Page 36 of Shiver

He stepped closer. Devra’s hands were resting on her chest, their pinkies intertwined. He didn’t like the way her hair was spread out like a fan around her head. Or the way Mac was touching it.

Mac stood, holding a daisy in his hand, confusion and pain chasing across his face.

“What happened?” Riley asked. “Is she…” He couldn’t say the words.

Mac dropped the flower. It fell to her side and landed atop many others. “I was looking for Storm…”

Riley dropped to Devra’s side and took her hand. It was still warm. He felt a pulse. She was alive. Relief surged through him.

Something dark and cold crossed Mac’s face. He’d never seen Mac look like that. Almost…dangerous.

“You shouldn’t have brought her here, Riley. She doesn’t belong here.”

Before Riley could respond, his brother disappeared through the foliage.

He rubbed Devra’s hand between his own. “Devra. Come on, sweetheart. Wake up.”Please wake up and tell me my brother had nothing to do with this.

But he didn’t like the sick sensation in his stomach, or the direction his thoughts were taking. Who else would care about a picture of his mother? Who else would know the significance of that picture? Had it been Mac in his house last night?

Chapter 14

Devra moanedas blinding pain erupted through her head. She heard her name being called and tried to open her eyes. Someone lifted her head, sending a wave of pain arcing through her skull.

“Devra, are you okay?”

It was Riley, the detective with the honey voice. She opened her eyes and tried to sit up. There were yellow daisies everywhere, on the ground, on her chest, her legs. Panic swept through her.

“Get them off of me,” she cried. She swatted them, trying to brush them away and was overtaken by sheer hopelessness as she tried to stand, but couldn’t find the strength.

“Get them off of me, please,” she begged.

Riley helped her to her feet and brushed the last of the blossoms away. “It’s okay. They’re just flowers. They can’t hurt you.”

She stared down at them, and even though she heard what he said, and understood what he meant, she was overwhelmed with the fear that they weren’t just flowers, that they could hurt her.

“What happened?” he asked.

She looked up at him and tried to focus on his words, on what he wanted from her, but everything was fuzzy and it hurt to think. “I’m sorry?” She tried to clear the confusion from her mind.

“What is the last thing you remember?”

“Watching you climb into the treehouse.”

“You didn’t see Mac?”

“Mac?” She shook her head. “Was he here?” Nervousness skittered along her spine.

“Mac found you.”

“Oh.” She looked around. “Then, where did he go?”

Riley hesitated. “What’s the deal with the daisies?”

A deep shiver swept through her. Images flitted through her mind: ice-cold water, raspberries, daisies. Dizziness threatened. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“What about this?” He held out a paper with a picture of Tommy on it. Tommy at thirteen. Tommy smiling and happy.

The shakes started and there was nothing she could do to stop them. Tears filled her eyes.

---