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The abyss didn’t last long. Blinding white light surrounded me. I grunted, shielding my eyes with my arm. Buzzing filled my ears and then stopped. I blinked.
We weren’t in the mall anymore. I lay on my back with Mikey over me. We were in the house, the one that Sloane and I had been in just a few days ago.
Mikey had a syringe in his hand. I reached out to stop him, but I wasn’t fast enough. He plunged it into my chest, injecting the cool liquid into me. But then the wolfsbane began to scorch as it entered my body and coursed through my veins. I was on fire, burning from the inside out.
My vision blurred. My limbs went numb and leaden. My arms flopped to the ground with a thump. I willed them to move so I could protect myself, but they wouldn’t budge.
The world bounced around me, or maybe I was shaking too hard. I couldn’t be sure. Pain exploded in my side, and my vision darkened.
Sloane’s voice filled my head. She sounded muffled, far away. Worse, I could hear the emotion in her voice.
I cracked my eyes open to see her leaning over me, her soft hands cradling my face. Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks, and she was saying something that sounded like my name, like she was calling for me, calling me back to her.
“Sloane.” I mumbled her name over and over again, searching for her like she was a lifeline.
She might as well have been. I needed her. Her and Sawyer both.
Pressure slammed against my neck so I couldn’t breathe, so I couldn’t swallow. My arms refused to budge. They weighed a million pounds.
Mikey appeared and grabbed my hair, seemingly reaching straight through Sloane, like she was a projection and not really here. He got in my face, blocking her from my view.
“She can’t help you now. No one can. You are mine, and I’m going to make you pay for what you did.”
The pressure on my throat loosened, but there was still a tightness in my chest making it so I could only wheeze in and out. I darted my gaze around, looking for Sloane.
She was gone.
Maybe she had never been here. I could’ve imagined her.
Mikey punched me in the gut. The air whooshed out of my lungs, and I wheezed, trying to draw in a breath. “You had it all, you know. Father looked up to you. He trusted you. You and Sawyer both.”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “Father never trusted me or looked up to me. He made it quite clear that I was a failure in his eyes.”
Mikey smacked me in the face. “I’m not talking about now. I mean before…”
I groaned as I tried to fill my lungs with air. They protested, aching with each move I made. Then his words hit me.
Understanding washed over me. Dad had been a different man before Mom and Hannah passed.
“That’s right, you let Mom and Hannah die. Father thought you were perfect until then. Then he saw the truth. You were pathetic and weak. You failed them. Just like you’re going to fail Sloane and Sawyer. I know what he is up to, you know.”
Emotion clogged my throat. He was right. I should have done more to help my mother and sister. Father always thought that and had mentioned it multiple times. It was why he hated me.
Wait! He knows what Sawyer is up to?
This isn’t real.
What if I’d been recaptured? What if this was some form of torture? I could be floating in between consciousness. I could betray my brother by accident and give Mikey the ammunition he needed to take us both out.
Mikey gave me a shake. “You couldn’t save them, and you aren’t going to be here to save your little girlfriend, either.”
He crouched next to me. “Sloane will be mine. I might keep you alive. Just long enough so that you have to watch me with her.”
I ground my teeth for a moment and then spit at him. A bloody glob hit him in the face. “You’ll never touch her.”
I won’t fail you, Sloane. I promise.
The room blurred, and everything shook. I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I reopened them, we weren’t here anymore.
