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“Somewhere you don’t want to be.” He tightens his grip around my wrist, but I try to force myself out of it. Finally, he spins around, his eyes wild on me. “Fucking move, Ruby. I don’t have fucking time for this shit.”
“What!” I yell. “You don’t have time to fucking kidnap me? Drug me? Fuck me while drugging me? Are you kidding?” The piercing siren gets louder as we get closer to the cabins.
He hisses, grabbing the mask and tearing it off his face. It’s then that I see the disarray of his hair and the panic in his eyes. “It’s fucking Poppy! That siren?” He points down toward the asylum and goose bumps break over my skin. “Only goes off when someone in The Institution is dead—so can you fucking move so I can make sure it’s not my sister.”
“Wait a minute—” I wave my hand in front of my face. “Are you telling me that she helped you kidnap me?”
“The fuck?” Wicked’s brows dip inward. “Where did I say that? Those drugs got you fucked up. No! I brought you here because it was part of my duty. Because if I fucking didn’t? He would kill Poppy!”
“And these are your friends?” I scrunch up my face, but the horror is sprawled out over it. I’ve never been good at hiding that.
“Friends?” Wicked laughs violently, his head tilting back. And even though it was done sarcastically, seeing his straight white teeth and the two dimples on either side of his cheeks almost slaps me on my ass.
Wow. I never want to see that fucking smile again. Evil bastard.
“I have no friends here, Ruby. This is a lifestyle, the only kind Poppy and I have known. The kind that gets you killed if you don’t obey the rules.” He grabs me by the hand again and starts dragging me back down the mountain. I don’t fight this time because I know. I know deep down beneath all of that ugliness he’s showing, that the Wicked I know is real, and this one? This one is something else. “I told her we couldn’t save you. She lost her shit and took off crying. She’s all over the place right now. I’ve hidden a lot from her over the years, and I have a feeling someone with loose fucking lips here has gone out of their way to tell her.”
“Why?” I ask, even though I have no idea what the fuck he’s talking about, but if Poppy is in danger, I want to make sure she has my help, and to help her, I need to know whatever bullshit he’s talking about. Even if I can’t walk without his assistance right now. The drugs are starting to wear off as seconds pass, but whatever it was, felt familiar. “Why would you need to hide things from her in a place you both lived for so long?”
The blades of grass whip my ankles as we finally get to the bottom of the mountain and he spins around to face me. “Because this life wasn’t one we chose. It was one we were thrown into.”
Doors slam closed in the distance, and I whip my head up to see windows shutting and blinds closing. The wind whistlesaround me and I shiver as I watch the tree branches behind the asylum bend with the wind.
“What’s happening?” I ask through chattering teeth, watching as door by door, window by window, close and cover. That isn’t the warning sign, though. It is the silence. The mere silence. There’s a built wooden playground to the back of the little cabins, where sandcastles are half made. A chicken coop behind that, and beside the coop is a wooden gate where goats stroll aimlessly around the little paddock.
Wicked backs up on me, reaching for my hand. “We’ve got to run…”
“What?” I ask, looking over his shoulder. “What is it?”
Crows squawk from the trees behind the cabins as Wicked continues to back up on me. Only this time, instead of yanking me toward him by my wrist, his fingers intertwine with mine. “We’ve got to run…” he repeats.
Fire breaks through the tree clearing and bright ember flecks dance up in the sky as the sun sets in the distance.
“Wicked…” I tense his fingers with mine. I should be angry with him. I am angry with him. But right now, I know that whatever is happening is out of his control. Is he going to hurt me while I’m in the maze? Yes. Most likely.
My head pounds as I fall backward and the trees in the distance start to bleed into the bright orange embers. “Wic—” I rest my hand on my forehead, closing my eyes. My brain turns to static as blood rushes to my head.
“Hey!” Wicked catches me with his arm. “Fuck.”
“What’s going on?” Sweat pools down the side of my head. He scoops me up and carries me toward the back of one of the little houses. He comes in clearer now, but the piercing vibrations inside my head are almost too much to handle.
“Look at me. You’re coming down from the drugs I gave you.”
“Such a fucking gentleman…” I push off him, swiping the dust off my clothes.
“Listen to me!” His hand covers my mouth, his body towering over me. “I brought you here because it was myjobto do that. If I don’t do my job? Poppy dies. Now—” He peeks around the corner of the house but keeps his hand covering my mouth. Wood scrapes against my back but my breathing calms at the proximity of his body against mine. He comes back to me. “Something is wrong with Poppy. Do I need to lock you away somewhere so I can find her, or are you good?”
I nod and he slowly releases his hand from around my mouth. “Good.”
“Wait—” My hand goes to his arm again. “Why don’t you just kill me?”
“I still might,” he growls, grabbing my hand and yanking me behind another cabin. Soft mumbles start drifting through the space, and Wicked’s finger presses against my lips.
I stare up at him. “What?” I mouth, only my lips press against his fingers.
He leans down, resting his forehead against mine, his eyes closed. “They killed her.”
I pause. My blood turns cold as I bring my hand to his cheek. “What? Who did? Who killed who?”
