“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice high and small. I sounded like a child.

“I had that Mazikin dead to rights. And now you’re—” He let out a long string of curses.

“Are there any alive? Any we can take?” I let out a shivery breath, feeling sleepy and stupid. Half of me was on fire, but the other half was encased in ice.

“Are you crazy?” he shouted. “Forget taking a prisoner, Captain. I have to get you out of here before the police arrive!”

A siren split the night, jerking me into action. “Then get your bolts, Henry. And my knife—by the tree. Don’t leave a single one. Finish any Mazikin that are wounded, but make sure by the smell before you cut. Go.”

Henry disappeared from my side for what seemed like forever, leaving me in a sea of shock, surrounded by destruction. Then he was back. He leaned over me and folded my broken left arm over my stomach, wrenching a groan from between my clenched teeth. The crossbow bolt stuck out of my chest below my left shoulder. “Can you pull it out?” I gasped. I was certain all the pain would end if he pulled the arrow out. “Get it out. Please.”

He didn’t answer, just threw a blanket over me and scooped me from the ground, surprisingly strong for such a thin man. He clutched me close to his chest as he carried me away from the camp. In the distance the sirens wailed closer. Henry began to run, making me certain I was going to die with every step.

A million years later, a car door opened, and I was laid across the backseat of our Taurus, which smelled of animal crackers and juice. “Lean forward and keep still,” commanded Henry, flipping me onto my side. “I’m strapping you down.”

“Excellent,” I mumbled as he coiled the seat belts around my body. “Call Malachi and—”

“Already have, Captain,” he replied, making me wonder at what point along the way I’d blacked out, and leaving me hoping that I could do it again. Like, right now …

Strong, warm hands lifted me, and somehow, it didn’t hurt, even though I was still at sea with no boat. “We have to remove the bolt,” said Raphael. “I’m assuming you’d like to sleep through that part.”

“Right you are,” I answered, finding myself on my side again, this time on a bed. I turned my head and inhaled hopefully.

No. Not Malachi’s bed. “Where is he?” I whispered before I could stop myself.

Raphael ran his blazing hands over my neck. “He is aware that you are injured and requested to be pulled from the field. Henry is leaving shortly to retrieve him.”