Page 76 of Oath

I blinked at him, wheezing too hard to throw a comeback.

Instead, I stumbled the last few feet. “If you can’t help—shut up.”

O’Rourke surprised me then, he dropped the axe and moved right to us. Without hesitation, he hauled Bones away from me and over his shoulders in a fireman carry.

“C’mon, beautiful,” he said over his shoulder as he carried Bones out into the night like a rag doll.

I followed, lungs hitching, head pounding.

The air outside hit me like a fist—cold, fresh, real.I stumbled, my balance truly wobbling for the first time and I sat down rather than fall when the loading dock seemed ready to rush up to meet me. In between brutal coughs, the likes of which scraped my throat raw, I sucked in bigger gasps of air. Oh, it hurt to breathe, but I could breathe.

We made it.

We made it.

O’Rourke was suddenly in front of me again, sans Bones this time, and he slid a hand under my legs and around my back before lifting me. I wanted to demand what the hell he was doing, but I kept coughing.

Ground eating strides carried us along the dock and then down to where a catering truck was parked. There was something about the truck, but my mind seemed almost as blurry as my vision at the moment.

“Give her to me,” Voodoo was just there, he pulled me away from O’Rourke and the tension threading all of my muscles just fell away.

“Get her in here,” Legend said from ahead and then he was there too. I was in the back of the catering truck and there was a mask over my face. The cold, pure air helped. But I was still coughing.

Bones sat, collapsed next to me and the engine was already running. As soon as the rear door slid down with a rasp of metal, we were moving. I shifted to look at Bones, searching for his pulse, breath—something.

He looked even worse in here than he had inside. Blood covered half of his face, but he was still here. With us. Someone had slipped a mask over his face and there was a faint fogging on mouth piece.

“Next time,” I rasped, glancing at the guys as I leaned my head back. Goblin licked my cheek. Oh, he was here too. Good boy.

“Next time?” Voodoo prompted.

Honestly, I didn’t really have it in me to say anything at this point so I just waved it off for now.

“You did good, Firecracker,” Voodoo said, running a hand over my hair before he returned his attention to Bones. AB was probably up front with Legend. The plan had gone exactly as they wanted it too.

And precisely how they’d mapped it out.

Save for one thing.

As I leaned back, I met O’Rourke’s stare where he leaned against the other side of the van. His tie was gone, so was his suit jacket, and blood, soot, and more stained his white shirt.

He just shook his head. “Don’t thank me.”

I pulled the mask away from my face for a moment to say, “I wasn’t planning on it.”

His smirk said he didn’t believe me, but I really didn’t care. Voodoo reached over to secure my oxygen mask again. Hopefully their part of the plan went as well as mine.

Though, I did have a next time thought now as I pulled off my shoes.

Next time I didn’t want to do this in heels.

Behind us, the museum burned.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

ALPHABET