a little longer than expected.”
I tried to push my unease back down.
“Em, what happened?”
The plea in his voice squeezed my lungs, and I hesitated, but I just—justcouldn’t.“Nothing.”
He frowned but looked more sad than angry this time, and guilt seeped farther into my skin.
