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“Chief,” Sadie said, voice unsteady.

“I’ve got her,” he told her.

His voice was calm.

His hands were not.

I felt one hand tremble where it held my arm.

That frightened me more than anything else had.

Chief didn’t shake.

Listen.

I lowered my other knee.

Declan blocked me with his body.

I moved around him.

He moved with me. “Come back, babygirl,” he said.

I looked at him, his lips moving in time with the words. These words were right where they were supposed to be.

Declan.

“Come back to us, babygirl.”

Concrete. Declan.

Closer.

“Hazel.”

Trees.

“Look at me.” Declan.

Dark.

Declan.

The world seesawed until I couldn’t tell which one was real.

Except Declan’s mouth moved. His voice came from the right place.

The other voice didn’t.

The other voice came from beneath.

I put both hands on the concrete.

“Hazel, no,” Declan said.

I lowered myself.

He caught me around the waist.