Page 48

“Really?”

She swallowed. “On a good day.”

Good days. The days where the memories didn’t bite at one’s heels. Those were few and far between, I guessed.

In the driveway, Keith drove away, the dust lingering in the air for a moment.

Annie raced up to us, a little white kitten tucked in her arms. Her eyes were anguished, lips quivering.

Eva stroked the horse’s neck, and the friendly filly quietly looked at her new surroundings. “What is it, Annie?”

Annie looked at me and grimaced. “It’s Peter. I saw him steal something from the man in the driveway and run off.”

Disappointment sank through my body. So much for thinking our conversations had meant Peter might have turned a corner.

Eva and I exchanged a look.

“I’ll go look for him,” I said. “Did you tell your father this?”

Annie shook her head. “He gets so mad at Peter . . . I just . . .” Her voice faded.

“It’s okay,” I said quickly. “I’ll go find Peter and talk to him.”

“He ran to the forest behind the barn,” Annie said softly.

Eva started walking with the filly. “I’ll let Eddie know.”

I followed Annie’s directions, weaving through the barn aisle that was littered with construction supplies from the task that Eddie and I had yet to complete. Behind the barn, I looked for any trace of the boy. I was surprised to see him sitting with his back against a tree not too far from the cluster of barns and pens before the sprawling valley opened beyond. He wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans and stood out among the tan brush and green grass.

“Peter, we need to talk,” I said as I approached, but my words stopped short when his face came into focus.

Sweat covered his face, and his lips twisted in pain. He gasped and breathed quickly. A pack of cigarettes and a lighter engraved with the Merrick brand were discarded to the side as he gripped his leg and winced.

The rustle of the bushes and a distinctive slithering sound put my nerves on edge. I crouched down and lifted his pants leg to see two small punctures on his ankle.

Snakebite.

Eleven

Eva

My arm ached as I put Naseem into a stall and Annie followed close behind me. This morning had been a disaster, between Phantom biting me, Keith showing up at the most inopportune moment, and now Peter’s truancy. I needed to tell Eddie. After our earlier conversation, I knew he would take this hard.

“Eva!” Warren’s voice echoed from behind the barns. Something in his tone felt urgent, fearful.

I jogged out of the barn and toward his voice, my heart racing when I saw him carrying Peter.

Warren’s expression was serious and deathly calm. “Rattlesnake.”

That one word elevated my pulse but honed my mind to focus.

“Get him into the shade,” I said firmly. “I’ll get my kit.”

I raced to the house and back without even slowing to tell Eddie. He’d follow me and find out soon enough. Nothing else mattered but immediately stopping the spread of the venom.

Warren had set Peter on a bale of hay in the aisle of the barn, and Peter withered in pain.

“Easy, Peter,” I said calmly as I cut away the lower part of his pants leg and removed his shoe and sock. I pulled out a rubber tube and handed it to Warren. “Tie that gently at his knee. Don’t cut off the blood flow, but it will slow the venom down.”