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“We have to get him out of here!” I exclaimed, looking at the frightened faces around me. “We have to get him to the mayor or…or a doctor. Something.”
“What about Nadia?” Cori cried. “We can’t just leave her here.”
“I can carry Nadia over my shoulder,” Fisher said, his green eyes flat.
“You can?” Cori asked.
“Fireman’s lift. She weighs, like, nothing.” Then, to prove his point, Fisher walked over and lifted Nadia’s limp body, folding her over his shoulder. Cori gasped and started to sob. Nadia’s Lifer bracelet dangled from her skinny arm like it wanted to fall.
“I’ll help you with Tristan,” Bea offered, pushing away from the window and stepping up to Joaquin.
Tristan let out a weak, gurgly moan.
“We have to move,” Joaquin said. “We can’t let him…”
“Die.” Lauren spoke for the first time in five minutes. She’d been so quiet I’d forgotten she was there, but now she turned her dark eyes up at me and stared, her arms limp like a rag doll’s at her sides. “Die is the word you’re looking for.”
No one spoke. No one breathed. This wasn’t something we were ever supposed to face. I crouched down next to Lauren and took her hand. “It’s going to be all right.”
“How?” Her voice
went childish as her bottom lip trembled. “How is it?”
I swallowed hard and looked to the others for help. Their faces were blank. A terrified blank. “I don’t know, but the sooner we get them back to the mayor, the sooner we can figure it out. Come on.”
I gripped Lauren’s upper arm and helped her up from the floor. Then Joaquin slid his hands under Tristan’s arms and lifted, letting Tristan’s head loll back against his chest, where it left a smear of blood. Bea grabbed beneath his calves, and Lauren, Cori, and I led the way out the door, down the stairs, and back into the night. The rain was sharp and driven, like tiny pinpricks against my skin.
This was not what I had imagined when we’d come out on this mission. I’d seen myself indignantly spitting questions at Tristan, him hanging his head in shame. I’d seen us gathering at the bridge to free the innocents from the Shadowlands. When we’d driven down here, I’d thought I knew exactly what I was doing. But now I was more confused than ever.
When we got to Tristan’s car, I opened the doors to the back. Bea and Joaquin carefully loaded Tristan onto the seat, laying his head down gingerly.
“We’ll take Nadia in the Jeep,” Fisher suggested.
“There’s not enough room,” Bea said.
“I’ll stay with you guys.” Kevin climbed into the front of the SUV.
I glanced around—at Kevin, at Joaquin, at Tristan. There was nothing left for me to do except climb into the back with him. The guy who’d betrayed me. The guy who had sent my family to hell. I thought about putting his head on my lap, but it seemed too intimate. So instead, I slammed the door, walked to the other side, and put his feet up awkwardly on my lap, every inch of my body tense enough to snap.
“You okay?” Joaquin asked as everyone else crammed into the Jeep.
I grit my teeth. “Let’s just go.”
Joaquin got in, and the engine roared to life. He flipped a quick U-turn and started up the hill toward town, the windshield wipers flapping a frantic beat from side to side. I couldn’t bear to look at Tristan’s face, so instead I stared out the window at the rain.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Who would do this?” I said as we drove out onto the town square, the tires sending walls of water flying up on either side of the car. “Who would attack them and leave them for dead? We’ve all been looking for him. We all want answers.”
“I don’t know,” Joaquin said, glancing over his shoulder at Tristan. “I just hope he lives long enough to explain what the hell is going on.”
The front tire bumped over a huge pothole, and Tristan groaned.
“Pete,” he muttered.
“What?” I said.
Kevin turned in his seat, his dark eyes alarmed. “What did he just say?”
“Pete…killed Nadia,” Tristan whispered hoarsely.
