Page 60 of Dark OZ

Four days. My body went tense, my fingers finding their way into Danny’s hand and squeezing hard. I needed something to ground me from my cresting panic. That would mean. Oh my god—The Wizard.

A sharp pain seized in the center of my chest. Wemissedhis deadline. What would he do now? What was I going to do? There was no way I was getting another shot at this. I was never going to get a life of my own. I’d never be free of my chains. I was going to fall back into Em’s hands and die in them, probably taking the boys down with me.

No, what was happening was I was going to be sick. Nausea overwhelmed all of my senses. I lurched forward. The room instantly spun, and I barely managed to make the can that was sitting beside the bed. I retched, bringing up bile along with what felt like my entire digestive system.

Crowe pulled back my hair, rubbing my back gently. He moved with practiced efficiency, swiping a wet cloth over my face and handing me the glass of water like he’d done this dozens of times.

“Easy, Darling. Go slowly. Don’t move too fast.”

I wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand. “Wiz—” I said with the scratchiest damn voice of my life, even more raw after that spectacular display of stomach pyrotechnics. Speaking, even that single syllable, made a fit of coughing start. Crowe brought the rainbow-colored straw back to my cracked lips.

“Drink. I’ll tell you if you promise not to jolt like that anymore.”

I nodded, sipping slowly on the water, and trying not to wince with each swallow.

“The Wizard made contact and gave instructions. We’re meeting him next Friday. There’s plenty of time to recover.”

I sank back into the pillow. “Thank Ozma.”

“Nick has all the details. Until then, you and Danny are confined to this bed… right here.” He gave Danny a stern look. “You both need to rest.”

“I’m fine,” Danny grumbled. “I haven’t felt woozy in hours.”

“Yeah, well, you tried to shoot me point blank in the back of a car, so forgive me if I don’t care about your restlessness.”

“I was hallucinating. You’d have shot you too if you looked like Orin Berret.”

“Be grateful I’m letting you stay here, and I’m not making you recuperate on the couch. It’s taking all of my self-control not to bounce your ass out of this bed.”

“Try it.”

“Please. You are as strong as a blade of grass right now. A light breeze could knock you over.”

“Where are we?” I whispered, then took a long draw from my sippy cup to ward off the cough that tickled the back of my throat. Movement and a reflection caught in my periphery, momentarily distracted as I noticed the IV hanging from my arm. I followed the tube to a bag hanging from a hook beside the bed.

How had I missed that? I glance to my right. Danny, too, was strapped into a slow drip.

“An apartment in Emerald City. It’s a small one-bedroom, but it was the closest. Nick is running a perimeter check right now. You don’t have anything to worry about. We’re safe here.”

They kept saying that,we’re safe, as if neither of them actually believed that we were, and repeating it would somehow make it true.

I nodded, still feeling dizzy and so damn tired. If it wasn’t for Danny’s hand in mine, I’d have fallen completely out of the bed.

Crowe brushed the hair from my face. “You should try to sleep some more. You’ll feel better. I promise.”

He was probably right, but I’d already missed so much. His warm hand wrapped around me, helping me back onto my side. It was only then I noticed the subtle burn from my back. It was barely noticeable, nothing like that agony of the previous week. I suppose the benefit of being unconscious for days was that I’d healed some in that time.

I settled into the pillow, meeting Danny’s green eyes once more. “Sleep, Firecracker. You can go back to fighting the world in the morning, and when you wake up, I’ll be right here to fight it with you.”

Damn.That made my heart do some death defying acrobatics. Since when was Danny so sweet and caring? It was disorienting enough to make me dizzy again and I had to close my eyes, just to fight off the spinning.

Crowe’s lips gently pressed to my temple, and Danny’s fingers tightened in mine. For the first time ever, I felt safe and protected.

For the first time ever, I was exactly where I wanted to be.

Chapter 28

Therewasasmallline creased between Dorothy’s brows. I’d spent hours staring at it, raising my thumb to smooth it away, only for it to come right back. I hated that even in sleep, she was being tormented by her demons.

---