Page 44 of Their Stormy Reunion

Kind of.

“Actually, geraniums would be better since they do well in the shade. I know I have some that I bought last week that are still in their containers back near the shed. Can you go get those along with some mulch and a trowel?”

“Sure. I’ll go check on Dad first.”

“I just did. He’s asleep.”

“Oh, okay.” I nodded. I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head and walked to the side of the house where the shed was. Because I grew up with Mom, I was able to easily identify which flowers were the geraniums amongst all the different flowers she had recently purchased. I turned to the shed and stopped short. The combination lock wasn’t on the shed. I looked down on the ground, and it wasn’t there either.

What the hell?

I couldn’t imagine Mom unlocking the shed and then pocketing the lock, but then again, she’d been awfully stressed lately. I opened the door wide to let in light and ducked my head to get inside. I knew the mulch was on the back shelf, and the trowel was with the gardening tools on the right next to the door. I grabbed the partially filled bag of mulch and started to turn when something scraped my ankle.

“Ouch!”

I turned, expecting to see some barbed wire or a thorny branch.

Nothing.

I took two steps toward the tool shelf, but my leg started to give way. Pain bloomed like a wildfire, hot and searing. I started to panic.

What the fuck?

That’s when I saw it. A copperhead slithering out of the shed’s doorway, its thick, patterned body moving with an eerie grace. I sucked in a deep breath—or tried to. My pulse shot up as I saw another one a few feet outside the shed, coiled like it was waiting for me.

I took a step backward, but my leg faltered as fire erupted in my veins, spreading upward. I whimpered; the sound barely audible to my own ears. I dropped the bag of open mulch and dirt dripped down my front, adding to my misery, as it finally fell on my foot.

“Ow.” My voice wavered, weak and small. Was that even me?

I looked out again and the snakes were gone. I stumbled out of the shed, my legs trembling. The grass waved like the ocean in a storm. The geraniums didn’t just shimmer in the sunlight, they glowed like neon lights in Vegas.

I took one more step, then crumpled onto the flowers.

“Michael!” I tried to scream, but his name came out as a hiss from my swollen throat. Could he even hear me? Could my mother?

I opened my mouth to try again, but pain ripped through my ankle and when I glanced down my gut clenched. My ankle was gargantuan and red. The lava inside was going to make it explode if I didn’t get help.

“It hurts,” I whispered as tears blurred my vision.

“Michael! Help me!” Was I louder? Please God, let him hear me this time. My breath hitched, my chest tightening. The air seemed thinner, harder to draw in.

“Fallon!”

Michael.

My eyes closed in relief.

“Baby, what happened?” His voice was in my ear, so close, but so far away. Was he really here?

“Talk to me, Fallon.”

“Fire,” I hissed through clenched teeth. The world spun as his shadow loomed over me.

“Snakebite,” a voice said. “Look at her ankle.”

A hand brushed against my swollen skin. Pain exploded. A scream ripped from my throat, or maybe it was just in my head. Darkness started to seep along the edges of my vision.

“Fallon, stay with me.” Michael sounded frantic. “Zarek, she’s going into anaphylactic shock! Get the med kit from my truck. There’s EpiPens in it. Move!”