“That’s the same woman,” Damon said.“That’s Kyla.”
All I could do was nod as I watched her stride into the frame.
She approached from the side, almost like she was sticking to the blind spots of the cameras, but not quite.She probably didn’t know about them.
She didn’t go to the door, but around the side of the house to where my bedroom window was.And I knew for a fact that the blinds stayed open because all I could see out my window were trees.
Shit.
I didn’t even have to ask myself the question.Kyla saw Naomi and me together.Then she must have followed Naomi home; that’s how she knew where she lived.
“I need to go find her,” I said, heading back up the hill toward the driveway.
“We’re coming with you,” Mabel said, letting go of Damon and chasing after me.
I stopped midway up the hill.“Mabes—”
“I’m not taking my eyes off you,” she said, the scared child part of her gone; now she meant business.“I’m coming.”
I glanced at Damon, who merely shrugged.Everett caught up with me.“I need to join the search party.”
“Get in,” I said to Mabel and Damon.
They hopped into my still-running truck, and we followed Officer Jacobs back onto the road, realizing only when I glanced into my rearview mirror that my front door was wide open.
I’d deal with that later.Right now, I needed to find Naomi before Kyla did something I’d never be able to forgive myself for.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Naomi
Somethingwaswrong.
I surfaced slowly, like dragging myself up through thick, syrupy dark.Not awake—just … less gone.
Sound came first.
A low, steady hum.Mechanical.Close.
Then heat.So.Much.Heat.
It pressed in from every direction, heavy and suffocating, wrapping around me like a damp hand.My skin prickled, already slick.Sweat pooled at the base of my neck, slid down into my ears.My hair was plastered against my face and neck, and my mouth resembled the bottom of a pond during a drought.
My head throbbed.
A deep, pulsing ache that made my stomach roll when I tried to move.I sucked in a breath—too fast—and the air felt wrong.Hot.Wet.It didn’t fill my lungs so much assitthere.And burn.
I swallowed, throat dry despite the humidity.Then I tasted blood and slowly opened my dried and glued-together lips, swiping my thick tongue across them so they didn’t crack and bleed.
Where—?
The thought slipped, fragmented.Wouldn’t hold.
I blinked, my vision smearing before it slowly crept into focus.Wood.Close.Too close.Honey-colored planks, darkened in places with moisture.The sharp scent of heated cedar filled my nose.
No.
No, no, no—
