“Ben!” I yelled when he started to hang up on me. “Nova was attacked at the high school. The library is turned upside down, and there are two men…” I glanced at them, still motionless, but it appeared the blood had finally stopped flooding out of them. “I, uh, think they might be dead.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I’m on my way. Are you or Nova hurt?”
“I’m fine.” I glanced over at Nova, who was trying to call her best friend without slicing her fingers open on the shattered screen of her phone. “Nova’s arm is bleeding, and she’s moving kind of slow, like she’s in pain. I think she might be in shock.”
“I’ll be there in two minutes,” he promised. “Stay together.”
The phone went silent, and I focused back on my cousin. She’d finally gotten her phone to work, and she held it to her it away from her ear so she didn’t cut herself on the destroyed screen. “H-Hey,” she said. “Okay, so don’t freak out…”
“What’s wrong?” I heard Ryan demand. “Nova? Tell me!”
“So, um, I think Ramirez might be a little upset with you for some reason.” She grimaced. She blinked a few times then looked down at her arm. “When did that happen?” she muttered to herself. “Shit, I think I need stitches.”
“Nova!” Ryan roared. “Why do you need stitches?”
She was still examining her arm, not even seeming to hear him. I walked over to her and took the phone from her slack fingers. “Ryan?” I spoke softly into the phone, making sure to not let it touch my ear. By the looks of it, Nova was lucky to have even gotten a call through. I doubted I could make the speaker option work. “It’s River.”
“River,” he exploded. “Is Nova okay? She’s scaring me.”
I
wasn’t sure how to answer that without freaking him out more than he already sounded. The times I’d been around him, he’d always been so cool and laid-back, but now he seemed…unstable. “Do you know a person named Mathias Ramirez?” I asked, hoping I could ease him into it.
“Yes,” he gritted out. “Did he do something? Is he there? I’ll kill him with my bare hands!”
“He’s not here,” I hurriedly assured him. “But two men attacked Nova…” I looked around at the mess. It looked like a hurricane had blown through the room. “Or they tried to. They’re…well, the men are dead now.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. “Dead?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Pretty sure, at least.”
“But how is Nova? Is she hurt?” I could hear him breathing heavily. “Tell me, River. I need to know.”
“She will probably need stitches. There’s a large cut on her arm.” I couldn’t tell how deep it was from all the blood, but I could make out it was a long slice that went down her bicep. “She seems a little dazed too, but other than that, I think she’s okay.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His voice sounded choked. “Please watch over her for me.”
“I will,” I promised just as I heard sirens in the distance. “Ben is here. I should go. Nova needs to get to the hospital.”
“Right,” he rasped. “Tell her…”
I reached out and stroked my free hand over Nova’s hair. “I think she already knows,” I murmured. “Don’t worry. I’ve got her.”
“Thank you,” he breathed before the phone went silent.
Ben burst through the doors only a few moments later, followed by two of his deputies. All three of them had their guns drawn, but when they saw us, they quickly lowered them.
The sheriff rushed forward, his eyes taking in everything all at once. “Ambulance,” he ordered the other two men. His eyes still glued to Nova and me, he bent and checked the pulse of the guy who didn’t have a knife sticking from his neck. “And the medical examiner.” Straightening, Ben crossed the remaining distance between us and carefully pulled Nova into his arms.
She blinked up at him a few times before focusing on his face. “Hi,” she said in a small voice.
Cradling her head in one of his huge hands, he wrapped the other around her and rocked her against him. “Thank Christ you’re okay,” he breathed.
She jerked back from him. “I’m getting blood all over you.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time one of you Hannigans got me covered in blood,” he grumbled. Bending, he picked her up in his arms just as more sirens filled the air. “River, sweetheart, call Raven. Tell her to have Flick and Jet meet us at the hospital.”
Fifteen