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“He wouldn’t hurt me like that.”I might not be certain of many things, but that I knew for sure.
“No, he wouldn’t on purpose. However, he may not realize it’s causing you any distress. It might be like…being blindfolded and screaming for someone, not realizing they’re right next to you. He might be reaching for you but have no idea you can feel it.”
Nowthatsounded like the man I know.“What should I do?”
“Talk to him.” At my look, he laughed softly. “If Kit wants to find you, he can. You need your sleep, though, and you won’t get any if this keeps up. So talk to him.” After a moment, he added quietly, “You’ll probably feel better after checking in with him anyway.”
Which was true… Leaving the way I had without a real goodbye to either Kit or Deacon hurt. The memory of Deacon’s face, the way he’d stared at me as if I’d broken his heart, was almost as bad as the nightmares.
So I told myself I’d brave it, that when I fell asleep that night, I’d force myself to confront that darkness and Kit.
I owed him that much, didn’t I?
“Shit.” Knox’s curse took me off guard, pulling me from my little pep talk. He wasn’t the sort to curse much, and I hadn’t done anything to earn a reaction like that as far as I knew.
I pulled back enough to peer at his face, finding his gaze not on me but up and to the left.
I turned, my blood running cold when I realized what he stared at. On the television a breaking story ran and above the newscaster’s shoulder? Knox, Wade and Brax’s faces stared back at me.
The words that ran along the bottom edge of the screen talked about the escape from Larkwood, though they only mentioned the other three. Nowhere did they imply a fourth person had participated.
Why doesn’t it include me?
“We should get going,” Knox said, his voice low. “You check out, and I’ll head next door to grab Wade and Brax. Meet us on the side of the building.”
After I nodded, he headed out, his face down. Thankfully, the three looked different enough in regular clothing than the sweats the pictures showed. Besides, most people ignored news reports like those, assuming that such things would never touch their lives.
I paid quickly, a gesture toward the large scar at my throat when the cashier had tried to strike up a conversation. My fingers ached from the heavy bags, but just as Knox had said, I found all three men around the side of the building.
And boy did Brax look angry. Still, the expression fit rather well on his face. In fact, if he really wanted tohide who he was, the best way would have probably been to smile. No would recognize him like that.
Brax narrowed his eyes before swiping his hand out and taking the bags from me without asking. “No idea what you’re thinking, but I don’t like that smirk.”
I shrugged rather than admitting or denying anything.
“Looks like this might be our last family outing,” Wade said.
“Why wouldn’t they include Hera, though?” Brax asked.
“It has to be a ploy.” Knox pressed his lips together for a moment. “Maybe the Warden hopes that will get us stuck, that it’ll force her to act alone so guards can look for Hera?”
Maybe... though the more I thought about it, the less that made sense.“I think she doesn’t want it known I’m at Larkwood at all. She’s keeping it secret to leverage that information, which means she can’t admit I’m not there anymore. She probably can’t even tell my parents, because if she did, they’d stop helping her.”Even saying that hurt, making a deep spot inside my chest ache, the part that still craved a family.
Wade reached for me and entwined his gloved hand with mine, his tight grip reassuring.
His touch made his point loud and clear—whether or not my parents ever accepted me, I had people. No matter how hard it had been to lose my voice, it had taught me how much a person could say without ever speaking a word.
So I squeezed back as we headed off toward the empty store we’d broken into the night before to sleep at.
Things might look bad, and they might just get worse, but I wasn’t alone.
* * **
That horrible sinking sensation took over me again when I went to bed, made me cry out in fear. Even asleep, even locked in this dream, Knox’s words came back to me.
This was Kit’s call. Now that I knew that, I could feel it. That darkness, that cold, it was exactly like him. After almost a week outside of Larkwood, I couldn’t avoid him anymore, could I?
No matter how difficult it was, how much I wanted to avoid this, I couldn’t any longer.
