Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

Jonas with Hannah. They ran her up to the house, where Jonas stripped her clothes off and covered her with blankets. He tore through Jackson’s kitchen to find plastic bottles, fil ing two from the hot kettle and wrapping them in towels to put under Hannah’s arms and a third on her stomach. Jonas covered her head with another blanket and cranked up the heat.
    â€œI’m making you tea, honey, stay there for me,†he encouraged.
    Hannah shivered uncontrol ably, a good sign that her body was reversing the process of hypothermia, a very dangerous condition, but Jonas was taking no chances, and he caught up the phone and demanded an ambulance. Hannah wasn’t going to be happy with him, but it didn’t matter; she was going to the hospital.
    Ilya stumbled in, bent double with Jackson leaning on him, barely able to walk. “I’l strip him,†he told Jonas. “You get El e, she’s covered in blood,†Ilya continued, “and then help me bring the others inside. That fog bank is moving this way and it feels wrong to me. The dog is becoming more and more agitated as it looks out toward the sea. Bomber isn’t like that, he doesn’t spook easily.â€
    Jonas swore, took one last look at Hannah, obviously reluctant to leave her, and then he ran back outside to get El e. Bomber went into attack mode when he approached.
    â€œCal him off, El e,†he snapped impatiently. She was on her knees, her head down, the tangle of red hair covering her face from where it had slipped from the loose knot. He saw her hand move, sliding into the dog’s fur and she whispered to him, settling the dog in place so he gazed at Jonas happily. “Yeah, that’s right, boy, you recognize me. I’m your friend. The one who lets you tear into me on occasion for great fun.â€
    He stepped past the dog and lifted El e’s slight weight into his arms. Immediately he smel ed blood. “Let me look at you.â€
    El e roused herself enough to respond. “Just get my sisters off the beach before the fog is al the way in.†Something was in the fog, searching, seeking, and she knew that something was Stavros. It sounded insane. They’d think she was crazy if she told them, but she knew it in her heart. This was Stavros. Maybe she was creating a larger than life vil ain out of her fear of him and his absolute power, but she believed he could use the fog to look for her. After what had just happened to Hannah, she wasn’t going to take any chances with her family.
    â€œEl e, look at me,†Jonas insisted.
    â€œTrust me, Jonas, you don’t want to look.†Her voice croaked hoarsely.
    Every step Jonas took into the house jarred her. Jonas set her down beside Jackson and the sight of Jackson shivering uncontrol ably beneath blankets, his face pale and his hair wet, smel ing of the sea, set her heart pounding with fear. He could have killed you.
    Jackson’s head came up alertly, his hand reaching unsteadily for her, brushing aside the mass of hair. He gasped when he saw her blood-streaked face. At once, his eyes glittered like two polished black diamonds. Stop using telepathy. You’re burning yourself out and I’m damn well not allowing it. Stop it, Elle, or I pull out of your mind and disconnect right now.
    She gasped with the cruelty of his response. She had saved them, using everything she was and she hadn’t been trying to burn herself out—not on purpose. Not to prevent Stavros from wanting her. She wouldn’t do that. Jackson was thinking that way, a kind of psychic suicide, but she had been trying to help them—hadn’t she? El e covered her face with her hands, unable to look at him or Jonas and Ilya as they brought in Sarah and Joley and laid them in chairs.
    In the distance El e heard the scream of a siren and knew the ambulance was on the way. Hannah wouldn’t like it any more than El e would have, but she was pregnant and no one, least of al Jonas, would ever take a chance with either of their lives. She made an effort to push herself to her feet, but was physical y drained after the use of psychic energy, her arms and legs like lead. She forced herself to crawl across the floor out of the kitchen, not wanting anyone to see her so bloody and ravaged. The paramedics would insist on checking her out and she couldn’t bear that.

    Jackson caught her ankle and