Knee bent, I clamped my hand to the part of my leg that hurt the most, making it hurt more. Holding my breath against the wash of pain, I let her take my shoulders and ease me down. Her eyes went to my leg, wet from the calf down. I tried to see around her to Jenks, but he was inside the truck with Peter. 'I need to take your blood pressure and pulse supine, but after that you can sit up until you pass out, for all I care.' 'PITA?' I asked, slapping at her when she took my shoulders and tried to lay me down. You look like you're a worse PITA patient than me.' Lynch,' she said tightly, frowning at the blood I'd left on her lab coat. How had she gotten there so fast? The coming ambulance wasn't even a noise yet. 'Get off!' I exclaimed, pushing, and the narrow-faced woman in a purple lab coat fell away. Not waiting for an answer, he loped to the truck shouting for two men in the crowd to help him, and a woman descended upon me.

'Wait until I get back before hitting that, will you?' he muttered, his eyes darting to my closed grip.

Palming it, I watched him nudge the amulet through the nearby road grate, destroying half the evidence that we were committing insurance fraud. I slipped it to Jenks, and he replaced it with the remote to ignite the NOS. 'Some lady in a lab coat is looking at him.'įumbling, I pulled my half of the inertia-dampening charm from around my neck. He nodded, and I asked, 'Where's the truck driver?' remembering not to call him Nick. Don't hit the button before you get him out. 'Up,' I whispered, cold and light-headed. His arms went around me in a cradle, and with me getting Peter's blood all over him, he carried me to a clear space on the cold pavement. Ow, hey!' I exclaimed when Jenks dragged me across the seat and away from Peter. Maybe my leg was hurt more than I thought? There was a dark, wet stain on my jeans, and my brand-new running shoe now had a red stripe. My leg, twisted behind me, felt kind of cold, and I looked at, going woozy. I let my grip on Peter loosen as it opened. His hands were warm and clean, not sticky like mine - and after struggling with the door to the truck, he reached inside the window to unlatch it. 'Rachel!' Jenks cried, and I realized he was with me.

A fistful of charms