Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
D uke!” Lily’s voice came to me from across the void. Nothing but blackness and her voice existed in this space. I had to get to her. She needed me.
I swam through the viscous black, fighting through the heavy fog pressing down on me, searching for those beautiful red waves and brilliant green eyes.
Pain bloomed all around me, the fog clearing enough to remind me of where I was.
I groaned and tried to move. Lily needed me.
Her cries were intense and out of control, tearing at my consciousness.
I had to get to her. I reached for her, but my hand felt like it had been encased in lead.
I couldn’t move. I fought against the weight holding me down, my hand twitching with the herculean effort.
“Oh, thank god,” she said as she collapsed on me, a warm, welcome weight. “You’re ok. You’re going to be ok.”
Me? But she was the one crying out in pain.
Slowly, memories of a storm came back to me. Right. The island. Lightning. The Sat phone. We needed to call for help.
“Phone,” I said, trying to reach for it, but the word sapped any energy I had and threatened to drag me under again. Lily sat up over me, her eyes red, tears staining her beautiful face. I wanted to caress her, wipe away the tears, but then she blurred, the fog crawling to me again.
“Wh—what?” She cupped my face with shaking hands, driving away the blackness. Stay for her, a voice whispered in my mind.
“Phone,” I said, my voice stronger than before. My hand twitched again, and I realized I held it. She looked down and pulled it out of my useless grip.
“We won’t have service.” She looked it over, seeming to be puzzled by the design.
“Tink.” His number was saved, and he could act as dispatch for us, walking her through what she needed to do while he called for rescue.
She held the phone to her ear, rocking slightly as she let it ring.
I tried reaching for her again. I could feel all my limbs, but I just couldn’t make my body work right.
I tried to listen to the call, but my head throbbed, and nothing really made any sense.
I closed my eyes, hoping to ease the pounding.
I groaned, my eyes flying open when gentle hands pressed at my head, navy blue in my peripheral from the shirt Lily pressed against my wound.
I kept my eyes on her. She was crying still, but no longer the panicked, desperate tears she had been earlier. She brushed my hair from my eyes and smiled, small and sad.
“We’re quite the pair.”
“Yeah.”
She seemed to melt against me, laying her head against my chest, right above my heart, where it could rise and fall with my every breath.
“We’ll be ok.”
I closed my eyes again, content with knowing she was safe, and let the blackness claim me, just for a little longer.