Page 56 of Outcast

Henry stepped in, flanked by Edward and Blake, each wearing stony expressions.

A sob formed in my throat, and I rushed to Henry and grabbed his biceps. “You’ve got to believe me, I didn’t even know the kidnappers, let alone arrange for them to abduct you!”

He peeled my hands off his arms and held me at arm’s length. “I told you not to call the police.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “But they were threatening to take you again. I couldn’t let that happen!”

He glanced at Edward, who shook his head. “She doesn’t get it.”

“Get what?” I asked.

Blake wrapped a hand around my arm, guided me across the room, and pulled me down to sit. Then he stepped back and said, “You meddled, and now you’re paying the price.”

“But I was trying to help.” My voice broke.

Edward leaned against the wall. “We had it under control. The kidnappers were never a threat.”

“How could you know that? You never even met them.” I turned to Henry. “They were threatening to take you again!”

Henry sighed. “They were just trying their luck with empty threats.”

I shook my head. Why did they seem so resigned? And why did they care more about my calling the police than my involvement in the kidnapping? Blake stood over me, brows raised with the kind of anticipation of a middle school teacher watching a slow kid struggling with a math problem. Edward pursed his lips, disapproval etched over his face, and Henry stared at a point on the floorboards next to my left foot. There was a piece of the puzzle that hadn’t yet fallen in place, and none of them would tell me what I’d done wrong.

“I shouldn’t have called the police.” My voice was dull.

“Correct,” said Edward.

“The kidnappers weren’t as big a threat as I’d thought.” I was just summarizing what the boys had told me. My mind was so thick with fog, I couldn’t put together any conclusions. “Why?”

“That’s a rather leading question, don’t you think?” drawled Blake.

I glanced up at Henry. He was the least cruel of the group. The one I knew the most, but he wouldn’t look into my eyes. I dropped my gaze to my knees. What was I missing? Just before the abduction, they’d been at their cruelest and had left me duct taped in a sleeping bag out where anything might have happened to me. But when I returned, Edward and Blake were immediately apologetic. I’d thought they had felt bad about their actions, and how they’d driven me to chase after Henry the day he’d been kidnapped.

My throat convulsed. What if there was a more nefarious motive?

An idea dropped into my head, making it snap up. “The school trip… T-that campsite… How did the kidnappers know where to find you?”

Blake grinned. “I think she’s finally getting it.”

“Oh, do be quiet,” snapped Edward.

“You knew them, didn’t you?” I glared at Henry, who still wouldn’t look at me. My glare turned to Edward. “He arranged it himself. That’s why the kidnappers drugged me and not him.”

Edward stared back, blue eyes wintry. “You only have yourself to blame for your predicament.”

My heart beat the tune of a war drum, and my hands balled into fists. I stood from the cot, ready to swing. “When you failed to kill me with sheep, you arranged for those hippies to abduct me!

Edward rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so melodramatic. Not everything we did revolved around you.”

“Then why did you do it?” I spat.

“We needed the money,” Henry finally said. “You weren’t supposed to be there, but the chaps panicked and took you along with me before you could raise the alarm.”

My arms drooped to the side. “What would you need that much money for?”

“That’s none of your business,” said Edward.

The sight of them made me sick, and I closed my eyes. Everything had been a lie, and they’d probably meant to frame me for the kidnapping all along.