Wounded(31)

A minute passed and I’d done all I could. I looked down at her hands. They were pink in patches, like she’d had a bad sunburn, but the worst of the damage had been dealt with and her fingers were no longer charred sausages, nor were her arms black to the elbow.

Then she tried to flex her hands.

Her fingers barely moved, creaking with the effort. She grimaced and tried again. More movement, but it was slow and obviously painful. Rylee turned her hands back and forth several times, flexing only at the wrist. “It’ll just take some work. Bad injuries are like that.”

I stood and brushed hay off my pants and shirt, feeling tears well up. “I’m sorry I’m not as good as Milly.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said, but I was already walking away as fast as I could go without running. I was never good enough, not to help Rylee, not to help anyone. But I would make sure one day that I proved I was better than Milly.

That I would be a witch to be reckoned with.

I put my fist to my mouth, opened the barn door and left everyone behind.



What the hell had that been about? Teenage angst, no doubt; I remembered well enough to know nothing I said would make it better. My hands throbbed and ached like they’d been smashed repeatedly by an overzealous carpenter. At least the pain wasn’t consuming me and every thought I had.

Zane let out a whimper and Charlie handed him back to me.

“Whats yous going to do, Rylee girl?”

I rocked Zane in my arms, feeling more than a little awkward. I hadn’t been around a lot of babies, never mind one this small. “He needs to be somewhere safe while we deal with the demons. He can’t come with us; he’ll be too much of a temptation for Orion and his packs.”

Lifting my eyes to Charlie and then Erik, I saw the look on both their faces; they were holding back. “What? What aren’t you telling me?”

“There aren’t any safe places, not anymore.” Erik lowered himself to sit beside me in the hay. “But you’re right; you can’t take a baby into battle.”

Alex crept forward and I put a hand out to him. Pamela flipping him ass over tail and sticking him to the wall had thrown both of us for a loop. It wasn’t like her. I made a mental note to sit her down and have a talk. A good, long chat about dealing with anger and fear. But first thing I had to do was get Zane to safety.

“You’re telling me there isn’t a place anywhere in this whole freaking world that could provide even a temporary safe haven?” I couldn’t believe that was the case.

Charlie cleared his throat. “Perhaps I can be of helps with thats.”

Erik picked up a long piece of hay and stuck it between his teeth. “It would put you in danger. You willing to do that for a child that is not one of yours?”

With a deep puffing of his chest, Charlie crossed his arms. “Yous don’t know me.”

“What are you two talking about?”

The two men looked at one another then to me. Erik spoke first. “Brownies don’t live on this plane; they live on the first level of the veil for the most part. And while it isn’t perfect, it would provide something of a temporary haven that you are looking for.”

“Charlie, you can take the baby with you? I thought you couldn’t cross the veil with anyone.” That had always been my understanding.

The brownie limped to me and touched Zane on the cheek. “It bees more of a size matter. I can’t be taking a big one like yous or the wolf here, but a wee babe, him I could take.” Charlie’s eyes were soft as he looked down at the baby. No doubt remembering his own children when they had been alive.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I bees sure. Give him to me, sooner the better thats I gets going.”

I handed him Zane, something in me lurching. I didn’t really want to say goodbye to the baby. He was the last piece of Milly I had, and probably the best piece.

“See you later.” I lifted my hand as Charlie slipped through the doorway, crossing the veil. Alex gave a soft woof.

“I likes Milly’s baby.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I feeds him tiger ice cream next time.” Alex grinned at me, his eyes wide and hopeful. I didn’t answer, just rubbed the top of his head.

Erik tapped me on the knee. “Things to do, Niece.”

He was right, but I had to know something first. “How did you know where I would be, I mean, before Charlie found you? He said you were already on your way here.”

“Pamela grabbed the papers from your room before we left Doran’s. Milly’s message was there, that you shouldn’t fight too hard when you next ran into a demon or two. That way she and Talia could get the book to you.” He tapped the violet skinned book of prophecy sitting beside me in the hay. “Said she would drop you back at the farm when it was all done.”