Page 4 of Consume Me

I trailed my hand along the wall, looking for something I missed, but the cinder blocks gave nothing away. There were no secret passages or hidden exits. The only doors were the ones staring back at me from either side of the hall—the ones that were locked. Ones that led to unknown places.

There was also no sign of the ghost girl. It must have been me seeing things. Given everything that happened tonight—if it still was tonight—I couldn’t trust myself.

Thinking back, I walked myself through the evening. We’d gone to the birthday party. Alexander and I had snuck off and made love in the museum. My thoughts drifted to the feel of his teeth on my flesh. Instinctively, my fingers skimmed over my breasts feeling the tender spots where he marked me.

It was real—that memory. Part of me wanted to retreat to it—to that last moment where I’d been in his arms, safe and protected. But the bite marks reminded me of something else: I was stronger than anyone knew.

Alexander had shown me that.

Someone thought they would break me. That was their first mistake. I expected them to make more.

I didn’t want to leave that memory, but the answers didn’t lie there. Still, I allowed myself a second to linger on the memory of his skin on mine. I could still feel him between my legs. Inside, part of me cracked, threatening to spill free. How much time had passed since those moments? Was he looking for me now? I sent a silent wish to him.

I wished he knew I was alive. I wished he knew I would find my way back to him. I wished he felt my love in that moment.

Pushing past the ache that threatened to overwhelm me, I recalled returning to the party. I’d danced with Anders.

No, that had happened before Alexander had whisked me away.

We’d returned the party in time for the cake. My stomach flipped again and the baby kicked as though put out by my rollercoaster of emotions. Mary.

She’d had a heart attack or stroke.

Why was everything so fuzzy the closer I got to this moment?

The memory plucked at me, but not because of this evening. I recalled being hurried out of the Child Watch Symposium. That day, Alexander had been waiting for me. What would have happened if he’d been waiting for me tonight?

But he couldn’t have been. He’d been occupied with his grandmother. He’d gone with her to the hospital. Norris had seen to me.

I covered my mouth and sank against the wall.

Our guard was down because we were all focused on Mary. We’d been distracted.

The Child Watch attack hadn’t been a miracle where no one got hurt. It had been a test run where they’d learned the two most important facts of my public life: Alexander would always come for me and Norris would protect me with his life.

And then they’d removed both obstacles.

Alexander was safe. He’d gone to the hospital. I couldn’t bring myself to think about what they’d done to Norris, our best friend and constant companion.

If they were capable of that, what else could they be capable of?

I needed to find that girl.

I hadn’t imagined her. I wasn’t going crazy. Yes, I’d been drugged and brought here, but I was firing on all cylinders now. She was flesh and bone—and the only hope I’d had yet of getting answers.

So far, I’d been walking along, waiting for her to come out as I relived the events that had led me here. Now, renewed purpose drove me. I rushed to the first door and tried the knob. It didn’t budge.

Neither did the second.

Neither did the third.

None of them.

Even the room I’d woken up in was now closed and locked. There was only one room to go to, but there were no answers there. Only a torn up book and a dresser filled with clothes meant for someone else:

The ghost girl.

I didn’t know what else to call her. Was she behind one of these doors? Why had she come to me? That had to be her room. She must have seen me or heard who brought me in. All of that meant she might have answers.