Prism - By Rachel Moschell Page 0,44

of the knife against the sun as the old guy moved straight towards her, impatient. She felt Benjamin’s grip on her tighten as he said, “I’ve got her, Mr. Khan.”

And then, from the side, Alejo was moving forward, marching towards her with a face full of calm fury. The fist that connected with her face shot white hot rays of pain through her head, splattering her vision with colored lights. Benjamin must have released her just as Alejo’s punch slammed into her nose. Wara twisted around backwards on lifeless knees, then crumpled to the ground with a jolt of fire.

Evil lights flashed in front of her eyes, and she wanted to pass out, die, anything. No such luck. Wara shrieked in agony as someone grabbed her hair and pulled her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to secure her against them because it was obvious that there was no way she could stand.

Oh God, please help! Get me through this part…

“Stand up!” a voice grated into her ear, and Wara’s heart sank as she realized it was Alejo She heard herself breathing loudly, vision swimming with the pain. Alejo yanked her hair back and Wara saw the silver of a razor-sharp knife blade, only an inch away from her exposed neck.

“We have extenuating circumstances here, sir,” she heard Alejo say calmly. “Gabriel shouldn’t have to watch this. I’ll take her into the forest.” He dragged her in front of him so her bare feet skimmed the grass, then barked into her ear, “Walk!” To the other men he called, “We’ll meet in town!”

Alejo pushed her ahead of him into the cover of the mossy forest, dragging Wara along as he stomped through the grass. Her vision had cleared enough to make out the trees, but everything still shimmered and she was sure if Alejo weren’t holding her up she would have just dropped to the ground. She absently realized the salty stuff dripping across her lips was blood and that her nose was probably broken.

May Nazaret never hear about this, about what her brother has done.

They pushed quite a ways into the forest, ducking under hanging tree fronds and circling giant banana plants. Then Wara’s foot hooked on a big root and she went hurdling towards the forest floor. The vision of the flashing knife waving near her neck told her Alejo was going down with her. Wara’s breath pumped out of her chest with a sharp gasp as his body slammed on top of hers, pushing her face into the raspy grass. A rough hand clamped across her mouth, sending rays of pains surging though her skull.

“Don’t scream,” he whispered lowly in her ear. “Whatever you do, don’t scream. I’m not going to hurt you.” Breathing heavily, Alejo rolled off of Wara and sat listlessly on the ground by her side, one arm propped up on his knee.

In a daze, Wara rolled over onto her back painfully, unable to stop shaking. Her eyes were beginning to swell. She gingerly wiped her sleeve across her face in an attempt to clear away some of the blood that was still flowing from her nose and stifled a sob at how much it hurt.

God, what is happening?

“You’re going to kill me later, then?” Even though Alejo had told her to be quiet, she had to know.

He had been staring off into the jungle, but now his gaze jerked sharply back to her. Wara winced and raised her arm, cringing. He didn’t hit her again, and she opened her eyes in time to see Alejo hurl the knife off into the forest as if it were a deadly scorpion. He turned away from her and threw up onto the prickly tropical grass, gasped for breath, and then threw up again. Finally he lifted his head, white as a sheet, and wiped his mouth shakily on his sleeve.

“I’m so sorry,” he choked. “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you. Oh God, I’m so sorry. Nothing’s going to happen to you now, ok. I’m gonna take you where it’s safe.”

Wara started to feel everything around her fading away. Maybe she was dying. The giant pine tree branches overhead were starting to sway as if a lazy breeze ran through them.

No, that was ridiculous. She couldn’t be dying from a broken nose. But she felt so dizzy, and simply couldn’t move.

What was Nazaret’s brother saying? That he was sorry he had broken her nose? Why? He hadn’t looked sorry a few