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Back The Enemy Save as PDF
Chapters (69)
  1. Table of Contents
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
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  10. 9
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They hadn’t gone three steps when there was a movement. Something darted out of the shadows and skidded to an alarmed halt in front of them. It was Orion, Nick and Rachel’s ginger cat. It put its back up, fur on end, and gave a hideous squalling shriek.

Sam jumped back in shock and then swallowed hard as the door to Nick and Rachel’s car slid open with a harsh scrape of metal, and there was Nick with a face like fury.

“Hey!” he called out. “Where do you think you’re going?”

48

Does that hurt?”

“Yes!”

“Does that?”

“Yes—everything hurts!”

Maeve sat back in her chair and tried to give Maxie a reassuring smile.

“Well, I don’t think your arm’s broken,” she said. “It could have a small fracture, but I don’t think so. It’s very badly bruised.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that.”

“You’re a terrible patient, you know.”

“I don’t want to be a patient. What about my ribs?”

“They could well be broken. But there’s no bones sticking out or anything. You can’t do much for cracked ribs. You just have to be careful. And try not to laugh.”

“That’ll be easy.”

Maxie stared up at the ornate ceiling of the ballroom. All wedding-cake plasterwork with gold leaf and fancy bits and pieces. Dusty chandeliers dangling down all over the place. Funny how quickly you got used to all this.

“Maybe you should go up to the sick bay with Blue,” said Maeve. “Let Rose and her nurses look after you. They’re pretty organized up there.”

“No,” said Maxie. “I’m not putting myself in their hands. I’ll be all right.”

She didn’t feel all right. Her side was one big bruise, and she could barely move her arm.

And she couldn’t stop thinking about Freak.

They’d buried him in the palace gardens that morning, as soon as they’d got back from the fight. Standing in the rain, everyone silent and miserable. Maxie had wanted to say a few words, like Freak had done when they’d burned Arran’s body, but she had nothing to say.

“I’ll get you some more painkillers,” said Maeve.

“Thanks.”

“And try to think positive thoughts. You’ll get better much quicker.”

“Positive thoughts . . . ? Right.”

“I know it’s hard.”

“The idea was, Maeve, that when we got here everything was going to be all right. But it isn’t. Everything’s crap.”

“Come on,” said Maeve. “Don’t forget so soon what it was really like back at Waitrose. It was hell. There was one less of us nearly every week.”

“At least before, we knew where we were. We were friends. We stuck together. Now there are too many of us. We’re falling apart. Losing touch with each other. It’s too complicated.”