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“But why can’t he just be nice?”
“He tries. But they’re filling his brain with a dangerous chemical. It makes him believe things about you that aren’t true. It compels him to treat you poorly.”
Jesus. He sounds smarter than me, even at the age of ten. I sit down beside them, crisscrossing my legs. I may never get used to being this close to him, yet being so unearthly far away. It’s madness. It’s a sad hole I’ve fallen into. A warped reality.
“How long do I get to keep you?” she asks, pulling away and wiping the residual tears from her blushed cheeks.
“They think I’m in the isolation tank for the next day and a half. I’ll have to be back before they let me out.” He snuck out of the Demechnef mountain. At the age of freaking ten.
This puts a smile on her face.
“But if you’re asking long term, then, I guess… you can keep me until hell freezes over.” A boyish smirk spreads over his cheeks.
“And even then,” she says back, with a rehearsed nod, like they say this regularly.
My jaw drops. I thought that was something we only recently started saying to each other. When he first said it, I replied randomly. I hadn’t remembered this at all. His words must have triggered a muscle memory to say it back. That must be why he looked so surprised.
My heart swells under my chest bone. I can’t believe we have this much history, this many delicate moments buried in my subconscious. But why would my head injury from the age of fifteen only block out the moments with Kane? How was it that selective?
Kane cleans her cheeks with his thumbs. “Let’s not waste time, okay? We have a lot to do. We’ll swim in the lagoon, have a picnic, then start building that tree house we’ve been talking about.”
They rise on their feet, holding hands as they descend into the woods. I stare at them with wide eyes and questions spinning out of control in my mind.
Is he the reason I was never as damaged as Scarlett? He saved me from the darkness Jack would throw me into. Who was there to save my sister?
It doesn’t take me long to find the jewelry box my father left for me. In a wooden chest by the cellar door that Kane opened, I pull out the small box, weighing it in my hand. Why would he fill it with a small fortune I’ll never need? I’ll never escape this mess. I’ll never be a part of that screwed-up society again.
The lid falls back, revealing the locket and the two wedding rings that hang on either side of it, dangling on the golden chain.
I’m afraid to touch it, knowing I might see Violet again. That is one face I swore I’d never confront again. The way she hurt my Scarlett will never be forgiven.
But… I have to learn what he knew. My fingers scoop it from the pile of precious gems, and my thumbnails snap it open. The muscles across my middle clench at the photo. Violet held one baby in her arms, laughing as Jack kissed her cheek while holding the other baby. She must have just given birth to us.
Grazing my index finger over the photo does the trick. Dizziness falls over me like a drug. My hands and feet tingle while I shift through the darkness, losing my breath as I float backward into my father’s bedroom. I fall against the door, looking at their faces, their uncomfortable stances around the bed. I have never seen them in the same room. Never.
“I won’t do it! Goddamn you, Jack! We can run away with them,” Violet shrieks, holding a swaddled baby to her chest protectively. Her face is bright red, like she’s been slaving over a hot stove and wet with gushing tears.
“They’re everywhere, Vi. We’ll be caught, and then they’ll both be subjected to the experiment. Skylenna is the only one that can stop all of this. That’s what she told us, remember? You and Scarlett can be free. Have a normal life. They just need to believe you both died in childbirth.” Jack’s tone is calm but tormented. I can see in the dark smudges under his pale-green eyes that he’s lost many nights of sleep over this.
Violet shakes her head violently, shedding more tears. “Christ, Jack! This is barbaric. Some woman tells us that Demechnef is coming to put our family through a psychological experiment, and instead of taking the kids and running like hell, you listen to a man that tells us some fucking prophecy? To split them up and let one of them be tortured and traumatized—byyourhand?!”
Jack slides his hands over his face, rubbing his temples slowly. “It’s insane, I know.”
Violet kisses the top of the baby’s head repeatedly.
“But her little boy is going to make sure Skylenna has a happy childhood. We have to trust that she’ll end up okay. The alternative is to run, get caught, and we both get pumped with the drug. We can’t let them both suffer.” I’ve never heard my father sound so lucid, so clear and awake. It’s as if someone cleared his head of the clouds and fog.
Wait—her little boy?Is he talking about Kane? Does that mean Sophia was the one speaking with him? Suddenly, my father unzips his leather jacket, leaning against the bed frame.
My father is—The Leather Man.
I stare at him with wide eyes, like I’m only seeing him for the first time. Sophia and Jack were friends? God, I need to remember that first letter that Dessin had me find in the abandoned Demechnef building. I hardly remember what it says. It made no sense at the time, but maybe it will now.
“We would be putting our trust in a little boy, Jack. How could we even put that kind of responsibility on his shoulders?” Violet sobs, holding the baby close to her cheek. “I can protect my babies. Iwillprotect Skylenna and Scarlett.”
I am suddenly short of breath and unable to stand up straight. Violet is fighting for us. She loved us. How can this woman be so different than the woman I met at Jack’s grave?
Jack drops his head. “Sweetheart, we would die trying. And then Demechnef would have them both. This prophecy—we both saw it, Vi. I don’t know how the Crimson Kres made it possible… but we both saw how it is supposed to play out. We can’t be the reason it fails.”
