My eyes snapped open. I saw Shade standing with his hands in the air, and I was lying on just the hard… artificial... wood of the bench. I stayed put myself and looked around.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s going on here?”

The policeman didn’t take any notice of me. He’d hit Shade in the head with the butt of the gun. I leapt to my feet and ran over to him, then looked up at him with hatred and fire in my eyes.

“What was that all about? You could have, and telling from how hard you hit him, probably have, given him brain damage! What is wrong with you?”

“Whoa, little lady. Are you the one he shot?”

“The bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit me, but no, he didn’t shoot me. Someone hit his arm and he slipped!” I was hiding my cracking voice with expert skill, despite how distraught I was.