Out of the darkness, a yellow light cut through the night, and then a voice, “Ember!”

I started walking faster, tripping over my own feet. “Hayden…?” My voice came out hoarse, weak. I doubted he heard me.

“Hayden, I can feel her. I think… I think she’s hurt,” I heard Phoebe say. “Her emotions are off, tainted somehow. She’s in the road.”

There was a muffled curse, and then the sound of pounding feet. The light swayed erratically, passed me and then swung back. A few seconds later, Hayden was running out of the darkness and grasping my shoulders.

I cried out as pain shrieked down my arm.

Hayden pulled his hands back. “What happened?” His gaze dropped. “Jesus, you’re bleeding! Are you okay?”

“I was shot… by an arrow.” Those words sounded bizarre even to me.

His response was to move in, sweeping one arm under my legs, and then I was up, my cheek resting against his pounding heart. “Phoebe, run back and tell them to meet us halfway.”

All I heard was her lighter footsteps rushing off. “I can… walk. I’m fine.”

“Being shot with an arrow does not equal fine.” Hayden started back, his long strides eating away at the distance between us and the house. “We’ve been looking for you for the last hour. Do you know what happened?”

Each step jarred the wound in my arm. I wondered how deep it was. Another scar, I realized dully. I told him everything, skipping over the part where I’d seen him cuddled on the couch with Phoebe.

“Jesus, you’ve could’ve been killed,” he said. I opened my eyes, but the hard lines of his face gave nothing away. He looked down, his eyes drifting over me. “Does your head hurt?”

“I’ll survive.” Assuming someone didn’t shoot a rocket at me next.

A car roared down the road, coasting to a stop in front of us. Kurt jumped out of the driver’s seat, spinning around to open the back door. “Put her in here.”

“When… when did he get back?” I asked.

“An hour or so ago,” Hayden replied. “He’s going to take you to the hospital.”

I clenched his arm, not wanting to go anywhere with Kurt. “What about you?”

“I’m coming with you.” He placed me in the back seat. “Don’t worry.”

“No.” Cromwell turned around in the front passenger seat, his eyes coolly assessing everything. “I want you to go back to the house,

Hayden.”

“But”

“I need you to make sure everyone stays calm, Hayden. I need you here. We can take care of Ember.”

I shuddered as my eyes bounced from Kurt to Hayden’s father. I had a death grip on Hayden’s arm.