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“Y-yes,” I answered, mind still awash, the ache in my throat dulling.

“You go and rest. Wait for me.”

Yes, I thought as he faded into shadow.Of course I’ll wait.

I awoke in Colson’s to the clamor of many voices, the uneven gait of Gunner, the scratch of his shirt buttons against my cheek.

“Gunner! You’re alive!”

“How many came up, Gun? We heard from Donny they all got out. But it can’t be true, can it?”

“Who’s that? Is that theCharmer?”

“Nina?” This last voice was the only familiar one. Theo. “Good god.Nina!”

I was suddenly jostled. Gunner grunted. “Watch it, Teddy! You want me to fuckin’ drop her?”

“What happened to her?”

“Nothin’. Just got a bit of gas rattlin’ round her head. She’ll be good as new in a couple hours. Leave her be.”

I groaned. Tried to force my eyelids to open.

“Give her to me,” Theo persisted, incensed. “I’ll take her.”

“Get out of the fuckin’ way, Ted.”

“Stop,” I tried to say, but it was barely a whisper. I blinked at the underside of Gunner’s beard, then at Theo. “Put me down. I’ll walk.”

Theo’s face flushed. His pupils dilated. “What happened to her?” he repeated.

“She saved a whole lot of people, that’s what,” Gunner grunted.

Theo’s eyes pierced mine. “You went into a collapsingmine?” he asked, as though I were a reckless child.

“She held up the whole fuckin’ hill, you little shit,” Gunner spat. “Get out o’ the way.”

“I said I’d take her.” Theo made to pull me from Gunner’s arms.

“Put medown.”

“You wanna keep all your teeth, Teddy?”

“For God’ssake!” came another recognizable voice. This one harsher. Tess Colson came into view, the cords of her throat tight and pulsing. “Put the girldown. She’s not a grenade.”

Gunner sighed deeply, grumbled something beneath his breath. Theo released his hold on me and allowed Gunner to settle my feet on the ground.

I stood on loose limbs. “Thank you.”

“Get out o’ my sight, boys,” Tess said, though her eyes were pinned on me. “And Gunner, leave the Charmer boy alone. Pat’s orders, as you well know.”

“She’s unsteady on her feet, Ma—”

“I’ve got her.” And her stare cut so severely, that no further argument could possibly be broached. Gunner rolled his eyes, sneered at Theodore, and dropped my wrist from his grasp. “I ought to thank you, Nina,” he told me, inclining his head. “I was thinkin’ I’d die down there.”

And though he said it to me, I was sure I saw Tess’s chin wobble, her eyes gloss over. By the time Gunner turned to face his mother, it had gone. She patted him on the shoulder as he passed by, averting her eyes, and Gunner paused to lay a swift kiss in her hair. “I’m all right, Ma. You ain’t gotta cry.”

“Go home,” she warned him.“Now.”