LAST SUMMER
“I’m sorry, Ms. Clementine.” Pia’s voice was nearby but it was hard to see her in the dark. “I’m going back to Houston with Rory and Shane and Ellis and Manny and Ms. Jackson.” Good for you, Pia. I hadn’t thought Rory, Shane, and Ellis would’ve let her go, but I was glad to see her taking a stand.
“I understand, Pia.” Clementine’s voice was warm.
At least she wasn’t offended. I couldn’t see her either for some reason.
“But let me give you my phone number before you leave. You may have questions about your dryad abilities, and I’m happy to help.
I’m guessing you wouldn’t want to come back for a week in the summer to train with me? ”
“No.” Pia’s tone was fervent. “I’m sorry, Ms. Clementine, but I don’t ever want to come back here.” Her hand squeezed mine. Huh. We were holding hands. How had I missed that?
I turned my head to look at her, but, oh. My eyes weren’t open.
“Manny?”
I raised my eyebrows to help pry my eyelids away from each other. There. Now I could see her face. “Hey. What’s—” The vampires. Gasping, I clutched my stomach.
“You’re okay, Manny! You’re okay! Ms. Jackson healed you!”
Frantically I patted my belly, but it felt flat and solid.
A little achy, with a hot and painful line across it, but my insides were all on the inside.
“They did?” Holy shit. I’d been dead, or close enough.
“How?” I shoved the covers down, then I pulled up my shirt.
Pia helped me sit up so I could see. I had an angry-looking scar from my lowest left rib to my right pelvic bone, easily eight or nine inches long.
No way would I have survived that on my own.
My breath started coming in pants, and I felt dizzy, so I let myself fall back to the pillow. “Fuck. Shit, sorry, Pia.”
She laughed. “No worries.” She explained how Ms. Jackson had gouged out a chunk of their own body and put it into my wound. “And then you were all healed up!” Holy fuck.
“What day is it?” The scar appeared to be several days old, but I wasn’t on any kind of IV drip. I needed to pee and I was thirsty, but I wasn’t hungry.
“It’s only been a few hours.” Clementine’s tone was gentle. “Your friends went after Ellis.”
“Ellis? Oh, shit! Ellis!” I sat up again, but Clementine held up a hand.
“He’s alive. At least he was when they left.”
Pia nodded. “Ms. Jackson and Simon went with Rory and Shane. They promised to bring him back.”
I frowned, trying to get my brain in gear. “Who’s Simon?”
Clementine said she’d get me some water and a snack while Pia explained about the friendly vampire who’d killed most of the vampires who’d attacked us.
After I’d downed two glasses of water and the buttered toast, which was about all I could handle at the moment, I shooed both of them out of the room.
“I want to take a shower. I’ll come find you after. ”
Clementine put her hand on Pia’s back. “Come on, Pia. We should let your friends know Manny’s awake.”
As soon as they left, I shut the door behind them and sat down on the bed. “Holy fucking fuck.”