Page 118 of Darkness of Mine
In the end they checked her over as best they could while she sat in my lap at the back of the ambulance. They bandaged up her feet, which had gotten cut and frost-bitten from running through the forest, and cleaned the sore skin around her wrists. River called a couple of agents to bring her parents here and they should arrive soon.
I stare over at Freya, being careful to keep Harley angled away from where Allie’s body still lies on the ground.
As far as I can tell, Freya hasn’t taken her eyes off her sister for one second. Even now, she sits with her legs dangling off the back of the ambulance as the EMT’s work her over, staring off at Allie.
My heart falls over itself as I take in the damage done to her. A wide white bandage wraps around her thigh and the side of her face is swollen so much her left eye barely opens. The paramedic holds Freya’s arm out to the side as she splints her broken thumb.
Nausea rolls through me knowing Freya did that to herself so she could give Harley her bracelet. We found the silver metal looped around Harley’s upper arm. The state of Freya’s hand is enough to tell us what happened even without Freya confirming it, which she won’t because, much like Harley, she’s not talking right now.
I want to be with her, but Harley needs me, and Eli has Freya. The paramedics made him put her down so they could work but he stands guard next to her, leaning against the open door of the ambulance. He doesn’t look like he’s moving anytime soon. I don’t blame him to be honest. Even here, halfway across the clearing, I can feel Freya slipping away.
Footsteps crunch on the frozen snow, and I turn to find Oz holding out my backpack. He must have gone back to get the SUV and driven the long way around to access the clearing.
“Here,” he says. “Anything you want?”
I shift Harley so I’m holding her with one arm and unzip the outer pocket of the bag as Oz holds it.
The whole backpack needs a clear out but I manage to rummage through the random detritus I never throw away to find a chocolate bar. I break it in two and rub my thumb up and down Harley’s back. “You wanna go halvsies?” I murmur.
She lifts her head a little, her pale green eyes blinking at the chocolate before she gives a faint nod.
I pass her half of the bar, claiming the small victory as she nibbles at the end. This kid has got a hell of a long road ahead of her but she’s alive. She’s alive and she’s eating chocolate and today, I’ll take that win.
All my anger at Freya for pulling the switch, and at River for letting her, faded the moment I set eyes on Harley. She was standing behind that fallen tree, barely four foot five, with a gun pressed into her side. Her face was frozen in fear even as tears tracked her cheeks and for a second I hated myself for being selfish enough to wish Freya hadn’t risked herself to save Harley. Any one of us would do the same in a heartbeat and Freya wouldn’t be Freya if she hadn’t.
It might not be an easy one, but this girl in my arms has her whole life ahead of her thanks to Freya.
A new SUV rolls into the clearing, the back door swinging open before it’s even come to a stop. I smile a little and nudge Harley. “Look who’s here.”
Harley’s mother screams her name and Harley twists in my arms.
“Mommy!” Her rusty voice cracks on the cry as she reaches out.
Jennifer runs to us, and I pass Harley into her arms, letting her sob against her mother’s chest. George joins and the three of them huddle together, crying tears of joy. Relief. Devastation.
They’ll be drowning in every emotion under the sun right now and I choke up, their feelings thick in the air.
Now Harley’s safely with her parents, I make my way over to Freya. The paramedics have finished so I perch on the back of the ambulance next to her and nudge my shoulder against hers.
The EMT’s that took Zach are moving Allie onto a stretcher now and my breath relaxes out of me when Freya finally turns away from her sister to look at me.
I nod my head towards Harley and her parents. “You did that,” I say.
Freya stares blankly at the scene before turning back to watch the EMT’s carry Allie’s body towards a second ambulance.
“I did that too,” she says, her voice as dead as her sister.
Freya stays blank but the emotions she’s burying punch me in the ribs. If I didn’t know I loved Freya before, I’d be certain now because I feel her loss like it’s my own. The world turns cold and gray around us as Allie is carried away. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than by Freya’s side right now, but it takes everything in me to sit here with her, to feel her pain and stay strong and not rage and scream at the world for daring to hurt the woman I love.
Because I would if I could. I would soak the earth in gasoline and strike a match to the cosmos just to prove that nothing and no one is allowed to cause Freya pain and get away with it. Not even the universe itself.
51
FREYA
It’s been twenty-four hours since I killed Allie. Twenty-four hours of existing in a world my twin does not. If you can call the state I’m in existing. I can barely move without splintering inside.
Every time I lift my hand, I feel the tug of her flesh as I pull the knife out of her stomach. See her eyes roll back. My eyes.Oureyes.
