edge of the ground crumbled under his feet and sent him stumbling forward as a chunk of the ledge rained down to the sea. Mia reached out, grabbed him as the car overbalanced and tumbled over the cliffs. He was struggling back over the rail when the gas tank exploded.
"She's alive," he managed.
"I know." She kissed Lulu's white cheek, laid a hand on her heart. "We'll take her to the clinic."
Outside the emergency clinic, where the air was quiet and the breeze balmy, Nell tended the cuts on Mia's feet.
"Got six million pair of shoes," Ripley stated while she paced, restless as a cat. "And you run barefoot over broken glass."
"Yes. Silly, isn't it?" She hadn't felt the glass slice into her feet when she'd run to the wrecked car. Under Nell's gentle healing, she felt no pain now.
"You can fall apart." Ripley's tone gentled, and she laid a hand on Mia's shoulder. "You're entitled."
"I don't need to, but thanks. She's going to be all right." Mia did close her eyes for a moment, waited until she felt steadier. "I looked at her injuries. She'll be unhappy and very pissed off about her car, but she'll be all right. I never considered, never thought she could be harmed this way. Used this way."
"Harm her, harm you," Ripley said. "That's what Mac . . ." She trailed off. Winced.
"Mac? What do you mean?" Despite Nell's protest, Mia got to her feet. She caught a glimmer, turned white as a sheet. "Something happened before. The beach." Furious, she grabbed Ripley's arms. "What happened?"
"Don't blame her. Blame all of us." Nell rose, ranged herself with Ripley. "She didn't want you to know, and we agreed."
"Know what?" Sam asked as he walked up with a tray of takeout coffee.
"How dare you keep anything to do with Lulu from me." She swung around to him, ready to bite.
"He didn't know," Nell interrupted. "We didn't tell him either."
Ripley told them now, said it all fast. And watched Mia's pale cheeks bloom with ripe temper. "She might've been killed. I left her! I left her and went to the mainland. Do you think I'd have done that if I'd known she was a target? You had no right, no right to exclude me from this."
"I'm sorry." Nell lifted her hands, let them fall. "We did what we thought was best. We were wrong."
"Not so wrong. You're going to have to deal with it, Mia," Sam added when she turned to him. "You nearly lost on the cliff road tonight because you divided your energy. Divided hell. You dumped it out and all but left yourself empty."
"Do you think I'd give less than my life to protect her, or anyone I loved?"
"No, I don't." He touched her cheek, and when she jerked away he simply moved in and took her face firmly in his hands. "And neither does she. Isn't she entitled to think of you?"
"I can't talk about this now. I need to be with her." She stepped away, walked to the door. But stopped when she opened it. "Thank you for what you did," she said to Sam. "I'll never forget it."
Later, while Mia sat beside Lulu's hospital bed, Ripley and Nell slipped into the room. For a time, there was nothing but silence.
"They want to keep her until tomorrow," Mia said at length. "Because of the concussion. She wasn't happy about it, but she's weak enough that she couldn't put up much of a fight. The arm . . ." She had to take a moment to steady her voice. "It's a clean break. She'll be in a cast a few weeks, but it'll be fine."
"Mia," Nell began. "We're so sorry."
"No." Mia shook her head, kept her eyes on Lulu's bruised face. "I'm calmer now, and I've thought it through. I understand what you did, and why. I don't agree. We're a circle, and we must value and respect that - and each other. But I also know how stubborn and persuasive she is."
Lulu's eyelids fluttered, and her voice was thin and raspy. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here."
"Just be quiet," Mia ordered. "I'm not speaking to you." But she took the hand Lulu held out. "Thank God you'll have to buy a new car. That mini monstrosity is finally dead."
"I'm gonna find me another one just like it."
"There couldn't be another one like it." But if there was, Mia thought, she would find it for her.
"Don't give these girls or their guys