The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,78

cool day. A groan nearby sounded like Hayley. I raised my head to see, she was lying partly in the helicopter, partly in the sand and the whole big helicopter was embedded in a dune. Debris was strewn everywhere, the giant steel rotor looked broken, jutting up at an angle.

I could hear... what was that? I turned my head the other way — James was kneeling over Magnus checking his pulse, listening to his breathing. I dragged myself over to grasp Magnus’s hand. “Come on my love, come on, we need you to pull through.”

“Get his shirt open.”

I unbuttoned Magnus’s shirt while James unzipped the defibrillator bag and brought out two square adhesive pads, and placed them on either side of Magnus’s chest.

Back at the helicopter Fraoch got up, shaking his head.

Nearby was Quentin’s foot, I reached over and jiggled it. “Quentin!”

He pulled his foot away. “Stop it, I’m sleeping, I just crashed in a helicopter-storm-explosion-battle, I deserve sleep.”

“James is defibrillating Magnus, look around, we crashed a helicopter on the island.”

James said, “Let go. Clear. It’s analyzing.”

Quentin sat up, “On it Katie, you’re right, time to sleep later.”

Zach’s truck pulled up, he jumped out, and came hustling across the sand.

The defibrillator’s voice startled me, “Clear for the shock.”

James yelled, “Clear.” I held my hands up and scrambled away, not sure exactly why, but James made it sound important.

Magnus twitched. The voice said, “Analyzing.”

James felt Magnus’s pulse.

Quentin, Zach, Fraoch, Hayley, me — we were all fucking totally quiet watching.

Hayley said, “Come on come on come on.”

Quentin asked, “Can you move him? I’ll take the helicopter away.”

Magnus spluttered.

James sat back on his heels. “Jesus, Mags, you scared the hell out of me.”

Magnus groaned. Fraoch and Quentin helped him roll to his side and placed a blanket under him. They rolled him back and shifted him onto it. Zach, James, and I picked up corners of the blanket and hustled him as far away as we could lug him.

Quentin, Fraoch, and Hayley ran all around the helicopter throwing guns and anything else that had fallen out, and then Quentin used the vessel, twisting the ends.

I lay over Magnus protecting him from the sandstorm buffeting us. James acted like a shelter above us both, while Zach ran off to bring the truck closer. By the time the sand and wind had died down enough to look, Quentin, Hayley, Fraoch, and the helicopter were totally gone.

Forty-five - Kaitlyn

I asked, “What’s your name?”

“Magnus.”

“Do you know where you are?”

“Home,” he said weakly, but added, “Tis sandy.” He spit sand into the bottom of the truck-bed.

James climbed in beside him. “If you don’t mind I want to keep taking your pulse.”

Magnus shifted his wrist to James. He was still an emergency, but not as desperate a one, and not a tragedy.

Zach closed the truck gate.

“Hospital?”

James said, “I don’t think we can, the police will get involved, I don’t know if we can take more scrutiny.”

Magnus said, “Nae. Nae, hospital. I want tae go home.”

Zach looked at me. “What do you think?”

I said, “Magnus, are you sure?”

“Last time the physician told me I hae tae rest. I hae medicine. Twill be all right.”

I nodded at Zach.

He jogged to the driver’s seat to drive us home.

When we pulled into the driveway, Emma came out, by herself, wide-eyed. “How is he?”

“He’s breathing, talking, we’re going to carry him in.”

Emma said, “Okay, I’m Googling — James, describe his symptoms.”

While they researched, I second-guessed — would his condition scare the kids? Then I second guessed the other guess; they had seen him in this condition already. They needed their da. I decided not to worry them a moment more.

I climbed from the truck. “I’m going to go tell the kids we’re back.”

Archie raced into my arms. “Did you get him, Mammy?”

“I did, I got him, just like I promised.” I picked up Isla carrying her on my hip and said, “Da has booboos, but he’s going to be okay.”

Magnus was carried into the room suspended on the blankets. They brought him to the middle of the floor and placed him down.

Archie threw himself on his da in a big hug that was a little like a collapse.

Isla crouched beside Magnus and said, “Da booboo?”

“Och aye, wee’un, I hae booboos all over m’self, but daena be afraid, I am goin’ tae be okay.” He pulled Archie’s head up and looked him in the eyes. One of Magnus’s eyes was swollen shut; there were bruises and blood on him, and a lot of sand. “Were