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“It’s a possibility,” he said coolly.
I blinked rapidly at him, waiting for him to say something like just kidding, or maybe wink. I checked in with Corey.
Corey shrugged and bobbed his head. It was a real possibility.
I dropped some fries back into my container and pointed to myself with greasy fingers. “But why don’t you just tell them it’s all my fault? I dragged you into it all.”
“Correction,” Corey said. “The only thing you dragged us into was...wait...well not totally everything. We did some of it.”
“And we’re adults and can make our own decisions,” Axel said. “Not only are we putting ourselves into danger, we’ve been dragging other people in. Other teams’ members. Everything we did, we risked them, too.”
True. When things got too bad, we’d had to call in other people. Sometimes kids younger than us. I thought of a few we’d run into during the crazy few months I’d been getting to know the guys and been involved. Everything we’d done so far required more people than just us, and because of it, we were pulling a ton of people into danger when they shouldn’t have been there.
I picked up a fry, but instead of eating it, I broke it into smaller and smaller pieces, dropping them back into the container. “Do you really like the Academy? With all their rules?”
“We owe them a lot,” Corey said.
Before I could think further on it, the phone beside the bed rang.
I hadn’t used it, and no one had ever called on it before.
Corey lifted a brow. Axel blinked slowly but then shrugged. “Either a nurse or the wrong room.”
I didn’t think it was a nurse. There was a speaker built into the bed, and they usually used that. I was the closest, so I reached over and picked up the receiver. “Yeah?” I said, not to be rude, but highly expecting Axel was right that it’d be a wrong number. Who would call?
It was silent on the other end, but I could hear breathing. Maybe my tone made them hesitate. Or did they not hear me? “Hello?” I said, a bit nicer.
“Thanks for answering,” said an oddly familiar woman’s voice. “I’ve been looking for a way in for weeks. I appreciate your contribution.” She paused. “You do sound awfully familiar. Is this Kayli by chance?”
I froze. The more she spoke, the more I recognized her voice. I didn’t know if I should hang up or spit on the phone. “Never heard of her,” I said.
Axel got up, reaching for the phone with a stern look. “Who is it?”
“No,” Alice said to me. “I’d never forget that lovely, grumpy gravel sound to your voice. Don’t you worry. But I don’t have time for you right now. I’ll see you later.” She hung up.
My heart was pounding wildly as Axel took the receiver from my stunned grip. “Who was that?” he asked. He held the phone to his ear and listened to the dead tone, then hung it up.
“Alice,” I said, shaking my head. Of all people, one of the instigators of the plot to kidnap Corey. She’d gotten me and Brandon instead.
The one who I had to thank for being in the hospital in the first place.
The one I still owed the favor of ripping her eyes out when I next saw her.
Axel instantly picked the phone up again and hit a couple of buttons. After a second, he rattled off, “Unknown number.” He hung up and took his own cell phone out and hesitated. “Corey…”
“What did she say?” Corey asked me.
“She didn’t seem to know she was calling me,” I said. “But she said she’d been looking for a way in for weeks, and thanks for—”
The hospital door burst open. Blake Coaltar entered, a nurse following behind, scowling after him and reaching to tug at his elbow.
“You can’t just enter any room,” she said. “I’ve called security.”
“Good,” he told her. His light hair was askew over his face, and he fixed it with one quick sweep of his hand. He wore plain black clothes and some dark brown boots. He turned the full of his foxlike smile at her and gently placed a palm over her hand on his arm. “Tell them to get here soon. We’ll need the help.”
“What’s going on?” Axel said. “What are you doing here?”
“Sorry,” Blake said. He found me, gave me a head to toe once over and a curious one eyebrow lift, maybe at the clothes or something else. “I need to use your phone.”
“Don’t,” Corey said. “Alice just called.”
Blake’s shoulders dropped and the expression on his face was haunting. “I’m too late.”
“Late for what?” I asked.
“She stole my phone. She finally broke in. This number was the last one I entered into it.”
WHEN THE DEVIL CHASES YOU
Security arrived a second later, and we had a scuffle as they barked at Blake to leave.
“Tell them to back off,” Blake said to Axel.
Corey wedged himself between one of the guards and Blake. “It’s okay. He’s a friend.”
“He shouldn’t be here,” the nurse said. “We’re under direct orders…”
“How can you ban someone from a hospital?” Blake asked.
“Don’t take it personally,” Axel said. “We told them to keep you at bay. Because of people like Alice.” His v
oice got more severe near the end, deeper and darker than ever before. “And here you’ve brought her right to us.”
“That wasn’t my intention,” Blake said, raising his palms up as if to show he was unarmed and innocent. “But when I realized she had my phone, I knew she’d call this line and a few more to get my location. She’s looking for me.”
“Why just you?” I asked.
“I was the one they were trying to pin for murder,” he said. “Only their boy Sam confessed, thanks to Raven. So now they’re just straight up angry. Kick the hornet’s nest too much, eventually they come looking to bite. Plain and simple.”
“How’d you get the number?” Axel asked.
Blake lifted an eyebrow. His hair had gotten a little longer, and some locks fell across his eyes, across the gold flecks that sparked with some amusement. “We all have our secrets, don’t we?” He waved to him and to Corey and me. “We should leave.”
“Is she coming here?”
“She might,” he said. “And we don’t want to be here.”
Corey motioned to security, whispering, but I overheard as they were near me. “You should let her in, let her get to this room and find out she’s gone. Give her bad directions as to where Kayli went.”
Panic took over as I realized she could be on her way right now. The Academy people were right to worry. These bad guys were headed into their hospital.
It was Axel’s deep voice that kept me still. “We shouldn’t leave together. Or at the same time.”
“I was just thinking that,” Blake said. “Want to come with me? I could use your help.”
He raised a brow. “With what?” he asked.
“Family matters,” Blake said. “She’s after me. Those are the first people they’ll probably come for, after Kayli. At least she knows they’re coming.”
“What family?”
“My brother,” he said. “He’s got a wife too. Just about to have a baby. I want to make sure to get them out.” He pressed his palms together as if praying. “I wouldn’t ask, but I’m running out of people I can trust right now. Will you help me?”
