Page 89 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

This time, a faint sound came from the grass to my right.

I ran towards it, scanning the ground until I finally found her lying there. Her leg was twisted, her foot caught in an animal trap, the jagged iron jaws clamped tightly around her ankle.

I dropped beside her, my hand reaching for her pale face as a low groan escaped her lips. Her ankle was badly twisted, swollen around the cruel metal spikes that had bitten into her flesh.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I crouched beside the trap and forced the iron jaws apart. They fought against me, the rusted metal resisting before finally giving away. She slowly pulled her foot free. The moment it cleared the trap, I let go. The jaws snapped shut with a sharp clang beside us.

I took her foot in my hands, trying to assess the damage. She hissed the moment I touched it, but that was a good sign. The nerves were still responding.

“What were you thinking?” I snapped. “You could’ve fucking died.”

I slipped one arm beneath her and lifted her limp body into mine.

“You can’t ever do that again, okay? Promise me, Blue.”

“I promise,” she murmured. Then, barely above a whisper, she asked, “Is the squirrel okay?”

“The squirrel?” My voice shot up. “You risked your fucking life for a squirrel?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or get even angrier.

“Yes,” she said. “It was hurt.”

“Good.” My jaw tightened. “Maybe now you’ll learn.”

She let out a weak chuckle that dissolved into a cough.

“Are you mad at the squirrel?”

“At you,” I answered. “You scared me.”

My palm cupped her cheek, my thumb brushing gently across her dry lips.

“I missed you today,” I whispered. “I didn’t know I could miss you this much.”

She only smiled, her eyes drifting shut.

“No, no, no.” I patted her cheeks, trying to wake her. “Open your eyes, Blue. Don’t do this to me, Gabriella.”

My hands gripped her shoulders, shaking her gently, but it felt more like I was trying to wake myself from a nightmare.

I grabbed the water bottle from her bag lying beside her, twisted the cap off, and poured the cool water over her wounds. The spikes hadn’t gone in too deep, but they had torn through her skin, and her ankle was badly sprained.

Taking a slow breath, I laid her back down and shifted closer to her injured leg. I wrapped both hands around her foot, braced myself, and with one quick pull, guided her ankle back into place.

A dull crack moved through the trees as the joint settled where it belonged.

I pulled the bandage from my pocket, unrolled it, and wrapped it tightly around her ankle to keep it stable. I used the rest to cover the cuts where the spikes had broken her skin.

The sharp burst of pain jolted her awake. She screamed, the sound tearing through the quiet woods before breaking into sobs as tears streamed down her face.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m here,” I said, pulling her into my arms as I stood.

The moment I lifted her off the ground, something caught my eye. Behind the rock, I noticed a bundle of rolled up scrolls.

“We have to go back,” I said as she weakly clung to my neck.