Page 165 of Walking in Darkness
“We all did it. All of us,” I whispered over the swelling of perfect relief.
A shock of a laugh flew out of Dani, a lightness in the middle of the burden that still weighed down our spirits. “Oh, come on, Aria, did you miss the freaking bolt of lightning that came out of you?”
My laugh was soggy, and my limbs were numb, every muscle in my body mush.
But in it, there was strength.
Belief.
Hope.
We did it.
We did it.
And we were free.
“We really need to try to bandage that wound,” Timothy urged.
I basically had to pry myself away from Pax, not wanting to let go, though I kept our fingers twined as Timothy shrugged out of his heavy jacket, peeled off his tee, then tore it into strips. He wound them around Pax’s chest, tying them tight, before he pulled his jacket back on.
“Thanks, man.” Pax’s voice was coarse. “For everything.”
Pax’s gaze swiveled between Timothy and Dani, then back to me. “To all of you.”
“Always.” Timothy squeezed his shoulder, then swallowed hard as his attention moved over my shoulder to take in the desolation. “We need to get the hell out of here. This place is a straight wasteland.”
As soon as he said it, a feeling swept over me. A cold wind of awareness that shivered all the way down into my bones. I slowly pushed to my feet as the sensation overtook me. The realization of what was missing.
Frantic, my gaze scanned, searching through the Laven scattered about the park. So many of them were wailing and weeping, while others embraced loved ones who had been spared.
Then I froze when I found who I was searching for.
Josephine.
She was there, in the distance, sitting on the ground. Holding Ellis’s hand where he lay beside her. Strands of stringy gray hair blew around her face. A face that was wrought with the starkest grief.
“Ellis,” I whispered around the agony that clutched my ribs, and I started to run, ignoring the pain in my leg as I clambered over the devastation of bodies and debris that littered the ground, pushing myself as hard as I could to get to them. A cry tore out of me when I made it there.
The front of his jacket was completely ripped, revealing a gaping wound that covered almost all of his abdomen.
And the blood.
There was so much blood.
“Josephine,” I said, her name cracking on my tongue as I dropped to my knees. Frantic, I searched for something to use as a pack for the injury. “Put your hands on him. Hurry. We can save him.”
Josephine shook her head gently as she tipped her attention up to me. A single tear streaked down her cheek. “No, my sweet child, we can’t. He’s already gone.”
“No, we have to—”
Reaching out with her opposite hand, she set it on my forearm, stalling my frenzied movements as I tried to shrug out of my jacket. “He’s gone. I can feel it. I know. There is nothing we can do. He has been called on to eternity.”
“No,” I cried, and I tried to push up on my knees, to reach out.
To do something.
But I felt it, too.
