Chapter 19

Tessa’s POV

The bullet hits me squarely in the shoulder.

I let out a scream of pain and sink to the ground, immediately clasping my right hand over the bullet wound in my left shoulder. Blood seeps through my fingers in an instant, gushing out of me at a speed that makes me dizzy and sick to my stomach. The pain is endless a deep, gnawing agony that has me seeing vivid flashes of black and white.

“Please…” I murmur, not sure who I’m pleading to as I kneel at the schoolbus steps. “Please, I–”

Two of my colleagues manage to haul me onto the bus. I stare up at the ceiling as the door slams shut behind me and we hit the road. Every jostle of the schoolbus bumping along the gravelly path sends new waves of pain ricocheting in my body, and tears stream freely down my face as I try my very best not to look too disheveled in front of my students.

All of whom are bawling at the top of their lungs.

“Take us straight to the hospital,” one of my coworkers instructs the bus driver before crouching down beside me. Another starts to tend to the students. “Tessa, are you okay?”

“I…” I gasp out. “It–it hurts!”

A wadded-up cardigan is pressed against the wound. “Hang in there, Tessa,” she says softly.

And I do.

Barely, dizzily, drifting in and out of consciousness, but eventually the bus comes to a stop. Dimly I’m aware of hands on my body, of shouting voices and hurried movements and strong arms pulling me onto a gurney, and then I’m wheeled into the hospital and everything is fluorescent lights and chemical smells.

“We need to remove the bullet,” a doctor says, walking alongside me as I’m rushed through the building. “Do you have any health concerns we should know about before we operate?”

“I–I’m pregnant,” I gasp out, head lolling back and forth. “Please, I don’t–don’t give me any anesthesia.”

The doctor hovers in the doorway as I’m wheeled into a hospital room. A blood bag is hooked up to my left arm, and I watch the viscous red fluid drip into my body.

“We could give you localized anesthesia for the injured site, which would only pose a minimal threat to the fetus–” the doctor begins.

I shake my head firmly. “No threat.”

“We need to get the bullet out–”

“It’ll get out.”

Faster than anyone can react, I extend my good hand and wrap my arms around a pair of long pincers sitting on a nearby table. The fabric around the wound has already been cut away, and with great difficulty, I plunge the pincers into my flesh.

The doctor’s eyes widen. “ Miss Everly, you can’t–”

I grit my teeth, barely able to speak through the excruciating pain radiating through every inch of my battered and near-broken body.

“I’m almost…”

The pincers close around a small metallic object. Blood pours freely down my arm as I yank the silver bullet out of my shoulder and let it clatter onto a metal tray. Sweat drips down from my brow. I stare up at the ceiling, dazed, in pain, and seeing stars.

“Do whatever you need to do for that,” I gasp out, gesturing at the gushing wound on my shoulder. “But no anesthesia.”

The doctor nods once, pale-faced and horrified. I watch as he begins to treat the bullet wound, stitching me up and applying gauze. As he works, my coworkers rush into the room, looking at me in concern.

“How is she?” One asks the doctor.

“Brave, stubborn, but she’ll be just fine,” the doctor assures everyone. “The worst of it is long past. With luck, we’ll have her out of here in just a few hours.”

“Good,” another teacher says. “We managed to get everyone out alive, but in the chaos, a couple of the kids were injured.”

My stomach sinks. “Oh Goddess, how bad?”

“Nothing major!” One says quickly. “Scraped, bumps, bruises, that kind of thing. But the parents are shaken up, understandably, except that they’re furious and threatening to sue…”

“Shit,” I breathe out.

“We’ll need to hold a meeting as soon as you’re out of here,” another teacher says. “I’m so sorry to add this to your plate, but…”

I groan as the doctor packs on another wad of gauze. “No, it–it’s fine.”

“Is there anyone we should call for you?” Another teacher asks.

My eyes widen. “No! Absolutely not. I’ll tell them myself, when I get home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” I nod firmly.

“Alright, I guess. Hope you recover soon, Tessa,” one of my coworkers says, offering me a slight smile.

“Me too,” I say with a light laugh.

The rest of my hospital visit becomes a blur of final wound-mending steps, a stack of prescriptions for meds I’ve been assured are okay for me to take despite my pregnancy, and a whirlwind of discharge forms. Once I’ve called a car to take me to the meeting at the school, the pain in my shoulder has been reduced to a dull throbbing, and I’m feeling far less shaky than I was before.

As soon as I step into the meeting room, though, every head in the room swivels my way, and a cold sense of dread settles over me.

“Glad you could join us, Tessa,” says the principal. “How are you feeling?”

“Not the best,” I reply as I take my seat. “What’s the situation?”

The school’s lawyer leans forward. “I’m gonna level with you,” he says bluntly. “It’s not looking the best for you, Miss Everly. Unfortunately, as the organizer of this camp, you’ve become something of a target for the parents’ anger.”

I scowl at him. “I–what? That’s ridiculous! The rogue encounter was entirely accidental–we weren’t anywhere near their territory!”

“And yet the encounter happened,” the lawyer points out. “A temporary leave of absence could calm the parents’ fury, at least until all of this blows over…”

“But I did nothing wrong!” I protest.

“Tessa is one of the strongest teachers we’ve got here at the school,” the principal cuts in. “And clearly this had nothing to do with her! She risked her own life to save one of our students, for Goddess’s sake.”

The lawyer frowns. “But the publicity–”

“We can handle,” the principal stresses. He turns to look at me. “Return to work as normal as soon as you feel comfortable, Tessa,” he says warmly. “There’s no need for us to dwell on this issue too much.”

I nod slowly. “I–thank you,” I stammer out.

The principal stands up. “If this matter has been resolved, I’d suggest we all go home and rest. It’s been a long and extremely taxing day for all of us.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” I mumble.

I stand up, grab my things, and make my way toward the school’s exit.

But as I try to head outside, I’m met with the bright flashing lights and angry voices of the media and a swarm of furious parents.

“How could you let this happen?” One parent screams in my face. “How irresponsible are you?”

“The school never should have let the kids anywhere near the countryside!” Another parent spits.

“Miss Everly, is it true that you’ve been colluding with the rogues as part of a complex human trafficking ring?” A reporter asks, shoving a microphone into my face.

I stumble back against the doorframe, heart racing. Blood has started to seep through my bandages. “I don’t–I–”

Suddenly a sharp pain in both my ears catches me off guard. I hiss sharply as all the sound in the world cuts out at once. Not again, please, not again…

In front of all these furious parents, with their angry, demanding questions, I can’t understand a word they’re saying.

I try to just push through the crowd and leave, but it’s an endless expanse of bodies before me, and they won’t let me go. I’m stuck and trapped and tangled up in all the chaos and I can’t weave my way out of it and–

Just then, someone grabs my wrist.

I look up and see Evander’s cold expression staring down at me, his disappointment evident.

I can’t hear anything, but his intention is clear, if unspoken.

Come with me.