Page 32 of For You I'd Mend
“What else did it hit?” Rowan asked, but before Mom answered, I knew. I took off out the back door, ignoring the sting of the ice against my bare feet. Instead of fighting to keep my balance, I intentionally slid, the rough ice cutting my skin.
“Stop,” Theo yelled behind me, but I kept going to edge of the yard where a large oak had crashed into the studio.
I lunged toward the wreckage, but a pair of arms wrapped around me. “Come inside, Poppy,” he said, softly, pulling me against him.
“Let me go,” I yelled.
“At least put these on,” Rowan said, dropping a pair of boots at my feet. “I’ll get your coat.” She stumbled as she turned toward the house and Theo let go of me to grab her before she fell. I shot off toward the tree. I vaguely registered the ice-coated twigs scraping my arms as I pushed through the branches to the trunk,which had smashed through the studio, flattening the front wall to the ground.
“No, no, no,” I said, stepping forward. Something sharp and solid pierced my foot. I hopped back on my other foot and sank onto the tree trunk to stare at the wreckage. Ice pinged off my sketches. My worktable had snapped in half and the turntable had lost its top. The failed piece in the corner was covered in a tarp, but it too would be ruined soon.
A strange noise burst from my chest. Something more feral than a shout. I’d heard it before. Rowan had made the same sound the night our dad died.
Somewhere behind me people were shouting my name while I watched the last of my art, those scraps of imagination, never fully realized, that I’d refused to trash, coat with ice, along with all my tools and supplies. I started to laugh when I realized the only thing that wouldn’t be ruined was that damn lump of clay since I’d stored it in an airtight plastic bucket.
“Rowan Eloise Stevens,” Mom yelled, which got my attention. “Do not go in there.”
Oh shit. My sister was the only other person small and stupid enough to get to me without cutting a few limbs out of the way. She’d break what was left of her spine, and we’d have to close Red Blossoms since I still couldn’t bake.
“Stop,” I shouted. “I’m coming out.” I felt the branches a lot more this time, but my feet were oddly numb despite having stepped on something so painful. It hurt a lot more when I stepped down on my injured foot, so I hopped on the other one. When I reached the edge of the branches, a large arm pulled me out just as I began to shake so hard my knees buckled.
“Call Cal,” Theo said, sweeping me off my feet and hurrying toward the house. My teeth chattered so much they ached, and I could no longer feel my feet.
“What were you thinking,kardoula mou?” Theo said, elbowing the back door open. He shoved something off the counter by the kitchen sink and plopped me down.
“Is she OK?” Rowan asked, coming in the back door.
“I can’t see a damn thing,” Theo said.
I was shaking so bad I was afraid I’d fall off the counter.
“I’ve got the lantern,” Mom said, calmly. She switched on the lamp we took camping and let out a cry when the light illuminated my feet.
“What?” I said, leaning forward. The last thing I saw before everything turned black was a nail the length of my finger stuck in the bottom of my beet red foot.
Chapter ten
Theo
My arms and legsshook as I carried Poppy to the living room. Instead of laying her down on the sofa like a sane person, I lowered us both to the cushions and leaned against the armrest.
“Good idea,” Rowan said, yanking my legs onto the couch and pulling Poppy’s legs over mine. “Mom, put the lamp on the table and grab some blankets. We should start a fire.”
The front door slammed open, and Aiden, Cal, and Chris rushed in. Cal had a gash on his face, probably from falling on the way over, and the other two didn’t look much better.
“Is she unconscious?” Cal asked calmly despite his disheveled appearance.
“Fainted when she saw the nail in her foot,” Rowan answered with enough panic in her voice to send my heart pounding more than it already was. “That’s on brand for her, but I’m worried she might be hypothermic. This was all she had on outside.”
“How long was she out there?” Cal asked.
“A few minutes,” I said.
Poppy stirred, then began to shake. “Did I faint?” she asked in a weak voice.
“Yep,” Chris said.
“Here,” Rose said, covering us both with one blanket and then another.
