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The pistol fired again.
Pain burned through my left side.
My body went weak all at once. I didn’t remember letting go of Nevin, but I looked down to see him disappear under the grasping pull of the waves. The rope fell away from my other hand. I hit the water and kept falling. My arms still reached for what I used to hold.
I told my body to fight. I begged my legs to kick. But the fire between my ribs overpowered me and I could only fall.
As I drifted into darkness, I held on to two thoughts.
The first: I would never make my father proud.
The last: Now Graham could be free.
ChapterThirty-Seven
I thoughtthere would be nothing left to feel. I was dead. No one could save me.
I was sure.
But in my waning consciousness, I felt something wrap around me. I thought I floated up instead of down. The pain in my side flared up and I wanted to fight whatever held me.
The next thing I knew, I was on a hard surface coughing violently. My lungs were too full of water to accept the air. But little by little, liquid went out and oxygen came in. Each cough felt like another shot in the ribs. Sharp, persistent, burning torture.
My mind tried to escape the pain, but disorienting images and sounds remained. Coughing, gasping, vomiting, searing pain, arms around me, blood everywhere, voices I knew, voices I didn’t know, wind on my face, and someone calling me by the wrong name.
When I finally cleared my lungs, I collapsed and squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I wouldn’t have to wake and bear this pain again.
* * *
I never seemedto get what I wished for.
I opened my eyes to see Graham’s face. His mouth was set in a straight line. I tried to smile, but I didn’t know if it worked. I lifted my head, but the movement reactivated the pain. I was on a hard mattress in a small room with planked walls, a wool blanket spread over me.
“No, no, don’t move.” Graham’s voice was tired and inflectionless, and his brows held a deep furrow. He wore a crisp white Law Enforcer shirt he must’ve found on this boat. But it was something in his expression that held the true change. “The bullet wasn’t too deep, but you need to rest.”
“The bullet?” It took a moment for the memory of the pistol shot to return. “Who took it out?”
“I did. But be careful. The bleeding hasn’t stopped, even with the bandage.”
I moved the blanket off myself and gingerly touched my waist and tried not to imagine Graham digging in the wound while I slept. I wore a new shirt too, but it was already blood-stained on my left side. “You dove after me, didn’t you?”
Graham nodded, his blue eyes intense.
“Did you get Nevin? Was anyone else hurt?”
“No. No to both. We couldn’t save him,” he said. “But we’ve been on the ocean since yesterday. It’s all right now.” The furrow between his brow didn’t fade.
That meant the new moon was tomorrow night. The islanders would set sail for Cambria the morning after. The thought left me defeated.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I didn’t get shot,” he replied flatly.
That wasn’t exactly what I’d meant, but I didn’t want to ask again in case I received an honest answer.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I told them our boat was burned and that we changed our minds about running away, so they’re taking us to Tramore. Nice of them, isn’t it?”
