Chapter 76
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
Ellery
I went to my knees beside him and hurriedly brushed away the remaining rubble covering him. The deep blue color of his lips and the pallor of his skin frightened me.
“Callan,” I whispered.
Tucker fell beside me while Ianto and Ruby knelt on his other side. Running my fingers across his cool flesh, I searched for a pulse but couldn’t find anything.
I almost grasped his shoulders to shake him, but Ianto’s words stopped me. “He’s breathing.”
My gaze shot up to the giant before returning to Callan. I couldn’t find a pulse, but I was also too frantic to think properly.
Callan didn’t move as I stared at him. And then, when I was certain he was dead, his chest rose ever so slightly before falling again.
“Bring the stretcher!” Tucker bellowed up the hill.
Amsirah ran down with a makeshift stretcher between them. With care, we lifted Callan’s broken body onto it. No matter how gentle we were, his eyelids fluttered and his eyes rolled behind them, but that was his only sign of discomfort. He was too weak and broken to do anything more.
With a heavy heart, I watched them carry Callan up the hill and toward the makeshift infirmary we’d established at the edge of the pit.
“Callan was with Scarlet and Luna when the palace fell,” I told the others. “They might be right here with him.”
They edged away as they carefully stepped on the remnants that might have been covering our friends. I brought my wind tunnel back to life as I gingerly removed more of the rubble from where we found Callan.
It took a little while, but eventually I lifted a shattered armoire to uncover a hand poking from the wreckage. Judging by its small size, it was most likely a woman’s.
Ruby let out a little cry of hope and rushed to the hand. Falling to her knees, she grasped it between hers.
I tried to bury my rising excitement that we’d found Scarlet as I released my wind and the others came forward to uncover whoever lay below.
Though I hated it, a little surge of disappointment shot through me when we revealed Luna.
I’d grown to care for and respect the woman, and I was glad she was alive, but Scarlet was my best friend, and I needed to see her.
Indon landed nearby as we worked to free Luna, who, unlike her brother, was in far better condition. Her bloodshot, blue eyes shone out at us before we lifted her from the wreckage.
“Callan?” she croaked as Indon and Ianto held her arms to keep her legs from giving out.
Blood coated her, but her eyes were focused. Other than the shattered right arm hanging limply at her side, she wasn’t injured.
“We freed him a little bit ago,” I assured her. “He’s in bad shape, but they’re working on him, and he’ll survive.”
The tears spilling from her eyes streaked through the grime covering her face as her shoulders hunched forward and she sobbed.
“It’s okay,” I whispered as I embraced her. “It’s okay.”
“Are we free?” she choked. “Did we win?”
“We’re free.”
“Good.”
“Come on,” Indon said. “I’ll take you to him.”
Luna didn’t protest as the gargoyle enveloped her in his arms, carefully lifted her, and flew her away. Ruby squeezed my arm before retreating while I resumed my work.
When I uncovered a foot next, I held my breath and bit my lip while I waited to see if it was Scarlet and if she lived. The others came forward to help me dig the next amsirah free.
When Ruby lifted a shattered portrait to reveal a vibrant red streak of hair and the blood soaking it, she started sobbing.
Billy rested his hand on her shoulder as he stood resolutely by his mother’s side.
The boy was thrust into the role of being a man far sooner than he ever should have been, and I couldn’t stand it if he had to suffer another devastating blow today.
I didn’t say anything, but my heart sank at all the blood surrounding a still hidden face.
Did I kill my best friend?
My mouth went dry at the possibility I’d killed the woman who’d been through everything with me, stood stalwartly by my side, and been like a sister to me.
I couldn’t move my hands. They remained frozen as they hovered over the rock, shielding Scarlet’s face from us.
How do I live with myself if she’s dead?
This time, that annoying inner voice didn’t have an answer.
Tenderly, Tucker grasped my hands and lowered them before bending forward and removing the stone. Scarlet lay underneath, her beautiful brown eyes open and unseeing as she gazed at something far beyond me. Blood trickled from the sides of her mouth, covered much of her face, and soaked her shirt.
Ruby released the most awful sound I’d ever heard; it would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my days. Her wail of despair was so profound that all those working to take away more debris froze.
Her sorrow rebounded off the rocks, carried over the open field, and entwined with my soul. For the rest of my life, I’d know that sound came from a woman who’d lost their child.