Page 303 of She Walks with Broken Things

Ghost looked toward the house.

Then at me.

His chest rose. “Don’t fucking move.” And ran.

I stood there breathing hard.

Alone.

The path stretched ahead. Blackthorn screamed at me. My phone vibrated. I looked down.

Now.

Fear hit so hard my knees weakened. He’d planned this. The lights. The radios. The alarms. Not to get inside… to pull everyone away. To give me a door.

I should’ve been horrified. I was. But underneath it there was something else. Understanding. He wasn’t taking me. He was giving me the opportunity to leave. That distinction mattered.

I started walking. The service gate opened through the trees. Locked. I stopped in front of it. Black iron. Electronic latch. One more boundary. Behind me, Blackthorn was still alive with alarms.

My phone vibrated. Coordinates.Nothing else. No instruction. No open the gate. No keep walking. Just a location. I stared at the numbers. Then at the gate.

My choice.

I almost hated him more for that. A small pedestrian access ran beside the main gate. Mechanical lock. Alaric had shown me the emergency release weeks ago.

If the system ever fails.

I remembered his hand covering mine. Teaching me. Protecting me. I closed my eyes, then opened them and reached beneath the housing. I found the release right away. Then pulled.

Click.

The gate opened. I stepped through and closed it behind me. Blackthorn remained on the other side. Stone rising beyond the trees. Lights burning. Alarms beginning to fall silent.

I pressed my hand against the cold iron. “I’ll come back.”

I needed to hear myself say it.

I needed to believe it.

Then I turned away. Stepped through and started walking. The coordinates were forty-three minutes away.

I called a car from the road. Not his. Mine. My decision.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop the shiver. It didn’t work, because it had nothing to do with the temperature. It was all me. Fear. Ache. Brokenness.

The driver barely looked at me when I climbed in.

“Here?” I showed him the location.

His brows pulled together. “There’s not much out there.”

“I know.”

I didn’t.

He shrugged and pulled away.

I turned around, watching Blackthorn disappear through the rear window. Trees swallowed the lights. Then the walls, then everything. My phone remained silent. Five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. Nothing. That frightened me more than the messages.