Despite the state of my voice, I launch into the story. I tell him everything that happened, starting with the pearl. He stands as still as a statue, taking in every word. When I get to the bit about Caleb falling in and me going after him, his jaw tightens.
“I fled the scene of a crime,” I say. “I just left. But I guess—I didn’t leave. I was taken. Rafe took me while I was unconscious.” The talons dig deeper, only this time they feel less like despair, more like panic. “Which means I have to go back. I have to talk to the police.”
I’m half surprised they aren’t already here. Surely by now, Brady has told them that I was at the quarry, too. That I went after Caleb. That Rafe pulled me from the water and drove me away. But one look toward Jude’s private balcony shows me a night that is calm and quiet—not a single flashing light in sight.
“Selah,” Jude says, his voice steady as he takes the bundle of clothes from my arms and sets them on his bed. “You need to breathe.”
But how can I do that when I almost drowned?
When Rafe saved me?
When Jude is back but not any better?
And standing so close.
The ache in my heart throbs.
I’ve missed him so much, but now he’s here and I can’t touch him, because my touch is poison. Is this how he felt before the curse was broken? Desire and longing tangled into an overwhelming knot of terror? My attention dips to his chest, where the black tendrils have spread, where they will continue to spread if I don’t get a handle on my emotions.
I take a step back.
But Jude stops me halfway.
With one hand, he takes my elbow. With the other, he cups the side of my face. His thumb traces the ridge of my jaw, and my self-control crumbles. With my eyes closed, I lean into his palm. I can feel him drawing me closer, inch by delectable inch. And I can’t stop him. I don’t want to stop him.
His phone buzzes so sharply I startle.
With a look of utmost irritation, he lets go of my face and glances at the screen alight on his nightstand.
“It’s Twig,” he says.
He picks up the phone and presses it against his ear.
I can only hear Jude’s side of the conversation, but it’s obvious by the quick cadence of Twig’s voice that he’s freaked out.
“She’s here with me,” Jude says.
He nods, then nods again as Twig talks fast in his ear.
Jude’s eyes meet mine. “Can you call him back, let him know she’s fine, and she’ll be home shortly?”
My heart jumps into my throat.
I spin in a circle like I might find my phone lying randomly on Jude’s floor, when in fact, I left it in my bedroom before racing out of the house to the quarry.
Hours ago.
My dad must be frantic. I’m sure he called Mrs. Calloway, which means she will be frantic, too. Undoubtedly on the verge of reporting another missing person to the police.
“It’s breaking right now?” Jude asks, his brow furrowing.
The question is so odd, my panic hiccups.
Jude makes a few sounds of ascent. Then hangs up his phone and turns on the television. He flips to a local station, where a news banner scrolls at the bottom of the screen.
Two teens missing after falling through the ice
“Two?” I choke.
