Page 103 of Undertow

“Oh god,” the voice says, closer.

Soft hands lift my head, turn it slowly from side to side, but I still can’t make my eyes work.

“Julia?” I croak out.

She nods in the fractured light, and I swear there’s a sheen in her eyes.

“I found it. Just like you said. I found your words, Shaw.”

An airlock releases from my lungs. Distant commands from my brain tell my torn lips to curve into a smile.

“You…” I will my voice to obey. “Read it?”

“I did. It was… God, Shaw. Your words are so beautiful. How did you end up in this situation? Who are you?”

A laugh erupts from my chest, but the pain turns it into a choked gasp.

“I don’t even know anymore,” I force out.

Julia drags her arm over her eyes, and before I know it, the biting pressure on my wrists eases. I slump forward when the chains release, and she catches me to help me to the floor.

“What about…” I swallow another surge of pain. “The others?”

“They’re occupied for a while. You’ve given them plenty to keep busy.”

“I gave them nothing.”

“Exactly.”

I lean my aching head back against the wall and close my eyes. Each breath feels like a knife to the lungs.

“I’m going to help you off the island tonight,” Julia says urgently. “I don’t know who you are or why you’re involved in all of this, but I can’t let this go on. You just have to promise you’ll never come back to Undertow and stay out of our feud with the McArthurs.”

This time I do laugh, but it ends with an agonizing wince.

Julia’s eyes narrow into a glare. “I’m trying to help you, Shaw. Or whatever your name is. Is it really Everett Shaw?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“I can’t tell you that for the same reason you can’t help me off the island.”

“I can! I’ll distract whoever is working the toll tonight and?—”

I lift my hand to stop her. “You can’t help me because your family isn’t the one I’d be running from. It’s not Hartford vengeance I fear.”

She quiets, pain filling her face as she scans my broken body. “The McArthurs?”

I close my eyes again. “They will never stop hunting me. And once they learn you helped me, they will never stop hunting you. Not to mention what your own family would do to you. Even if Icould get away, I won’t be responsible for hurting you any more than I already have.”

“So what do we do? I can’t just leave you here to die.”

If only that were an option. I’d take death over anything else right now.

“Who’s Gramps?”

My eyes snap open. The compassion in her face slices into me.