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He laughs. “Is that a compli—”
“Coldfox! Waters!”
We come to an abrupt stop, our feet inches from one another as our heads snap toward the staff member calling our names. It’s too far to distinguish if it’s Jericho or not, but their flashlight tells us exactly where they are.
Liam takes my hand. “Run!” He laughs as we take to the darkness of the forest again. Nothing but the sounds of our feet crushing leaves and our heavy breaths fill the air.
“Where’s your slipper?” Liam’s eyes are trained on my one shoeless foot, laughing wildly at the way I’m running without it.
Fresh air and boisterous energy wash through me. “I lost a slipper during our dance.” I laugh between breaths. My cheeks hurt from the inability to lower my smile.
He shakes his head but keeps his grin, stopping us in the field that circles Harlow Sanctum and scooping me up into his arms like I’m weightless.
“What am I to do with you?” He wraps his arms around me tightly. I inhale his scent and hold on for dear life as he jogs the rest of the way to Harlow with me in his arms.
* * *
Jericho doesn’t look happy—not at all.
His frown is long and tired; he looks like he’s been up chasing two ghosts all night.
“Liam, you know better than anyone wehighlyadvise against nightly excursions. Especially on weekdays.” The counselor taps his finger on the table.
“We were in the bathroom. I don’t know whatexcursionsyou’re talking about.”Liam shrugs, that damning smirk playing on his lips.
Jericho narrows his eyes as they shift from me to Liam and back to me. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
Liam nudges me with his foot and I straighten in my chair and add: “We had the same fruit at dinner. It made us sick all night.” I wince as if my stomach is still hurting.
The counselor is silent as he considers us. Each minute is as painfully awkward as the last.
“Fine—you’re both lucky this is an expensive self-check-in facility.”
Liam crosses his arms, seeming a bit annoyed about all the fuss. “How’d you even know we weren’t in our room? It’s not like you check on us, and we aren’t on lockdown, so what’s the deal?”
My eyes widen—shit,the flip-flop I stuck in the door so I could go back in. I want to drop my head to the table but I remain sitting straight, biting my lower lip as I wait for Jericho to say it.
His green eyes flick over to me passively and he seems to catch onto my worry. “Just happened to see two people sneaking out and figured it was you. Your nightly outings aren’t uncommon, but that doesn’t mean you need to start dragging Miss Coldfox along with you.”
I silently exhale and thank Jericho with my eyes. He’s a good person. He probably already knows about the moonflower field and how patients sneak out to go there. I wonder how long he’s worked here… Maybe he knew them.
Those before us.
19
Wynn
Liam doesn’t playthe piano as softly today. His timing is off and he presses the keys with too much emotion. It drowns out the light notes and emphasizes the more aggressive ones.
My heart sinks.
I shouldn’t have made him come with me in the basement. What we found really fucked with him. It’s been two days now and he still seems far away, somewhere distant in his mind. We shouldn’t be looking into the past. Maybe it’d be better for all of us if I just let it go and forget about it.
Jericho taps his clipboard like he notices the shift in Liam today too, but he ignores it as he calls my name next. “Coldfox, you’re up.”
I stand and pass Liam. He doesn’t look at me. His eyes are sunken and dark, as if he didn’t sleep a wink after we got back to our room.
Sitting on the wooden bench, I take a deep breath, feeling a song I thought I’d long forgotten the tune to rising in my soul.
