Hazel
I glance towards the clinic.It takes us precious time to fill Wright in and all I can picture is Derek tied to that gurney. Wright wants to come with us but eventually we convince her to wait outside. I’ve already endangered one of my friends, I refuse to put Wright in Claren’s crosshairs.
“How did you even find us?” I ask.
“I got like five missed calls from your stalker here, so I checked the find my friends app. Are you sure you don’t want me to stab him?”
“She’s sure,” Flynn growls.
I look over at him, my eyes dropping to the tear in his hoodie where Wright’s knife sliced. The material is black and it’s too dark out to see how badly he’s wounded but he looks more pissed off than hurt.
Wright shoots daggers at Flynn, thankfully not literally this time, but after another assurance that I’m fine, she slinks back to keep watch from her bike.
Flynn reties my wrists behind my back and we walk to the building.
The clinic looks almost finished, with fancy paving stones leading the way to the entrance. The glass doors are locked,the metal handles still covered in cellophane. A small green dot blinks at us from a camera on the wall. Flynn’s got Tommy’s hood pulled low over his head and when I look up into the camera the door buzzes.
Goosebumps prick my skin as we go inside through the entryway and into what looks like a triage area. The lights are out, the dark shapes of hospital beds and half hung privacy curtains like monstrous shadows across the room.
The smell of fresh paint congeals with hospital antiseptic, and I keep my breaths shallow as we pad across the dust sheet covered floor.
Neither of us know exactly where Tommy was supposed to take me, but the priority right now is finding Derek. A mission which turns out to be fairly easy when we pass the next emergency bay and find him restrained to a gurney. His eyes widen when he sees me and he tries to talk through the cloth gag over his mouth.
“Derek!” I lunge towards him, but Flynn hauls me back.
“Remember the plan,” he says under his breath. His gaze skates over the triage area then he brings his lips close to my ear. “There are cameras in here. Elbow me in the stomach and make a run for the entrance.”
I keep my eyes on Derek, trying to communicate that it’s going to be okay, then I start struggling. “Let me go!” I scream and jab my elbow back into Flynn.
He doubles over, his grip slipping off the rope and I leg it, sprinting to the glass doors.
I make it through the first set of the doors and untangle the rope from my wrists, but when I try to open the outside doors, they’re locked.Shit.I’m turning to go back inside to Flynn when my phone rings. I go to silence it but stop when I see Livi’s name on the screen. She never calls. Only ever messages.
I back up into the corner and swipe to answer. “Livi? Are you okay?”
“I finally found a photo of Hope’s boyfriend from college.”
My chest unknots at hearing her voice. “Now’s not a great time?—”
“It’s not Danny, Hazel,” she cuts me off. “It’s Derek.”
My brain glitches. “What?”
“Derek was Hope’s boyfriend. I’ve sent you the photo.”
I pull my phone away from my ear and click to enlarge the image. Flynn’s sister is smiling, pressing her lips to Derek’s cheek. He’s younger but it’s definitely him.What. The. Fuck.
Thoughts flick through my mind. Derek who went to Washington State, who used to give me sketches he drew because he minored in art. Who just made Captain years before he should have.
If Derek was Hope’s boyfriend, that means he was the one who sacrificed her to the Kings. Which meansDerekis a King.
And this is a trap.
“Oh my god, Flynn.”
I burst back through the doors, screaming his name as I run to him, but it’s too late. Derek is out of the bed. He spins around with Flynn in a headlock and the man who I’ve known for years smirks at me as he plunges a needle into Flynn’s neck.
“Run, Hazel!” Flynn roars, his pupils blowing out before he slumps in Derek’s arms.
