Page 115 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“From Syria, originally, but I live in England now. With Will. He’s a private investigator—we both are—and Reed was asking online for a medium who could speak to Margaret. Will got curious and called him. Of all the ways I imagined finding another of the Electi, this wasn’t it.” She adjusted the stream of the water. “Is that any better? We don’t have poison oak in the UK.”

“A little, but it still itches like crazy. Can you go and see how Emma is? Please?”

Rania nodded and moved towards the door, and I willed myself not to puke in the shower because the water was already pooling around my ankles. If Emma was badly hurt, or worse, I’d never forgive myself for leaving her. And for Reed, it would be like losing her all over again. Plus I wasn’t sure of the logistics. If Peter’s actions had caused her death, and he’d already been killed by one of the Electi, what would happen to her soul? Would she get a free pass? Or would she be stuck here forever with no hope of freedom? Did Rania know? It had always bugged me that I was supposed to live by a set of rules I didn’t fully understand.

“She’s mumbling a bit,” Rania said when she came back. “The girl who’s a doctor thinks she’s broken her arm, but the emergency services are on their way. Will’s gone up top to direct them.”

Thank goodness.

“But she’ll be okay?”

“I think so. Wyatt won’t leave her side. Is something still going on between them? I get the impression Will and I are missing huge chunks of the backstory here.”

“Wyatt and Emma used to date, but they had a huge argument right before she disappeared. I honestly don’t know anymore.”

Then above the running water, I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. A siren. Running feet and gasps audible even above the rest of the noise told me the cavalry had arrived. We were free. We were all free, even Georgette.

I gripped Rania’s hands. “Thank you for coming. For everything that you did.”

For shooting Peter and setting one troubled spirit free. I wasn’t sure I could have done that, even in such dire circumstances. Rania had guts, that was for sure.

She hugged me again, ignoring the water all around. “I’m so glad I’ve found you. I didn’t know what it would be like if I ever met another one of us, but it feels…it feels like coming home. I can’t explain it.”

“I can’t explain it either, but I feel it too.”

CHAPTER 35 - REED

THE CROWD IN the hospital barely gave us room to breathe. I sat on the hallway floor beside Will and Rania while Wyatt paced in the tiny space available, unaware of the dirty looks as he bumped into people.

Two steps, turn. Two steps, turn. Two steps, turn.

I wished he’d stop, but pacing had always been a nervous habit of his, and with my sister currently in the operating theatre having her arm pinned back together, I understood his fear. At least the head injury hadn’t been worse. Emma had gotten away with a mild concussion.

When we arrived, a nurse had taken Kim away to treat her legs and feet. As well as the poison oak, she’d cut herself on whatever rocks she’d run across, and her wounds were still filled with thorns and bits of grit despite Rania’s efforts. Plus she’d scraped up her knees and palms crawling through the tunnel. Once the adrenaline had worn off, the pain started to hit, and by the time we got to the emergency room, her face had been twisted up in agony.

Fuck. The two girls who meant the most to me, and they were lying side by side in the hospital.

A nurse fought her way through the crush and stopped in front of me. Over the past three hours, the place had filled up with relatives, then news of the rescue broke on social media and reporters descended en masse. They’d been confined to the waiting area, and according to Will, every news website in the world had the story front and centre.

“Your fiancée’s back in her room now,” the nurse said.

Okay, so we’d embellished the truth slightly. The nurse manager hadn’t been impressed by the sudden influx of people into her hospital, and she’d kicked out anyone who wasn’t family or at least betrothed. Which was why Emma was about to be Mrs. Banks as well.

Luckily, Kim’s father had come and gone, so he wasn’t around to correct the fib. Not that the medical staff had much respect for him anyway if one nurse’s muttered comment about him being “that asshole who lobbied against cheaper cancer drugs” was any indication.

“Can I see her?” I asked.

“Yes, but one at a time.” She glanced at Will and Rania. “Her brother and sister will have to wait.”

I followed the nurse along the hallway and into a private room. It seemed Fern’s father also worked at the hospital, and he’d made sure all the girls were getting the best treatment.

“Reed,” Kim murmured, sounding drowsy. “You’re still here.”

“Of course I’m here, sweetheart. I’ll always be here.”

“They told me Emma’s in surgery?”

“She is, but it should be over soon. How are you feeling? How are your feet?”

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