Sisters in the Wind(98)

“The Hoppys thought they were using you, but it was the other way around. You used them to lure me here. Your revenge wasn’t just to kill me. It was to show me Luke before you did it.”

Mr. Sterling shoots at my feet, like in the movies when the bad guy tells the target to dance. It doesn’t sound like a gunshot the way I thought it would. Perhaps there is a silencer on the weapon. Devery begins to run.

Then, I hear a sound behind me that makes my heart stop.

Luke is giggling. I turn to see Stacy at the opening of one barn door. She looks at her dad with a quizzical expression. Was that a gun? Or something else? Looking for him to make it make sense.

Luke runs into her legs, bouncing backward on his bottom. He rises quickly, still laughing as he runs back into the barn for his sister to chase him. I could watch him run forever. But I turn back to check on Devery’s progress.

Instead, Mr. Sterling looks horrified. He begins to shout, but all he manages is a long “No!” as the building explodes behind me.





FOR THE DEPARTED CREATURE’S SAKE




I’ve done this before, pinwheel through the air. This time, a backdrop of fireworks zips and whizzes nearby. I land on my shoulder as if intending to tackle the grass. Nothing snaps or twists. I’m back up, rebounding as quickly as Luke falling on his bottom.

Luke.

I race to the barn, now in flames. My left leg crunches into an unseen gopher hole. The full body weight and the odd angle brings me down in a shriek of pain and terror. Scrambling to rise and continue, I scream for Luke as I fall when the leg I have worked so hard to rehabilitate fails me again and again.

Mr. Sterling rushes into the barn, followed by his wife. I resort to crawling now, like a three-legged dog. Devery is at my side.

“I told them to play in the barn. I didn’t know. I didn’t know,” she cries above the whoosh and crackle of the fire. “I wanted them away from the house. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

I try clawing my way past her, but she pushes me down.

“I’ll get Luke,” Devery promises before running into the barn.

Just then, Mr. Sterling runs from the barn, carrying the limp body of his daughter. He continues as we pass in opposite directions.

I look for Mrs. Sterling to be right behind her husband, but she isn’t.

I’m nearly to the barn, when Devery bursts through the opening holding Luke before a wood beam collapses behind her.

“Get away.” Her hoarse voice is a whisper trying to be a roar. “It’s coming down.”

I boomerang toward them.

I reach Devery and Luke. His eyes are closed. His cheeks are flushed. He smells of smoke and rotten eggs. I remember the yucky smell of my birthday fireworks. Holding him in my arms, I wait for his breath against my cheek.

There. I feel it. Tiny breaths. Steady.

Devery shakes my shoulder. She’s been rasping on and on, but I wasn’t paying attention.

“Missus sent us away for the weekend.” She points at her chest. “Supposed to make sure we stayed away.” Her breaths are ragged. Sentences break in odd places. “Knew it was … showdown. Swear … didn’t know.”

The barn is an inferno.

“Don’t talk. Just catch your breath,” I tell her.

I keep Luke’s mouth close to my cheek.

Devery pushes my arm, determined to keep my attention.

“Recognized Luke … told Stacy … play in barn … So sorry…” Again she motions to her heart. “I killed Steven…” She points to her tattoo. The one about balance. “For Bruce.” She wheezes and points to me.

She tries coughing but gags instead.

“Bridget … for Luke.” Devery closes her eyes. Before I can lean down to feel for her breath, a vehicle horn blares a continuous rallying cry.

A large black vehicle races toward the oak tree.

Mr. Sterling screams, “God, punish me. Not her.”

Luke startles awake. After one huge inhale, he shrieks. It’s awful and wonderful at the same time. I cuddle and shush him. I hold him against my chest, trying to re-create our first moments together. Skin to skin. I hope I smell familiar. A scent memory of what normal first was.

Behind me, parts of the barn creak and moan like an entity protesting its demise.

A second later, Jamie and Daunis sprint toward us. Daunis’s eyes, already so huge and magnificent, are wild with terror. I can’t summon surprise as they reach me, already flying on adrenaline and the primal fear of losing Luke again.

“We’re okay. Help Stacy first,” I tell Daunis. Devery exerted herself and is resting. Just like her instant catnaps at Miss Lonnie’s.

She runs to where Stacy lies on her back. I watch Daunis tilt Stacy’s head, put an ear to the girl’s mouth, and begin CPR.

Sirens, faint in the distance, grow louder.

“Save her!” Mr. Sterling commands Daunis, before shouting to the sky. “Take me, God. I give my life for her.”

He looks at me, his eyes wild with fury. Luke is in my arms, wailing still.

“You—” He aims his gun at me. Maybe for spite. Maybe to ensure he ends up in his version of hell by committing one last sin.

I turn to shield Luke. The gunshot is loud, not like the one when he shot at my feet. But I also feel something whiz overhead.