If I’d needed further convincing that there was more to the world than I’d believed, I’d just gotten it.

The blond woman sat with her head between her knees, taking deep breaths, for about fifteen minutes. Then she looked up at Williams.

“Can you move her to a room where I can sleep too?”

Williams nodded and picked Callie up carefully. He took her down the hallway.

When he got back, the woman said, “Let’s take a look at those hands.”

Williams knelt in front of her and held out his arms. I noticed then that the backs of his hands and forearms were burned pretty badly. The woman examined the wounds, probing gently at bits of burned cloth that had stuck to the skin.

I watched, expecting to feel sick. It didn’t happen. I guess what I was seeing was small potatoes compared to Callie’s burns.

The scar I’d noticed before on the back of Williams’s left wrist caught my eye. As the woman turned his arm, I saw that it actually went all the way around. It looked like his hand had been cut off and reattached. Was that possible?

“These burns need healing, but it’ll have to wait ’til tomorrow. I’m shot.”

Williams grunted. When it came to languages, he sure had Thuggish down pat.

The woman directed him to a small aerosol can in her bag. She told him to spray his burns, which he did, then pointed to some pills he could take for the pain. He nodded, then thanked her in a serious tone for healing Callie. The blond woman looked a bit surprised. I was glad I wasn’t the only one. Then he got up and left the room. A few seconds later, I heard the front door close.

I felt myself relax marginally. I had no idea who the blond woman was, but at least she wasn’t him.

She looked up at me and said, “I’m Kara. Who’re you?”

“Beth. Beth Ryder.”

“Are you new?”

“Um. I guess.”

Kara grimaced. “Bummer. Well, we can talk about it tomorrow.” She struggled to her feet. “Right now, I need to sleep. That’s the biggest healing I’ve ever done.”

She shambled off down the hallway. I heard a bedroom door close.

I stood there, looking down at the floor, which was still smeared with ash and bits of char where Callie had lain.

The house was quiet. I felt alone. I’d been reborn into a world that looked like the one I knew, but wasn’t. Terror surged through me, dank and suffocating.

A two-attack day. Not good.

When I could move again, I crawled into bed and lay there shaking until sleep came.

Chapter 5