Page 79 of The Rut in the Road

Ward let out a snort. “I’m sure,” he replied, then sighed again. “Okay,” he said, addressing us in his no-nonsense business tone. “So we’ve got two hours on, then thirty minutes off, then another two hours, another half hour, and two hours to close out. It’s almost six now, so we’ll eat dinner at eight, then have dessert at ten-thirty.” He offered us a smile. “Mason’s desserts are worth waiting for.”

We both nodded.

“Ready?” he asked.

“You bet,” Vi told him. I was less enthusiastic, but I nodded in agreement, too.

Mason had packedbrownies for dessert, each one carefully wrapped in squares of wax paper, the tops swirled with cream cheese and blackberry jam.

“Gor, feese’re good,” Vi mumbled happily around a mouthful of brownie.

Ward smiled, but the expression was distracted, and he kept glancing over at the window.

I knew why.

The protest outside had gotten both bigger and louder. Someone with a bullhorn was yelling things, although they were muffled by the glass. I wasn’t interested in trying to listen too hard to what they were saying—I knew it would just make me angry and sad all at once.

I wished Raj was there.

I knew he would fuss and worry, and I knew that would probably annoy me, because I didn’tneedhim to be there, but that didn’t change the fact that Iwantedhim with me. I felt safe with him. Protected. But, more than that, I felt like when he was there, all the things that my parents had muttered when they didn’t think Violette was listening about my corrupt magic, all the stares and wrinkled noses and sneers directed at me for reasons I didn’t understand, all the chants and shouts and waved protest signs proclaiming that I wasn’t worthy—none of it mattered when he was there.

Or, rather, I didn’t care about it when he was with me, even though it did matter in the grand scheme of things. I knew that.

I sighed, turning my back to the window.

“Rayn, don’t you want some?” Vi asked me, holding up the brownie pan.

I shook my head. “No, th?—”

Painexplodedacross my temple, and I staggered, feet crunching on the floor, although that didn’t make sense?—

“Getdown!” Ward barked, and I almost objected that if I got down, I was going to cut my hands and knees on the glass.

Glass.

Stupidly, I reached up and touched my fingers to the side of my head, hissing as they make contact with some sort of wound. I stared at them, trying to figure out why they were bright red.

More pain, this time in my shoulder, but it moved me away from the gaping hole where the window had been, the glass still in the frame making a jagged maw of teeth shimmering against the confusion of swirling lights and darkness and shouting, milling people.

A hand grabbed my wrist and pulled, and I lacked the ability to resist as Vi dragged me deeper into the room. “Oh, my God. Oh, myGod.” Her voice shook, and when I managed to focus on her, there were tears on her face.

“Rayn,” Ward commanded, his voice sharp. “Look at me.”

Confused, I turned to try to find his face, then had to look down.

“Why’s he moving like that?” Vi asked.

I wanted to asklike what, but it was hard to make my mouth make the words.

“Because he’s probably concussed,” Ward replied.

I wasn’t sure what, exactly that meant.

“Oh, God,” Vi half-sobbed.

“Violette.” Ward’s voice was firm and steady. “I need you to focus for me, okay?”

She nodded, although her fingers still gripped my wrist.