“Did anyone see Sebastian move? How long has he been there? He could be fighting hypothermia.”
“He was gone before I got up this morning.” She started to cry. “I went to call him, but my phone was already blowing up from the video. He must have gone crazy when he saw it. Do you think he—”
“It was foggy last night. I’m sure he wandered off-course and crashed somehow.” I wasn’t ready to believe anything else. “He was dazed after the accident. He was probably looking for help when he fell.”
“Sure.” She grabbed my hand. “That could have happened here easily. There was no light.”
“The fog was thick. No visibility.”
“Right. It was bad even when you walked me back.”
“I walked Sebastian home too. We had to use a flashlight and stay on the gravel or we’d have ended up lost then.”
“So it could just be he was burning off steam.” While we’d been talking, Deacon had been nearby, listening. I couldn’t read his face. Did he think Sebastian had crashed on purpose? Jumped on purpose?
Deacon had been unhappy with Sebastian from the beginning.
Whatever he thought happened, this definitely confirmed his bias.
“Hang on,” I murmured as if Sebastian could hear me. “Hang on, hang on, help is on the way.”
But the ledge was so small. Four feet wide, maybe. What if Sebastian startled when he woke up, rolled over, and fell the rest of the way?
The person I’d put in charge of the hybrids came along the pathway and looked on, like practically everyone else on this misbegotten production.
Were theytryingto make me crazy?
“Hey. You. Alan.” I shouted. “Where are my hybrids? You’re supposed to be watching them.”
“I put them in their crates in the van.”
“You’re not supposed to go near them.”
“Sue me.” The little fucker shrugged. “They’re better off in their crates with all the emergency vehicles rolling into the clearing. There are people everywhere.”
I was forced to admit he might have been right about that.
“They’re fine, man.” I made a mental note to kill the asshole at a more convenient time. “Chill. I get that they’re special.”
The weather would eventually warm up.
I wouldn’t leave them locked in a car, even for a few minutes with the sun out, but just then, my naked beating heart seemed to have fallen out of my body, and it was running between all the things and people I cared about—Taggart, Ariel, Hades and Persephone, Morrigan, Molly, and of course Sebastian.
Still, pale Sebastian, who looked too much like paintings of his tortured namesake saint for my liking, thank you very much.
I saw the helicopter was a network news aircraft. Between that and the thunder of booted feet as the rescue team deployed a basket stretcher for Sebastian, my triggers were getting a real workout.
A medic rappelled down to stabilize Sebastian’s neck and treat his immediate needs before they strapped him in the basket and winched him the twelve or fifteen feet to safety.
He hadn’t regained consciousness. That wasn’t a good sign.
Up close, his face was a mass of bruises. Both bones in his left forearm had obviously been broken. His hair was matted with blood.
Morrigan whined as they went past. She tried to push between the EMS personnel to check on her friend and then looked back at me as if to say,help me out here.
“Leash your dog, asshole,” one of the first responders said. “It’s the goddamn law.”
“Sorry.” I called Morrigan to me where I cuddled her and whispered, “Don’t listen to the bad man, Morrigan. You’re such a good girl. You found our friend, Sebastian, didn’t you? You went right to him.”
