Chapter 11: Nobody's Bleeding

Lena's POV

The rain came back at nine that night, and it came sideways.

Abel tied the two men to the shed's center post with fishing line.

He gave them a bucket and a tarp, and told them that if they wanted a roof they could ask politely.

They didn't ask.

By ten the shed was no place for anyone, and the three of us took Junie down to the cellar.

The two men stayed tied up under the tarp, and Abel said they could drown or learn manners.

I wedged my back into the west corner with Junie against my chest, and Rhys took the east corner, as agreed.

Abel took the middle, flat on his back with his bad leg propped on a crate.

"Wake me if the roof comes in," he said.

"There's no roof," I said. "It's a cellar."

"Then wake me if the floor does."

He was snoring in a minute.

The lantern guttered and the temperature dropped.

I felt it in my wet shirt first, then in my fingers, then in the small body against mine.

Junie's hands were cold.

I tucked the blue blanket tighter around her, and she began to fuss.

It was a thin, cranky sound, and it went through me.

"She's cold," Rhys said from the dark.

"I know."

"You're both cold."

"I know that too."

"Come here."

"Rule two."

"Lena. She's a baby. Nobody's bleeding, I know. It's forty percent less warmth over here and you're shaking."

I was.

I hadn't noticed until he said it.

I stayed where I was for a count of ten.

Then I took the pouch and the baby bag and crossed the cellar on my knees.

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