“I came to check on you, Meg.” Margo’s lip quivered with emotion as she gently pushed her daughter’s damp hair away from the bloody gash on her forehead. She winced sympathetically.
“You wouldn’t wake up again,” Evan’s voice came from the other side of Maze. She saw the young genius’s light-brown hair fall into his worried eyes as he peered over her coyote’s head to look at her.
“Maze tried all the tricks that have worked before, but nothing would wake you. I knew he wouldn’t hurt you too badly, and I was starting to get desperate. So when he put your arm in his mouth and looked at me, as if he was asking for permission, I told him to go ahead and bite,” Margo explained.
Nodding apologetically, Meg used her good arm to hug the coyote. “I guess you did what you had to do to get me out of there, huh buddy?”
“Meg, please tell me you didn’t go seek out Williams. Please tell me you didn’t do that to yourself again. You promised you wouldn’t!” Alik’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Meg shook her head and felt the world spin. “I didn’t, Ali. I never wanted to go back there again. I got sucked in without even trying. At first, I thought it was just another nightmare, but it wasn’t. I was there, trapped inside Williams’ mind and I—” her voice cracked before she could finish.
“Boys, step out of the room for a moment so Meg can get dressed. We’ll continue this talk in the living room in five minutes.” Margo shooed everyone out and tried to get Maze to leave too. He refused.
Margo gave up and closed the door. She busied herself by walking to Meg’s chest of drawers to find her some clothes. Meg sat up slowly trying to shove Maze off her lap with little success. He whined stubbornly and started doing what any coyote would do when treating an injury. He started licking her arm where he’d resorted to biting her to bring her out of Williams’ torture chamber. His rough tongue worked the blood from the punctures his sharp teeth created, making her tender skin sting.
“Put these on,” Margo said, passing her a T-shirt and bra. She didn’t even bother with the bra, but pulled the T-shirt on obediently. Dr. Winters handed her panties and shorts next. Maze moved off her legs just enough to let her slip into them then stayed right at her side as she slowly stood to walk. Margo frowned even deeper, if that was at all possible, and hurried to drape Meg’s good arm over her shoulder and locking her own arm around her waist to support her daughter. Meg didn’t say anything. She was too humiliated at being so weak that her mother had to hold her like a child. They made their way slowly to the living room arm in arm.
Everyone was there.
I guess I’m getting an intervention after all.
Margo sat her on one side of the dark-blue couch.
It’s the same color as Creed’s eyes
Meg’s mind drifted easily away from the here and now.
Maze jumped onto the couch beside her and licked her face before he continued cleaning her arm. His yellow eyes blinked apologetically up at her as he worked.
“Um, Maze, buddy, I know you’re just trying to help, but how about you let me clean that up properly?” Theo offered, already tearing open some packets of antiseptic. She could see a package of bandages on the side table that were no doubt for her.
Maze stopped licking and stared daggers at Theo, stopping him dead in his tracks when the canine added a low guttural growl.
“O-o-k-a-y, you go right ahead and clean her yourself. I’ll just stand way over here and wait for you to finish,” Theo backed up, wide-eyed and moved to stand next to a desperate and worried looking Cole.
Farrow sat stiffly in a seat by herself on the peripheral of the loose circle formed by the people in the room. She looked anxious and jittery.
After everything she had gone through, her entire bizarre existence leading to this culminating-ly surreal night was just too much for her raw psyche. If she weren’t living it, she’d never believe the story—it was so bleepin’ tragic, it was almost funny.
Meg snorted. Then the snort morphed into a chuckle, which changed into a giggle. So it wasn’t too far a stretch for her to slip into all-out laughter.
The problem with this bout of hilarity was that once started, Meg couldn’t stop, which was too bad considering the level of concern in the room heightened in direct correlation with the hysterics bubbling from her throat.
Maze resumed his work on Meg’s arm. The stinging his attentions caused brought her inappropriate laughter under control. She sank into the couch and chewed her lip. All she wanted was to disappear.