Illusions by Aprilynne Pike

Author:Aprilynne Pike [Pike, Aprilynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2011-05-15T04:25:50+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

TAMANI WATCHED IN HORROR AS LAUREL FELL. HE scanned her body for an injury, but saw nothing. “David,” he said, urgently running to the trunk and jamming his key in, “pick her up, put her in the backseat.”

“We shouldn’t move her,” David said, crouching beside her.

“What are you going to do?” Tamani said, his temper flaring. “Call an ambulance? The most important thing right now is that we get her away from here. Put her in the car.”

David lifted her tentatively and put her beside Ryan, who was still out. “What now?” he asked, looking at Tamani.

Tamani stared at his supply belt, sitting, waiting for him, in the trunk. He could hear Shar in his head, urging him to pick it up, to follow the trolls. It was what his training dictated. But even as he reached out his hand to take it, he knew he couldn’t. Laurel was unconscious in the back of his car. He could no more leave her in this condition than he could tear off his own arm. With a growl he slammed the trunk closed. “Get in,” Tamani snapped at David.

He slipped into the driver’s seat and held his breath as he clicked the ignition. The second the engine caught, Tamani pressed on the gas, wanting Laurel safe in her home as soon as possible.

“When we get there I want everyone in,” Tamani said sharply, only moments away from Laurel’s driveway. “We’ll figure things out from there. I’ll take Yuki,” he added in a softer voice, remembering that although her eyes were closed, she could still be listening.

He bumped up on the curb and killed the engine. Chelsea carefully shifted Yuki over to Tamani and ran to open the front door. Tamani slipped Yuki into his arms, curling her against his chest, watching David out of the corner of his eye with more than a little jealousy as he did the same with Laurel. Chelsea had managed to tie her shirt around Yuki’s head in such a way that it wouldn’t slip off and Yuki would be allowed to believe that her secret was still safe.

By the time they reached the door Chelsea was already leading Laurel’s dad, clad only in a pair of drawstring pants and a T-shirt, out toward the wrecked car, presumably to help with Ryan.

“What happened?” Laurel’s mother asked in a panicky tone from the doorway.

“We hit a deer,” Tamani said before anyone else could answer. He stared meaningfully at Laurel’s mom until her look of skepticism melted away, and she nodded at him in understanding. She gestured to an armchair where Tamani set Yuki while David laid Laurel on the couch. Laurel’s mom immediately crouched down next to her, stroking her hair.

Laurel’s dad and Chelsea showed up in the doorway, steadying Ryan between them. He was awake again, but still quite disoriented. “Do you have a car?” Tamani asked Chelsea.

She shook her head. “David picked me up earlier.”

“What about Ryan?”

She nodded, almost convulsively. “His truck is here.”

“Get his keys; take him home.

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