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‘Yes. Does that mean something to you?’

I don’t know what he was expecting but I don’t think it was that answer. Theo studies me closely.

‘That last name is familiar, but I can’t remember where I know it from.’

I frown. ‘You think you’ve heard of it before?’

He tilts his head, looking more confused. ‘I’ve heard it, I feel like it’s important …’ he trails off, poking his tongue against the inside of his cheek, like he’s thinking hard, trying to connect dots. ‘Argh. My head is so fuzzy.’

‘Fuzzy?’ I ask, curious and desperate to know more. ‘Where do you think you know it from?’

‘I know that surname. I know people with it,’ he groans, rubbing his head as though trying to recall the memory is physically painful, and I watch him curiously.

‘Think harder!’

‘I’m fucking trying,’ he mutters, throwing me a sassy look.

‘The harder I try to remember things lately, the more everything seems to fade.’

My mind spins. This is exactly what I’ve been going through, and it confirms that it isn’t all happening in my head because it’s happening to Theo too.

‘You’ve got a lot going on in that pretty little head of yours,’ he says.

‘I’m overwhelmed,’ I admit, not letting myself get caught up in the compliment that fell so easily from his lips. ‘We’re both going through the same thing and I don’t know what any of it means. Even just speaking to you is confusing me. I feel like everything I’ve learnt about vampires has been misleading.’

‘Well, like I said, there’s good ones and bad ones.’

‘I didn’t know that,’ I say, and he tilts his head, curiously. ‘I mean, I didn’t know that there could be good ones.’

‘Ah,’ he says. ‘Well, of course there can be.’

I stay silent. My head hurts.

‘So, Cupcake,’ he says, leaning forward, eyes sharp and unreadable. ‘The real question is, how far are you willing to go to find the truth?’

I swallow. ‘What do you mean?’

Theo studies me for a long moment, then leans back again. His eyes track across the ceiling.

‘I’ve got an idea.’

‘That’s dangerous,’ I mutter.

He flashes me a grin. ‘Most of my ideas are.’

I raise an eyebrow, waiting. He doesn’t speak right away. Just drums his fingers on the stone floor, slow and rhythmic.

‘What if,’ he says carefully, as if wary of how much to ask me, and what I’ll allow. ‘We figure out why we’re both experiencing this. We explore what’s going on, not only in here, but more about

you. Why they’ve kept you in the dark about things. Who you are. There’s no such thing as coincidences in Red Thorne.’

A flicker of doubt washes through me. What if this is a trap? I can’t trust this creature. I need to be careful with my words and what I share, but honestly, it feels nice talking to someone who seems to actually care about what’s going on with me and wants to know more. It’s probably all so that he can get released, but it still feels nice to talk about it.

‘Yes,’ I nod slowly. ‘There seem to be gaps in my memories, and I keep sleepwalking. Waking up in places I didn’t go to sleep.’

He straightens, looking intrigued. ‘I also have gaps in my memories.’

Drawing my knees to my chest, my eyes scan the cell once more.