Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel(59)

“We’ll need light, grab some of those torches.” I pointed to the walls as I ran. No time, there was no time to waste.
Hang on, Eve, just hang on.
We had to cross paths with the bloodshed of the red caps. Their bodies were putrefying, maggots crawling over them, their eyes pecked out by the carrion eaters.
“What the hell happened here?” Dox breathed out, gagging on the thick air.
“Pamela and Liam,” I said, tearing my eyes from the scene.
I sensed more than saw the approval in the other ogres. But none of that mattered, not at that moment.
We ran through the empty stone hallways without a problem; no one had been expecting us this time around. The exit we needed was open and we piled through into the dusty old mine shaft that was buried in the badlands of North Dakota. The ogres lit the torches, and I paused to get my bearings.
Sla spoke softly. “This is the home of Seps. I can smell her, but it is faint, from many years ago.”
“Great, you can visit another time,” I snapped. With the light held high, Liam led the way, and I let him. Eve’s threads were unraveling, weaker by the minute. Once I got to her, how was I going to help her? I had no ability to heal. Milly did, Terese did … .
“Here, the climbing gear is still set up.” Liam handed the rope to Sla. “You go up first, make sure the area is clear.”
Sla nodded, taking direction from Liam far easier than I would have thought. Then again, Liam wasn’t asking.
The grey ogre climbed the rope quickly and, within minutes, was at the top. “All clear, wolf, send Rylee up first.”
I grabbed the rope and Sla hauled me up. If I’d thought his ascent was fast, it was nothing compared to mine.
Thirty seconds, tops, and I climbed out of the mine shaft. Stumbling, I gained my feet and lifted my head. Across from me was a white vehicle that, with a gut-wrenching lurch, I recognized.
It was one of Milly’s vehicles. An SUV that she’d gotten after her last beau dumped her. I jerked a sword from my back and Tracked the witch. Remarkably, I couldn’t feel her at all, which meant she was across the ocean somewhere. The last thing I needed was for Milly to show back up again, proclaiming she was here to help. Scratch that; I’d suffer through it if she would heal Eve.
Liam was the next one up and he drew me toward the car. “This is how Milly brought me across to London. I was pretty sure her car would still be here.”
He jerked the door open and felt above the driver’s side visor. A set of keys fell down into his hand, which he then tossed to me.
“You drive, me and Calliope can ride in the back.”
It was then that I realized Liam was running things because I wasn’t holding it together. The thought of losing Eve, or Pamela, or both, had turned me inside out.
I clenched the keys in my right hand. No, I wouldn’t fall apart, that wasn’t doing Eve or Pamela any good.
“Liam, give Dox directions to the farmhouse.” They put their heads together; Liam was worried. About me.
Pull it the fuck together, Rylee.
One of the triplets set Calliope into the back as I slid into the driver’s seat. Liam got in behind her. “Let’s go.”
Eve slipped further and I threw the car into reverse, peeling out backward, and then slamming it into drive at the same time I pushed the pedal to the floor.
“Rylee, we’ll get there.”
I knew he was trying to soothe me, to keep me calm.
“You can’t feel her inside your head. We’re losing her.” And that was the crux of it; Eve was slipping too fast—unless Terese was there, waiting for us, there was no way we’d save the Harpy.
Eve was going to die and it was going to be on my head. This was my fault for sending children into battle, for asking children to protect each other.
The SUV powered over the ruts and bumps in the road, and then we were on the interstate. I pushed the SUV as hard as I could, weaving in and out of traffic with a cold precision that I clung too.
We were on the road to the farmhouse when it happened.
Eve’s life blinked out. There was no pain, no fear; she was just gone.
This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I sucked in a sharp breath and clenched my teeth tight.
Eve, how could Eve be gone?
“Rylee.” Liam reached forward, cupping the back of my neck with his hand. He knew, even though he wasn’t in my head, he knew.
Spinning the wheel hard, I cranked the SUV onto the driveway, jerking the emergency brake up, which brought the back end drifting to a stop. I leapt out and ran for the barn where I could still sense her. What was left of her.
A howl erupted out of the barn, Alex’s mournful cry burrowing into my heart. I wasn’t the only one losing someone they cared about. Alex’s howls broke through the thin grasp of control I still had; his pain on top of my own was too much. Tears streaked my face as I ran. She was so young, too young to be gone already.