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Offering Faith to Vaeront. Telling him I’d do another bargain and give him the farm.
His adamant refusal. My exhaustion. Collapsing.
I never made it back to Hannah.
Pushing myself up, I realize the sleep I got did me some good. My energy stores are back, and as soon as I’m on my feet, I run in the direction of the machine shed. I’m still not at full charge, but I have the strength to sprint.
Judging by how high the sun is in the sky, it’s mid-morning already. Hannah’s been without me for hours.
By now, her symptoms have increased. She’s probably in excruciating pain, and I ache for her. My heart actually hurts.
As I round the gift shop, I almost crash into Bobby.
“Ellister,” he grits out, low.
His face is contorted with fury. His fists are balled at his sides, and I get the inkling he might damn well hit me.
I’d take the punch with glee.
I deserve it.
Instead, he pushes my chest with both hands. It’s not a hard shove, but it’s enough to make me step back. Bobby advances again.
“You said you’d be there for her!” he shouts with anguish, grabbing my shirt collar. “She’s suffering so badly, and you promised you’d be with her to prevent it.”
I swallow hard as guilt and grief well up inside me. “I had to go somewhere for a little while, but I’m back now. I tried to help her, all right? I tried.”
A bit of hope enters Bobby’s furious gaze as he gets my meaning. “You offered the farm to your boss.”
“That, among other things.”
“And?”
I shake my head. “He wouldn’t accept.”
Deflating, Bobby lets out a sound of defeat as he releases me. “What do we do now?”
It’s a rhetorical question because he knows how it will end. “Where is Hannah? I must get to her.”
“She had to be taken to the hospital. She was unresponsive this morning when I discovered her.” He runs a hand over his face. “I thought she was dead.”
“We need to get there fast.”
“Can you do the swirly thing?” He circles his finger at the air behind me. “That would save time, right?”
“I don’t think using a vortex next to a hospital would be a good choice. It’s daytime, and that’s a very public place. Plus, I need to conserve my power for when…”
For when I finish the collection. I don’t have to tell Bobby that. He knows.
Striding toward the farmhouse, Bobby says, “We’ll take my truck, then. I can get to the hospital in fifteen minutes.”
Catching up with him, I dig into my pocket for the keys to the sleek automobile I came here in. “If you drive this, I bet you could get there in ten.”
HANNAH
Ifeel good. I’m safe. I’m warm.
Ellister.
