His chest heaved and then stopped. The last thread of fog disappeared.
Ryan was dead.
I’d wasted too much time.
Every inch of my body ached when I stumbled toward her. My hands shot into the pink water, gripped Kate’s shoulders, and pulled her out. She was unnaturally heavy, as if her body had soaked up loads of water. Her head lolled to the side, her face slack as I lowered her to the ground. The gash on her forehead had stopped bleeding.
I pressed my fingertips harder into her skin, trying to find her pulse. There was none. My hands flew over her throat, prodding and touching. Choking fear gripped my chest. Not again.
I wiped the tears from my eyes. Crying over Kate; I’d never thought that day would come. I pressed my palms against her rib cage and started CPR. Three pushes. One, two, three. I leaned over her and released my air into her lungs. Seconds dragged by, maybe minutes. My arms ached, but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, I’d admit defeat. I wouldn’t allow it; wouldn’t let him take another life. Not when he’d already taken Devon.
“Let me,” a male voice said.
A cry ripped from my throat, leaving it raw. I whirled around and my heart must have skipped a beat. Leaning against the doorframe, clothes ripped and bloody, his hair still matted with blood, stood Devon. He couldn’t be alive. It was absolutely impossible.
But there he was.
He took a shaky step closer. Struggling with every motion, he dropped to his knees beside me. He was so close that I could see the hole in his head had closed and a thin layer of skin had grown over it.
I blinked. None of this was possible.
He braced himself on his thighs and breathed in as if he had to get used to being alive again. He turned his head to look at me. “You aren’t Madison. I should have realized it sooner, but believing the lie was easier.”
Without waiting for me to say anything, he placed his hands on Kate. One on her rib cage, one on her cheek. The color of his face turned from white to sickly gray and his eyes narrowed in concentration.
“What are you doing?”
Suddenly I heard the faint intake of breath. At first I thought I’d imagined it but then Kate’s chest heaved under his hand. I cradled her head in my lap.
“How?” I croaked.
Devon sagged against the tub, shuddering. He looked like he was about to pass out. “Healing others and myself . . . that’s my gift—just like yours is apparently deceit.”
“Why—” I stopped myself.
“I can only heal those that haven’t moved on yet. Madison was gone, even though her body was kept alive. I can’t explain it but I think it’s something about the soul clinging to the body or not. I think it broke Maddy that Ryan was the one who tried to kill her, like somehow it broke her will to live.” He trembled, perspiration glistening on his forehead. “That’s . . . that’s why I couldn’t bring her back when I found her at the lake.” A tear slid down his cheek. “But I allowed myself to believe that you were her, that by some miracle my gift had brought her back from a place no one returns from.”
“But why were you at the lake?”
He stared at his hands, still covered in blood. “I knew that she used to meet there with Yates. I wanted—I don’t really know what I wanted to do when I found them. Maybe punch him in the face.” He rubbed his hands over his jeans as if to clean them, but the blood stuck to his skin. “Please, at least stop pretending to be her now.”
My body shook. I barely felt the rippling, but from the look on Devon’s face I knew that I was no longer Madison.
His chest shuddered with a breath. “She still needs medical treatment. I couldn’t heal her completely; I’m still too weak from healing myself.”
Stroking Kate’s hair, I looked over at Ryan’s body. His eyes were wide and directed at me.
Devon followed my gaze and shook his head. “I won’t bring him back, even if he hasn’t moved on yet. I want him gone.” I wouldn’t have asked him to. Though I wasn’t proud of the feeling, I was glad Ryan was dead.
The front door burst open and the sound of thundering footsteps filled the house.
“We’re here!” I called.
Alec and Major stormed in first, a squad of men in black body armor right behind them.
They took in the sight of the dead body on the ground and then of Kate, Devon, and me. I shivered, my arms wrapped around myself. Alec was at our side in a blink. All three of us were covered in blood, but I was mostly uninjured except for what felt like a gaping hole deep within my chest. “I’m okay,” I whispered as Alec touched the gash over my eyebrow.