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Istared at it, frozen in horror for a moment, and then I felt my brother’s arm around me and he picked me up, cradling me tightly against his chest, and spinning over a nearby concrete barrier. I felt the street shake beneath me as he pressed me against the shopfront wall on the other side. The runaway car hit the barrier hard, right where we had been, and its window shattered, sending thousands of tiny sharp glass shards over my brother and I. One of Torin’s arms was braced against the wall, and the other one was encircling me.
It all happened so fast.
I was usually a bit jumpy, and a screamer. I was a haunted house actor’s wet dream.
But I didn’t scream.
It was like a pattern from my childhood had suddenly reimposed over me. I didn’t scream because my brother was between me and whatever was trying to hurt me. That meant I was safe. That was how it had always been.
And so the thousands of glass shards sprayed over me and I made no noise, just squeezed my eyes tight.
I felt heat blossom in my chest at how close we were, my brother’s heartbeat strong and steady through the back of my shirt.
He didn’t let me go, and I felt an awkward flush feeling his arm underneath my heavy breasts.
Torin was just turning around when I heard Drew at my elbow.
“Lord! That was a close one. Thank god you’re OK, Laoise.”
He tried to reach me, but my brother’s arm was still around me.
“It’s OK, Torin,” he said. “You can let her go now.”
But my brother didn’t let me go. “Are you all right?” he asked, and I felt the rumble of his voice through my back.
His other hand was on my arm, gently brushing the glass shards off.
“Let her go,” Drew said, and I heard a different note in his voice.
I felt my brother stiffen behind me, but I was anxious to avoid a scene, so I hissed at him, “I’m going to be late!”
I felt him release me, but reluctantly, and Drew took my arm and pulled me down the street as my feet crunched over the broken glass.
He had just released me when I heard Torin’s voice call out, sharp and insistent.
“Lele, stop.”
It had been a long time since I had heard that tone in my brother’s voice, but my body remembered it, and I immediately froze in my steps.
Andrew pulled impatiently at my arm.
But my brother said, “Do not move.”
And my body responded to that tone in his voice like a blood call.
Torin didn’t use that tone often, but I had heard it before. Deep in the mountains, out blackberry picking, when he had seen a bear wander close and I hadn’t. One night when our drunken uncle had been swinging around a hammer instead of the usual beer bottle. A hike when I had almost stepped on a snake.
I knew that voice all right, and I obeyed it without question.
“What’s the matter?” said Drew irritably, but in a few steps Torin was behind me, his big boots crunching over the smashed glass. My body knew to freeze, not to move a single muscle.
“You have a piece of glass stuck between your neck and your purse,” he said, and I felt him beside me. “Stay still and I’ll get it out.”
I felt it then, a sharp point digging into my flesh. I was wearing one of those cross-body bags, and I felt a sudden stab of panic at the sensation.
I heard a soft flick and I recognized the sound of a knife. A second later, Torin had cut through the straps of my bag and it dropped to the ground. Then he had one big hand on my chin, keeping me steady.
I squeaked in distress, feeling the point of the broken glass digging further into my throat, and Torin said sternly, “Stay still.”
