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“Is this where they’ve been keeping you?” Valen asked in horror. “This is fucking horrific. Fucking deplorable.”
“How did you handle being there like this?” Archer asked. “How did you survive this?”
“She can fucking survive anything because she’s incredible,” Ryker replied. “Never forget this. Never forget what you see here, and what she went through. She deserves to be worshipped like the queen she is.”
“Oh fuck yes, I love her more than anything in the world, and didn’t realize I could love her more until just now,” Valen said. His voice was filled with reverence and I was empowered by it.
But Penny needed me, she needed us. I tried to open her door, but the lock was still shut. I looked around and none of them had the key.
“How did we forget about this part?” I asked, and tears threatened to fall. Fucking tears, after everything I’d been through and they were apparently coming now at the worst point.
“I have the key!” the man from the Organization yelled, running down the corridor towards us. He held it above his head, brandishing it like it was a sword. “Don’t worry, I brought it!”
He got to the lock, slid the key inside, and clicked it open. Penny still hadn’t moved, and my hands were shaking when I opened the door at last.
The man let the lock drop to the bare floor with a clatter, and it echoed through the entire cell block. All of us were collectively holding our breaths.
“Penny?” I asked and walked towards her. “Penny, are you awake?”
I kneeled next to the bed and touched her shoulder. Her skin was burning up, and she was blazing hot with fever. I gently rolled her towards me and her head lolled with her mouth wide open and her eyes shut.
“Penny?” I asked, and her eyelids fluttered and opened.
“You’re back,” she whispered. “You came back for me. I’m so tired, I waited for you before I let go.”
“Don’t you dare let go now!” I yelled and pulled her closer to me. She was hot, but her skin was pale white. She had a crusted scab around her ear and her eye was swollen shut and caked with pus. “Come on, Pen, you have to fight to stay with me. We’re leaving!”
I looked around frantically and said, “Help me get her to the helicopter. Help me, please!”
Valen and Archer dropped beside me and gingerly picked her up. Valen carried her in his arms like she was a child, and Archer stood close, keeping her head from falling back.
“You have to go,” the man said, urgency making his words sharp and angry. “You have to get out of here now.”
Outside in the prison yard, I heard the sound of a helicopter. The steady thudding pulse of the rotors as they cut through the air and dropped the machine down.
We followed Ryker out to where it was, and the wind from the blades whipped dust and sand into our faces.
We loaded Penny into the helicopter, and Valen and Archer climbed in beside her. Ryker stood next to me as I turned to look at the man. I wanted to know who he was before we left. I needed to know. I felt like it was important somehow. A twinge in my stomach told me he was important.
“Who are you?” I asked again, scanning his eyes through the holes in the leopard mask and his lower face for clues. He was familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint him right away. “Why did you help us?”
The helicopter pilot leaned back and yelled, “We have to get moving! We’re losing our window!”
“You need to go. We’ll talk later,” the man said and put his hands on my shoulders. “I promise I’ll reveal everything to you soon, but first I need to know you’re safe!”
He dropped his hands and looked over at Ryker, who was standing at attention, his back straight and his shoulders squared away. He recognized the man’s authority and responded to it.
“We’ll take care of her,” Ryker said. “I won’t let anything like this happen again.”
“You weren’t prepared for this,” the man said, gesturing around us to the prison. “Nothing could have gotten you ready. But you are now, so never let your guard down again. And tell the other ones, the Kings. They have to protect Everly like she’s the most precious thing in the world.”
“Why do you keep saying that?” I demanded. “Who the fuck are you and why do you care?”
“It might be hard for you to understand this,” the man said, his masked face turning towards me. Dust was kicking up all around and the lights from the prison yard were starting to brighten up as the night fell. He was tall, lean, and familiar. There was just something about him. “But I have to tell you. I’m—”
A shot rang out and his masked face twitched to the side. He reached up and touched the leopard mask, his eyes filled with shock and surprise through the eyeholes. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again.
Blood began to stream down his cheek from under the mask, and I reached out to tear it off him.
