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Wade entered next, and his voice from inside made me smile. “This is nice, I’ve gotta say. Seems like being the evil overlord has some benefits. Maybe we are all turned around on this thing. Let’s become evil overlords, too!” After a moment, he made an excited sound from farther in. “She has chocolate chip cookies! Honest to god real ones.”
Knox shook his head before helping me to follow, walking us through the doorway behind her desk, the one that had hidden behind a camouflaged piece of the wall.
Wade wasn’t wrong—the room was nice. They’d placed it here so in the event of a riot, the Warden would have a safe escape. Just past the panic room, which held food, medical supplies and weapons, was a secondary door. As long as I’d read the memories right, it would lead down to a tunnel that would take us outside the walls.
In other words?
It led to freedom.
“Hera…”
I turned to find Deacon standing in the doorway to the office across the room, his purple eyes wide. So many things played across his features.
Relief, surprise, fear. He hid none of them as he stared at me.
I swallowed hard, angry at myself for having to face him. I’d wanted to leave without having to face him, without having to witness the look of anguish on his face. I didn’t want to see that, and I sure didn’t want it to be the memory that stuck with me, the one I’d have to see when I thought back after this.I should have known better, though. If anyone could have predicted my plan, if anyone could have guessed where I’d go, it would have been Deacon.
“Don’t go,” he said. “You don’t understand what they’ll do to find you, to drag you back here.” His voice dropped as he took a step closer, moving into the office but still across the room. “Don’t leave me, Hera, don’t leave me alone again.”
Pain in my chest made me want to give in, to beg him to come with us, to return to him. I thought about the child he’d been for so long, when he’d suffered on his own. I thought about how he had looked those first days after I’d arrived, and how much he had changed over the months.
I didn’t want him to go back to that isolation, to that despair.
Then I felt Knox’s fingers on my side, and I had to remember, I had more to think about than just myself. I had others relying on me, others who would pay the price if I gave in, and I couldn’t do that to them.
I moved my lips, mouthing the word “sorry”to Deacon.
He sucked in a breath and charged forward, as if he’d realized what it meant, but it was too late. I hit the button inside the panic room, the one that slammed down a heavy door and latched it closed between us.
He pounded against the door, making me stumble backward. Pain gripped me, and the sight of his betrayed face haunted me. I didn’t want to leave Deacon, but he had to make his own choices. I couldn’t force him to crave freedom the way I did.
Knox tugged me toward the secondary door. “You can cry later, songbird. For now, we need to go.”
I didn’t argue or resist as he pulled me, as we followed Brax and Wade into the tunnel. Maybe it was almost being out, or maybe I’d just gone numb, but the exhaustion didn’t drag me down as much. I trailed behind Knox, moving through the poorly lit tunnel, having no idea how long it took.
At the end, Brax shoved open a heavy metal hatch, then hopped up and out of the tunnel. He reached in, helping to pull Wade up, then Knox. Finally, he lowered his large hand, and I grasped it.
He lifted me from the tunnel without trouble, and the light from the sun that peeked over the mountains lit the world around us.
I turned to stare back at Larkwood, at the place that had trapped me for nearly a year, the place that had stolen everything from me, that had nearly killed me more than once.
Fires raged, and even from this distance, the screaming reached me. It was in chaos, and I couldn’t even guess at the death toll.
I could only hope that the shades there took advantage of the chance, that they made their way out, that Larkwood fell.
That Kit escaped. That Lilianna escaped. That Deacon escaped. I wanted them all to live happy lives, even if I wasn’t a part of it.
The sight of Larkwood in flames and chaos soothed some part of me. My problems weren’t close to over yet, but at the very least, I was alive, and I was free.
Larkwood had wanted to destroy me, but only one of us was in ruins right now.
It might be a monster, one that wanted my blood, but I’d bare my own teeth. I glanced beside me, at the men who had risked everything to stand here beside me.
I had things bigger than myself to protect now, and if Larkwood wanted to come after us, I’d teach it just how dangerous I could be.
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Larkwood Academy: Screaming
