Chapter 26
Semidio
I try to tell Ketchup and Zander to follow the van, but neither of them listens to me. They both fall to the ground at my feet, flinging out questions.
“I’m fine!” I shout at them. “You should have followed Ivy.”
“You’re more important,” Zander says.
Ketchup’s answering scowl gets my brother’s hackles up, but I’m sure Ketchup’s earlier words are still too fresh for him to argue. Zander sinks back to his shame while Ketchup tries to inspect my arm. His simple touch makes me yelp in pain.
“Don’t touch it!” I snap at him.
“Sorry. I just wanted to see how bad it is.”
It’s bad, but I’ll live. “Let Zander take care of it, please. He knows what to do.”
Put out, but not stupid, Ketchup folds his arms over his chest. His eagle eye is zeroed in on my brother. He watches as Zander gently wraps his hands around my forearm. The sudden jerk and crack sends a wave of nausea through me. Ketchup nearly loses it. Only my hand grabbing a fistful of shirt and holding him back stops him from punching Zander again.
“He had to set the breaks,” I hiss though the pain.
“Breaks?” Ketchup asks. “How many?”
I wince as Zander manipulates another misplaced bone. “Three, at least.”
“Four,” Zander corrects. “One of your fingers is broken.”
Ketchup stops trying to glare my brother to death and turns all his focus on me. He shifts me gently so my head is lying in his lap. The soft stroke of his fingers on my skin leeches out the lingering pain. I sigh as my bones begin to stitch themselves back together. It still hurts like the dickens, but it is beginning to ebb. I let myself relax into Ketchup’s embrace just for a little while.
“Dude, are you sucking up her pain, or whatever it is you do?” Ketchup accuses Zander, interrupting my quiet healing time.
I open my eyes to see Zander still holding onto my arm, his eyes closed. He’s too absorbed to even answer Ketchup. When I see Ketchup’s mouth open to demand an answer, I say, “Leave him alone, Ketchup. It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt me at all for him to feed on my pain. Sometimes it’s the only way we can keep our hunger in check. After what he went through with Ivy, he’s got to be ravenous. Be glad he’s skimming off me and not you.”
He shakes his head. “That’s sick.”
“It’s what we are,” I say with a sigh.
A few minutes later, my bones are back to normal. Zander can feel it as well and sits back. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“I’m fine.”
Well, as fine as can be. Ketchup helps me back to standing, catching me when I nearly topple over. Healing that many broken bones is no piece of cake. He tries to sweep me into his arms like my personal white knight, but that one I do manage to resist. He continues to hold me up, but I turn my attention back to my brother. “Call Grandma and tell her what happened. I already called her earlier today and gave her the basics, but you better let her know we’re all alive before she does something rash.”
The look on Zander’s face is almost laughable. I don’t think I have ever seen him look so scared in his entire life. I have no sympathy for him at all. I motion for Ketchup to help me to the truck. He gets me there without complaint, but walking away isn’t as easy for him.
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Wicked Hunger
Teen Fiction“Save him and hurt him, don’t save him and hurt him. Pain, either way. Delicious pain. Hunger will be the only one that wins. Hunger always wins.” Vanessa and Zander Roth are good at lying. Their whole life is a giant web of deceit made in an effor...
