“Well.” Reece licked his lips. “We had, um, a—a blanket—of sorts—anyway, the point is, you two need to get out of here.”
“We are not leaving you and the others,” Cora said heatedly.
“I guarantee Evan is on his way, if not already here,” Reece said. “The others won’t know he’s the Dead Man, and they won’t be prepared for his voice or that knockout touch. He’s going to be taking empaths down like dominoes.”
“Yeah,” said Alex. “Empaths likeyou.”
“No, I’ll be fine because—never mind,” Reece said hurriedly. “Jamey’s here too, and all of Stone Solutions’ response.”
“You’ve got insight into your detective sister,” Cora said. “What is the smartest play we can make here?”
Reece closed his eyes for a long moment, then said, “Scatter and escape. If I can get any of the others out too, I will, but some of us need to stay free today so that we can rescue the ones who get caught. You both need to run.”
Not a lie. Alex met Cora’s eyes, which mirrored his own turmoil. It hurt like physical pain to think of abandoning the other empaths to capture, but if it was their best chance, then it was their best chance.
“Okay.” Cora let out a long breath. “Okay. We’ll go. Be safe.”
The three of them hugged tightly, and then Reece was gone, running back down the hall toward the suites.
Alex and Cora went the opposite way. Alex kept his eyes peeled for the first exit sign as they backtracked through the food court.
As he started to point to an internal staircase, he felt a spike of dismay from Cora just as he heard her voice.“Stop!”
Cora took off at a run, the wrong way, toward the closest stairs down into the stadium stands. Alex tried to catch her sleeve, only to nearly slip on spilled soda. “Cora!”
He chased after her. Down in the stands a few sections over, a woman he vaguely recognized was stumbling backwards through a lower row of seats as two thralls advanced on her. But as she levered herself over the back of a seat and jumped, a thrall grabbed her ankle. She tumbled into the next row with her leg at an unnatural angle.
As the woman’s cry of pain reached his ears, anger poured off Cora so strongly Alex felt it against his skin like the wind. The two thralls dropped into balls, cowering between the seats.Alex finally placed the woman: one of the two people that Cora had wanted to spare at Polaris. “Who is she?”
“A doctor who was used to try to corrupt her empath boyfriend. He didn’t make it. She still has scars.” Cora met Alex’s eyes. “She tried to help me at Polaris. Look at her, Alex. She’s not walking out of here on her own. The thralls will be back on her if I leave.”
The woman was still crumped in the stands between rows, hands clutching her shin, her face gone very pale. Alex swore quietly. “Evan and St. James are gonna get this place under control—”
“Not soon enough,” Cora said. “One of us needs to stay free. You go. Get the hell out of here.”
None of her words had been lies. Alex ran a hand over his face. “I’ll come for you,” he promised. “Wherever they take you, I’ll find you and I’ll come for you, forallof you.”
“I know.” Cora stretched up and kissed his cheek like a sister. “Go,” she said again.
She started down the stairs into the stands, toward the other woman. Alex turned and sprinted back up the stairs. He reached the exit he’d seen before and darted into that stairwell.
But as he did, his phone chimed. He yanked it out and glanced at the screen.
Gretel:I don’t know if the same man murdered both our parents, but Charles Stone murdered mine. He has all the power and a million escape routes.
Gretel:But I still want justice. And I won’t let this go.
He read the rest of her texts, his eyes narrowing, then jammed his phone back in his pocket. He’d make one quickstop before he left, because Charles Stone might have power, but so did Alex.
“Evan!”
Grayson heard his name. Then his eyes found St. James, sprinting toward him through the upper-level club space. Her face was streaked with red. “You all right—”
“It’s not mine,” she promised, wiping distractedly at the blood. “It’s ugly in here.” They pivoted in sync, matching each other’s quick pace as they headed for the railing. “Where have you been?”
“We’re gonna need a lot more time than we have now for that story,” Grayson said as they leaned on the railing and scanned the field. “Have you seen Reece in this mess?”
“He saved my life.” When Grayson glanced at her, she added, “They’re not beyond hope, Evan. We can’t give up on him—on any of them.”
