Chapter Forty-One

Fiona

I held tight to Duncan'sbelt, trudging across the fast-moving current while dodging flying debris. My hair whipped wildly around me with the slaps of a thousand tiny whips. Slate shingles from the rooftops flew through the air like possessed daggers, knocking people into the water with sickening cracks. I watched in horror as one man's face was ripped off by a projectile. Clutching the bloody mass that was once his nose, he tumbled into the flood. I fought the urge to race after the man and save him, but the water was moving too fast.

More than once I'd thought about transforming into a dragon, using my strength and size to cut through the rapids with ease while my scales deflected airborne projectiles. The skies around us had darkened enough that people might mistake me for a boat or a whale, but I blindly followed Duncan instead, and I couldn't understand why.

Then I remembered Duncan's words to Mrs. Jenkens: "There isn't a force of nature strong enough to keep me from finding my daughter."

I felt humbled and ashamed as I realized Duncan truly loved Safina, the dragoness daughter he hardly knew. Had I been wrong, keeping her from him all these years? A new wave of guilt washed over me when I reminded myself he was the dragonslayer who'd killed my mother. Either way, my heart and conscience were doomed. For how could I not love the man who would risk his life to save our child? Yet how could I love the man who'd taken the life of my mother?

When my dragon-touched senses saw a plank spinning through the air, heading right toward us, I screamed as I tried to push him out of the way. "Look out, Duncan!"

He spun me around, shielding my body right before the board smacked Duncan with a sickening thud. Duncan grunted, hunching over and clutching his chest, and then he proceeded to move forward, despite his injury. He'd been hit hard, for my fingers itched to heal the bruising pain radiating off him.

Then he stiffened before pushing through the current at almost a run. "Safina!" The echo of his scream was lost in the din of the vortex swirling around us.

"What is it, Duncan?" I fought to keep up with him. When he didn't answer, my head spun with fear, for I knew without a doubt Duncan had seen something happen to our child.

* * *

Abby

"GAbrIEL, STAY AWAKE. Keep pressure on the wound."

I shook Gabriel, whose head lolled to the side. His hand dropped in the water that swirled around his legs. I picked up his hand, forcibly pressing it against the bulging, bloody mess protruding from his stomach. Though I tried not to look at it, I'd seen enough to know Gabriel had been gutted like a fish.

I had no idea where I found the strength to take control of the situation. My best friend was in labor, Gabriel was dying, and the very walls that shielded us from disaster were on the verge of toppling as the wind and water shook the house like a lone ship being tossed about in a gale. Thunderous, dark rumbling and an incessant howling filled my ears, along with a cacophony of cries from lost souls swept into the maelstrom. I didn't want to think that soon my friends and I would join them.

Charlotte leaned back on the stairs, her feet precariously close to the rising waters. She panted heavily in between grunts. "Teddy never came for me. He has to be dead," she wailed.

"Charlotte, keep the faith, please." I squeezed my friend's hand tight. "He has to be alive. I just know it." I stood, mustering my most stern expression. "Now listen, you two. The water is coming in too fast. We need to get upstairs. I can't carry you both. You will need to walk."

I nervously eyed the large bay window. Though I'd managed to stack furniture in front of it, the glass wouldn't hold much longer. I didn't wish to be downstairs when it shattered.

"Help her," Gabriel groaned. "Leave me."

I planted my hands on my hips. "I'm not leaving you."

Gabriel looked feebly down at his wound. "I can't move."

"You can and you will," I commanded, "or else Safina will kill us both."

"Abby, I don't want my baby to grow up in an orphanage." Light flickering from a nearby candle cast long shadows across Charlotte's face, but even in the low light, agony was etched into Charlotte's features as she pushed and panted like a wounded animal breathing her last breaths.

"She won't, Charlotte." I screwed up my face as I held my hand out. "Now get up."

Charlotte screamed, buckling. And then much to my horror, blood gushed between Charlotte's legs.

"Charlotte!" I fell beside my friend.

Charlotte's red face paled to a ghostly shade of white as more blood poured from her. Her eyes glassed over, and she grasped my wrist with a trembling hand. "Abby, I'm dying."

"Listen to me, Charlotte," I said in the sternest voice I could manage, fighting to hold back the dam of tears that threatened to rival the flood outside. "You are not dying. You are not leaving Teddy and your child behind."

"Teddy is already gone," Charlotte whimpered. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

I screamed when I heard a giant crash. Instinctively, I threw myself on top of Charlotte as we were sprayed with glass from the shattered parlor window. Furniture toppled as wind barreled into the room like a herd of wild horses.

"Oh, Lord have mercy!" I screamed. "Someone save us!"

* * *

Fiona

"SAFINA!" I RUSHED INTOthe room, my gaze tunneling on the two girls on the staircase. "Where's Safina?"

Abby looked at me with wild eyes. "Dr. Straw took her!" she yelled, though the wind seemed to throw back her every word. "Please," she begged as she shook glass out of her hair and motioned to Charlotte. "She's dying." She nodded to Gabriel. "And the doctor stabbed him in the gut."

My heart clenched and then hammered. If I went after Safina, Gabriel and Charlotte would surely die, but if I didn't hurry, I prolonged Safina's danger. I had no choice but to heal Gabriel and Charlotte, for Safina would never forgive me if I didn't, and I wouldn't forgive myself if I allowed them to die.

The water was rushing into the house at an alarming rate, and the wind from the open window threatened to flatten us all. Duncan and I busted open the back doors and windows to allow better airflow, and then I helped him carry the injured upstairs.

Duncan pulled a mattress out of one of the bedrooms and laid it in the hallway, settling Charlotte on top of it while I huddled over Gabriel in the corner. Using only the light from a flickering candle as a guide, I worked my hands over his wound. I winced at the sight of his guts pouring out of his stomach and knew he wouldn't have lived much longer. Already, his pallor had turned a sickly shade of gray.

At the same time, Charlotte was moaning in agony. Even though the pregnant woman was at the other end of the hall, I could feel the pain rolling through the girl as her lifeblood poured out of her body. I focused again on Gabriel. He had to be healed first, so he could prevent the house from collapsing.

Duncan stood over me, breaking my concentration. "I have to leave you with them, lass. I must find Safina."

I reluctantly nodded my agreement. I didn't want Duncan going without me. The storm was worsening. What if Duncan or Safina were injured and needed my care?

Abby left Charlotte's side and tugged on Duncan's shirt sleeve. "Mr. MacQuoid, Dr. Straw said to meet him at Broadway and 30th at half past six."

Duncan shook his head. "I need not wait that long."

I rose and wiped my bloody hands on my dress. "Duncan, please be careful," I said in the most even tone I could manage. After all, I wanted him to survive so he ensured the safety of our child.

There was an intensity in his eyes that rivaled the winds that howled all around us. "Heal Gabriel. You must get him back downstairs to protect the house." He grabbed my shoulders, squeezing hard as he beseechingly searched my gaze. "And if this house should crumble, for God's sake, Fiona, do not stay in your mortal state."

I froze. He was telling me to transform into a dragon and risk all of Galveston discovering my secret. "People will see."

"I don't care what they see." His voice broke, shattering like the glass that littered the stairwell. "I only care that you live."

At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to kiss Duncan MacQuoid. I leaned into him, and he leaned into me, both of us swaying as tree branches bending in the wind. But then my breath caught in my throat, the image of my mother with a spear protruding from her chest flashing in my mind. No, I couldn't willingly kiss the man who'd murdered my mother. I stepped back, needing to put as much distance between myself and his alluring, pale eyes and seductive, full lips as possible.

He flinched as if he'd been slapped, a look of pain flashing in his eyes before he turned on his heel and raced down the stairs.

I knew not what propelled my foolish feet forward, but I couldn't help but follow him, feeling the pull of my heartstrings as he ran away. I didn't like the way things stood between us and damn me for wanting to make amends. Besides, if I didn't speak to him now, I might never get another chance.

"Duncan!"

He turned on the bottom step, looking impatiently up at me. "What is it, lass?"

There was so much I wanted to say to him, but so much I could never say. Besides, I was wasting precious time keeping him here. I twisted the frayed hem of my shirt sleeve while chewing my lower lip. "Bring back our child please," I said, not trusting myself to say more.

The wind plastered his wet shirt to his body, revealing a finely sculpted chest and arms. "I will," he said with finality, the fine lines framing his eyes and mouth hardening. "Or I will die trying."

* * *

Josef

JOSEF HAD NEVER BEFOREweathered a force of nature so severe. The wind howled and the waters raged, threatening to tear apart their little home, while all other houses around them splintered and crumbled into the surge. As they neared the heart of the hurricane, becoming one with the wind was no longer enough. Josef had to surrender himself to the storm, his skin cracking and his old bones splintering as the fury raged around him.

Sometime during the night, he heard Mrs. Jenkens cry out and fall over. His grandsons and Moses had called for his help as they struggled to breathe life back into her body, but he'd gone too far now, caught up in the storm's clutches. If he tried to release himself, it would mean certain death for all within the house.

As his arteries strained to keep blood pumping through a weakened heart, he knew his end was near as well. His only hope was to stay alive long enough to weather the storm.