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Frankston was about eighty miles down Highway 40, she knew. She could get there in about an hour and a half, maybe sooner. She glanced at the clock on the dash. That would put her at the house around three thirty. Lila would be home from school by four, and she’d have at least an hour before Magnus got home to go through his office. She’d figure out how the hell she was going to explain her disappearance to her sister, and that she was leaving again on the drive. With all that decided, Violet told herself to relax, to focus on keeping her eyes cloaked.
She swung wide into the checkpoint and jerked to a stop a good six feet further from the attendant’s window than she’d been aiming for.
“Sorry,” she said with a grimace when she’d rolled down the window, and he’d made his way out of the booth and over to her.
“No problem, ma’am. Name?”
“Violet Pa—” She caught herself at the last moment. “Davis.”
He went back to the booth to check, and Violet stared at the steel barrier between her and the small road into the forest and out of town. She tried not to think too hard aboutViolet Davis.
She didn’t hate it.
“Ma’am.” The attendant approached the window again. “I’m sorry, but you’re not on the list.”
Her heart thumped and sank. “That’s not possible.”
Lila was right there, right beyond the barrier, and so were answers. Magnus was a clever man, she knew he kept dirt on everyone in his circle, and even those outside of it if he thought it could be useful—that’s how he acquired and kept his power. Something in his office would help with the Kane situation, she knew it.
“I just tested this morning.” She snatched her phone off the seat and held it up to show him. “Got this, and they said I was already input onto the list. Can you call someone and check? Maybe it just hasn’t refreshed on your end yet?”
He was shaking his head before she was done speaking. “The list updates in real time. If someone at Town Hall added you, you’d be on there.”
Violet looked from him to the barrier, just two steel poles on a pivot. The van was huge. She was suddenly sure the barrier would give if she ran into it, and then it would be an open road to Lila, answers, and freedom.
“Ms. Davis.” The attendant’s voice was sharper, like her thoughts had shown on her face. “As of right now, all you can do is head back to town. You can check in with Town Hall, or have Mr. Davis do it, but until your name is on the list, I can’t let you leave.”
Violet gritted her teeth and wrestled down the urge to put the van in drive and stomp the gas. Six weeks ago, she wouldn’t have been able to do it, but she was different now, changed by the silver mark at the base of her neck and her ties to this town. The consequences she wouldn’t have given a shit about before mattered now.
BY THE TIMEshe was back to the house, Violet was itchy, irritated, and miserable with the disappointment that clung to her as well as the buzz of the full moon that would shine for the first of three days that night.
She was barely out of the cab when Mikel appeared in the driveway. Where she’d expected anger, he only looked guarded, dark, and hurt.
“They called you,” she concluded, sliding down. It stunned her how strange it felt when for the first time, he didn’t help her. Mikel didn’t close the door behind her or do any of the little things she realized she’d come to expect, rely on, love.
“Who? The registrar letting me know you’d tested or the council’s guard to tell me you’d been turned around trying to leave at the south exit?”
He had a right to be upset, Violet knew. She’d kept things from him on purpose, but she was just too tired and too disappointed to bear the brunt of his emotions in that moment.
“I’m sorry; I should have talked to you.”
It was a horrible apology, made half-heartedly as she was walking down the driveway, eager for a shower and their bed, and to be alone. The front door closed behind her, and his footsteps followed her down the hall.
The sight of a suitcase on the bed stopped her cold.
“Pack up what you want. I’ll take you to Red and Daniella’s for now. People will talk, but that’s all I’ve got until we figure out what’s next.”
She whirled to find his face a mask, his green eyes dark and unreadable, his jaw tight and shoulders set.
“Mikel—” Panic flooded her. It was like freefalling, like the earth tipped and shook under her feet and left her confused, exposed, and vulnerable. “I’m sorry. I was just…” She struggled for the words, struggled with the impending doom and the catastrophic levels of hurt that were drowning her.
She knew he’d be mad but thought he’d give her a chance to explain, that he’d understand, that they’d move through their differences like they had despite their opposite views on the situation with Kane.Mate, she realized, had meant something to her, and without meaning to, she’d come to assume he would always be by her side, that this would always be home, and she’d always find that crooked smile and the warmth of his arms, no matter how bad things got.
It was a shock to feel tears on her cheeks. She’d rarely cried before the Bluff, but this split her open.
“It’s all right.” His voice was softer, which only made it hurt more. “I thought we…” His jaw clenched. Mikel swallowed and tried again. “I thought we were making some progress here, but I’m not going to keep you if you’re not happy, convention be damned.”
“What?” Some of the desolateness inside her turned to confusion. “What are you talking about not being happy?”
