Tricked

him, « I agreed. » Just wait a sec, I’m going to fix this. «
    But his hand left my arm and returned to his chest, his eyes squinting shut in pain. This was wrong. The poison shouldn’t be acting this quickly. I should have time to break down the toxins so the ambulance could get here. I should be able to keep him alive until he got to the hospital, where they’d have the antidote for alkaloid poisoning.
    » Frank, are you having a heart attack? « My fingers sought the pulse in his neck and found it, but then it disappeared even as all the tension drained from his limbs.
    » No! « I flung his hand away from his chest and began CPR. There are no bindings to restart a stopped heart. All healing depends on a functioning circulatory system, and all life needs a will to live. I began shouting at him as I pressed his chest. » Frank, come back! I have something to tell you! Don’t go, Frank! There’s so much I can teach you, and I need you to teach me! Frank! Breathe! «
    A chill wrapped itself around me, and I scrambled away from Frank and turned on my faerie specs, dreading what I would see but needing the confirmation. Frank’s ch’áádii was there, looking at me. It was a pale, weak, nebulous thing compared to Darren’s, barely more than a whisper of breath in the cold, and it meant Frank wasn’t going to come back. It also meant that most of Frank, gods bless him, was already in harmony with the universe. I knelt there, defeated, and stared at it. It returned my stare with cold equanimity.
    » All right, then, Frank, « I said softly, holding out my arm and letting the ch’áádii wrap itself around me and disperse. » Those were good last words. Go and be at peace. «
    Frank’s ch’áádii was merely the smallest wisp of a ghost, and if it had any power to affect the living, I can’t imagine it was capable of doing much beyond bringing on a bad mood. It wasn’t the only ch’áádii hanging around, however. When I turned around to see the ch’áádiis of the skinwalkers, I flinched backward. Their ch’áádiis were gothic horrors, larger than the men themselves, and far, far worse than Darren’s. They pulsed and writhed with disharmony, and I realized that they each had two sets of eyes. There were two things attached to those bodies, and they were intertwined as well—a black menace and a blacker one.
    » Well, hello there, First World spirits, « I said. » Guess you’re bound to those men a bit closer than you’d wish right now. «
    The nearest one—the one Frank had killed—lunged in my direction. I was beyond the length of its metaphorical chain, however, and grateful for it. I wasn’t anxious to plunge my arm into that darkness; it wasn’t a simple ch’áádii to disperse but a being with its own identity and a sense of purpose.
    The rumble of an engine and the yellow cones of headlights tore my gaze away from the spooky eyes in the darkness. I dispelled my faerie specs but kept the night vision.
    » Granuaile! « I called. » It’s okay to come out. See who’s in the truck. «
    I retrieved my clothes, moving a bit gingerly due to my injured ribs. I pulled on my jeans but left off the shirt, since my wounds weren’t fully closed and still rather bloody. I wiped some of the blood off with the shirt and focused my efforts on closing up the skin.
    When the truck engine cut off, I heard two doors slam. Then Granuaile’s voice rang out, raw with anger.
    » You got a lot of nerve showing up now, you bastard! «
    It was Coyote. And he’d brought a friend.

Chapter 30
    I searched frantically for Moralltach. I didn’t know what Coyote’s intentions were, but his arrival at this particular moment spoke of calculation on his part. He was far too conveniently present after the skinwalkers had been dispatched. Stepping carefully around the caltrops, I found the sword and picked it up, then minced my steps again going the other way so that I could give Coyote my two cents’ worth.
    » Now, calm down there, Miss Druid, « he was saying. » I ain’t the bad guy here, not by a long shot. «
    » Well, you’re damn sure the coward here, « she said.
    » Coward, you say? Who let himself get chopped to pieces for the sake of your master? Who let himself be a doggie treat for a giant hound from Hel? Was that a coward that did that? «
    » Where have you been while we’ve been dealing with your mess? « she demanded, ignoring his retort.
    » I wouldn’t mind hearing the answer to that