A Little Night Magic Page 0,90

Every muscle in my body was shaking, I had no strength left, so I leaned against him and allowed his to seep into me until I had enough to pull back and look at him.

"Millie?" I said, pulling my oxygen mask down. "She's still in there?"

Tobias shook his head. "They pulled her out. She's on her way to the hospital in another ambulance."

My eyes filled with hot tears. "And Betty? Is she...?"

"She's alive, but..." He let out a rough sigh. "Stacy said she'd call as soon as they knew anything." He pushed my hair back away from my face. "What the hell happened?"

I swallowed, trying to soothe the rawness in my throat. "I didn't want to trick her. I told her what was going on. I was so stupid, and now Betty..." I crumpled against him. "It's all my fault."

"She knocked Cain out and turned on the gas before that conversation ever started," he said. "It was going to end badly, no matter what you did."

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a harried EMT stuck my oxygen mask back on my face. "Take that off again, and I'll put you in restraints," she warned, and then went to check on Cain.

I leaned my head against Tobias's shoulder, and watched as the EMT fussed over Cain. He looked up, and our eyes met for a long moment, and then we both looked away to watch the firemen as they hosed down the hollow, charred remains of Crazy Cousin Betty's.

Chapter 19

Stacy came back from the hospital the next day, somewhere around 11 A.M. I had crawled onto the porch roof outside my bedroom window, and saw when she pulled up, but I didn't make a move to go down and talk to her. The news, whatever it was, would come and find me, I was sure. In the meantime, I stared out at the neighborhood where I had grown up, feeling disconnected from this place that had been a part of me as far back as I could remember. I remembered riding bikes into town with Peach and Millie and Stacy, remembered getting our prom pictures taken out front by my tree. It all seemed so far away from me, as if it had happened to someone else. I was just the observer, the one who came in to finish the story off. The rest of it had belonged to someone else, and somewhere, that Liv was still completely herself, serving waffles at a whole CCB's, living a mundane but reasonable life.

I wasn't that girl. I was the girl who, when she closed her eyes, could only see and feel fire. The roiling flames of the explosion, the oppressive, sickening heat of it as I was crumpled up, helpless on the floor. The hellish glow flashing over Betty's face before the explosion tossed her into the street. The dancing shadows on Millie's face as she made me realize what I should have known all along.

I was going to lose.

"Liv?"

I opened my eyes, but I didn't turn around. A few seconds later, Tobias was crawling out onto the roof through my bedroom window. Somehow, despite his size, he gracefully managed to settle down next to me.

"Stacy's here," he said.

I nodded, keeping my eyes on the neighborhood. "How's Betty?"

"The swelling in her brain seems to have gone down, and the doctors are really hopeful, but ... she hasn't woken up yet."

"And Millie?"

He sighed. "Left the hospital this morning. No one knows where she went. She's not answering her cell phone."

I nodded. It didn't matter where Millie was, really. It would be over before she had a chance to do any more damage. I took a deep breath, and raised my eyes to meet his. I was still the Liv who loved Tobias; no matter how disconnected I felt from everything else, I hadn't lost that.

I found that interesting.

"People are starting to worry," he said. "Cain asked about you, and when Cain notices a person's emotional state, I think it's pretty bad."

I smiled at him. "I'm okay."

"You don't look okay."

I held his gaze for a bit, then motioned back toward the room. I crawled inside and he followed me. I waited while he came in through the window, and then I placed the flat of my hands against his chest and looked up into his eyes.

At first, he seemed wary, but then the pull between us got the better of him, and he let his arms find their place around my waist.