He snatched my wrists in one hand and used this leverage to hurl me away from him, into the wall. The impact caught me by surprise, knocked the breath out of me. I rebounded off the stone wall to the floor, landing in the boxes again, making another crinkly crash as I shredded through more cellophane.
The pulse thudded in my head as I lay awkwardly bent over the boxes, and for a moment, I saw strange lights pass in front of my eyes.
“Coward!” Jamie screamed at Jared. “She wouldn’t hurt you to save her own life! Why can’t you leave her alone?”
I heard the boxes shifting and felt Jamie’s hands on my arm. “Wanda? Are you okay, Wanda?”
“Fine,” I huffed, ignoring the throbbing in my head. I could see his anxious face hovering over me in the glow of the flashlight, which Jared must have dropped. “You should go now, Jamie,” I whispered. “Run.”
Jamie shook his head fiercely.
“Stay away from it!” Jared bellowed.
I watched as Jared grabbed Jamie’s shoulders and yanked the boy up from his crouch. The boxes this displaced fell on me like a small avalanche. I rolled away, covering my head with my arms. A heavy one caught me right between the shoulder blades, and I cried out in pain.
“Stop hurting her!” Jamie howled.
There was a sharp crack, and someone gasped.
I struggled to pull myself out from under the heavy carton, rising up on my elbows dizzily.
Jared had one hand over his nose, and something dark was oozing down over his lips. His eyes were wide with surprise. Jamie stood in front of him with both hands clenched into fists, a furious scowl on his face.
Jamie’s scowl melted slowly while Jared stared at him in shock. Hurt took its place-hurt and a betrayal so deep that it rivaled Jared’s expression in the kitchen.
“You aren’t the man I thought you were,” Jamie whispered. He looked at Jared as though Jared were very far away, as if there were a wall between them and Jamie was utterly isolated on his side.
Jamie’s eyes started to swim, and he turned his head, ashamed of showing weakness in front of Jared. He walked away with quick, jerky movements.
We tried, Melanie thought sadly. Her heart ached after the child, even as she longed for me to return my eyes to the man. I gave her what she wanted.
Jared wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at the blackness into which Jamie had disappeared, his hand still covering his nose.
“Aw, damn it!” he suddenly shouted. “Jamie! Get back here!”
There was no answer.
Jared threw one bleak glance in my direction-I cringed away, though his fury seemed to have faded-then scooped up the flashlight and stomped after Jamie, kicking a box out of his way.
“I’m sorry, okay? Don’t cry, kid!” He called out more angry apologies as he turned the corner and left me lying in the darkness.
For a long moment, it was all I could do to breathe. I concentrated on the air flowing in, then out, then in. After I felt I had that part mastered, I worked on getting up off the floor. It took a few seconds to remember how to move my legs, and even then they were shaky and threatened to collapse under me, so I sat against the wall again, sliding over till I found my rice-filled pillow. I slumped there and took stock of my condition.
Nothing was broken-except maybe Jared’s nose. I shook my head slowly. Jamie and Jared should not be fighting. I was causing them so much turmoil and unhappiness. I sighed and went back to my assessment. There was a vast sore spot in the center of my back, and the side of my face felt raw and moist where it had hit the wall. It stung when I touched it and left warm fluid on my fingers. That was the worst of it, though. The other bruises and scrapes were mild.
As I realized that, I was unexpectedly overwhelmed by relief.
I was alive. Jared had had his chance to kill me and he had not used it. He’d gone after Jamie instead, to make things right between them. So whatever damage I was doing to their relationship, it was probably not irreparable.
It had been a long day-the day had already been long even before Jared and the others had shown up, and that seemed like eons ago. I closed my eyes where I was and fell asleep on the rice.
CHAPTER 28.Unenlightened
It was disorienting to wake in the absolute dark. In the past months, I’d gotten used to having the sun tell me it was morning. At first I thought it must still be night, but then, feeling the sting of my face and the ache of my back, I remembered where I was.
Beside me, I could hear the sound of quiet, even breathing; it did not frighten me, because it was the most familiar of sounds here. I was not surprised that Jamie had crept back and slept beside me last night.
Maybe it was the change in my breathing that woke him; maybe it was just that our schedules had become synchronized. But seconds after I was conscious, he gave a little gasp.
“Wanda?” he whispered.
“I’m right here.”
He sighed in relief.
“It’s really dark here,” he said.
“Yes.”
“You think it’s breakfast time yet?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m hungry. Let’s go see.”
I didn’t answer him.
He interpreted my silence correctly, as the balk it was. “You don’t have to hide out here, Wanda,” he said earnestly, after waiting a moment for me to speak. “I talked to Jared last night. He’s going to stop picking on you-he promised.”
I almost smiled. Picking on me.
“Will you come with me?” Jamie pressed. His hand found mine.
“Is that what you really want me to do?” I asked in a low voice.
“Yes. Everything will be the same as it was before.”
Mel? Is this best?
I don’t know. She was torn. She knew she couldn’t be objective; she wanted to see Jared.
That’s crazy, you know.
Not as crazy as the fact that you want to see him, too.
“Fine, Jamie,” I agreed. “But don’t get upset when it’s not the same as before, okay? If things get ugly… Well, just don’t be surprised.”
“It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”
I let him lead the way out of the dark, towing me by the hand he still held. I braced myself as we entered the big garden cavern; I couldn’t be sure of anyone’s reaction to me today. Who knew what had been said as I slept?
But the garden was empty, though the sun was bright in the morning sky. It reflected off the hundreds of mirrors, momentarily blinding me.
Jamie was not interested in the vacant cave. His eyes were on my face, and he sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth as the light touched my cheek.
“Oh,” he gasped. “Are you okay? Does that hurt bad?”
I touched my face lightly. The skin felt rough-grit crusted in the blood. It throbbed where my fingers brushed.
“It’s fine,” I whispered; the empty cavern made me wary-I didn’t want to speak too loudly. “Where is everybody?”
Jamie shrugged, his eyes still tight as they surveyed my face. “Busy, I guess.” He didn’t lower his voice.
This reminded me of last night, of the secret he wouldn’t tell me. My eyebrows pulled together.
What do you think he’s not telling us?
You know what I know, Wanda.
You’re human. Aren’t you supposed to have intuition or something?
Intuition? My intuition tells me that we don’t know this place as well as we thought we did, Melanie said.
We pondered the ominous sound of that.
It was almost a relief to hear the normal noises of mealtime coming from the kitchen corridor. I didn’t particularly want to see anyone-besides the sick yearning to see Jared, of course-but the unpopulated tunnels, combined with the knowledge that something was being kept from me, made me edgy.