Afterlight - Elle Jasper [119]
Just as fast, Victorian dropped me, and I was shoved—I knew it was hard, but I had no idea how hard until later. I just knew that I crashed against something solid. I didn’t even know who did it. I lay there, my face pressed against the moist moss and damp pine straw of the cemetery grounds, my heart slowing, and my inhalations far apart. My vision became blurred, and the last thing I recalled was my body being lifted. Someone carried me, and I didn’t know who. Through the haze of my vision I saw chaos: bodies on the ground, blood, tall dark men, opaque eyes, others in the shadows. I felt light, weightless, and my breathing became faint. I wanted my brother. I wanted Eli. Then, complete and total blackness engulfed me. Blackness, and excruciating, mind-numbing pain.
Part 10
TENDENCIES
Sad I am without you.
—Anonymous epitaph, Bonaventure Cemetery
My eyes cracked open slowly, my lids so heavy they felt like steel weights sat upon them. I blinked several times to rid my vision and mind of the cobwebs. Everything was hazy, surreal, and my entire body burned. Like, my joints, my skin burned. Suddenly, I became fully aware of deep pain, and I cringed.
“You’re awake,” a desperate, deep, gentle voice said close to my ear. “Riley?”
“Don’t bother her, boy,” a familiar voice said. “Dat girl dere has been through it now, right? Shoo. I’ll let you know if she wakens all de way.”
“I’m not budging, Estelle,” the voice said.
“Oh,” the familiar voice replied. “Ornery today, dat’s right. I’ll be over dere seein’ to my odder patients, den.”
I forced my eyes to open despite the pain raging through my body. My vision cleared just enough for me to see the silhouette of a man. The longer I stared, the clearer my vision became. Finally, I saw pitch-black hair, pale skin. Beautiful. “Eli.”
“I’m here,” he said against my ear. “How do you feel?”
Memories rushed back so fast, I felt dizzy. “Seth?”
“He’s here,” Eli said. “He’ll be fine.”
Relief washed over me in a heavy wave, and I exhaled. “Thank you.”
“Now,” he continued, and I felt his fingers stroking my arm. “How do you feel?”
I didn’t want to sound like a baby, although it felt as though fire ripped through my veins. “I feel fine.”
“You are a terrible liar, chère,” Eli whispered. “I’ll tell Estelle. She can get you something for the pain.” His soft lips pressed against my forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
I couldn’t move; my body felt stiff and weighted. But my other senses worked fine, and I smelled . . . the salt water. Not old, briny air, but fresh, salty air. A breeze drifted over my face, and I felt the warmth of the sun beaming in through . . . something.
“You’re at Da Island, baby,” said another familiar voice.
I smiled. “Preacher man.” I tried to find his hand, but I couldn’t move.
He found mine, and I felt his large calluses as he cradled my palm. “You know how to make an old man skip a heartbeat, dat’s right,” he said. “I almost lost you, baby. If it wasn’t for dat Eli and his brodders and sister, and his modder and fadder . . .” He let the words drift off. “I’d take a stick to your backside if you was well enough.”
I smiled again. “You can make good on that as soon as I can lift my own arms.”
Finally, my fuzzy sight became clearer; I looked into Preacher’s dark, handsome face. “What happened?” I was on a cot in an open-air cabin on Da Island. Seagulls screamed overhead; the smell of the ocean engulfed me. It was like . . . heaven.
Preacher looked down at me and tapped my nose. “Dat’s a story for your Eli to tell. He was right dere after you passed out.”
“Who threw