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I don’t need to know whotheyare. The malice in that laughter was enough for me to devise thattheyare not good people. And whatever debt they want to collect from me, I don’t want to pay. Couldn’t even if I did.
“Maze, hurry up!” I slap my palm against the doorjamb of my sister’s room to emphasize the point.
“I can’t find Momma’s ring.” She’s throwing aside everything on her dresser in search of the single piece of jewelry our mother gifted her before she died.
“Maze, there’s no time. We have to go.”
“But the ring!” she cries, turning to look at me with huge wet eyes.
I want to take my little sister in my arms and tell her everything will be okay. That we can return and search the house when everything dies down. But I’m not sure there’s time for even a single comforting pat on the back right now.
“We have to go,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
Hurriedly, I rush through the house and down the stairs. My heart is pounding as I dig through my father’s desk, searching for the gun I know he kept. But when I don’t find it quickly, I give up.
I’ll have time to think later. Formulate a plan. Figure out who the enemy is. Arm myself.
For now, we need to go.
Maisie is already at the bottom of the stairs when I emerge. She’s wiping fat tears from her cheeks, but her spine is straight and her chin is up. That’s my girl.
“We’ll be okay,” I say to her and she nods. “As long as we’re together, we can do anything, right?”
“Right.”
Heading to the kitchen with her in tow, I peek out the door that leads to the dark back yard and to safety. All clear. Or so it seems.
The moment I open it, a man I’ve never seen before with auburn dreadlocks surrounding a terrifying face steps into view. “Hello, pretty girl,” he sneers, displaying a row of gold teeth.
My arms go out protectively, keeping Maisie behind me as he pushes inside.
“What do—” My words are unceremoniously cut off by a spray of something wet across my face at the same time as I register a muffled crack.
The man falls forward and both Maisie and I have to jump to get out of his way before he lands on us.
“Oh my God!” Maisie screams as she looks down at the spattering of blood all over her arms.
I wipe my cheek with the back of my hand and peer at the blood smeared on it. Revulsion mixes with fear when I turn my attention to the dead man at our feet and the growing crimson puddle beneath him.
It seems like an eternity goes by as my brain pieces that information together, everything feeling like an out-of-body experience, distant and muted. The man standing at the door, a boom, him falling, and the blood. That in order for that to have happened, that means someone else is out there. Someone with a gun.
Suddenly, it all snaps into place and I snatch Maisie’s wrist to pull her away from the open door. But it’s too late.
A tall, well-dressed man with cold, calculating eyes fills that doorway now. He’s holding a smoking gun in his gloved right hand as he steps over the body, avoiding the thick puddle of blood.
When he’s all the way into the kitchen, he lifts his steel gaze to me and gives me a beautiful smile that sends a chill down my spine.
“Hello, Skye.”
“Maze,” I whisper over my shoulder. “Run.”
Behind me, I feel her turn, but instead of escaping, she gasps and plasters herself tight against me. “Uh, Skye.”
I glance back and see what has kept her in the kitchen with us. Blocking her path is a goon I hadn’t even realized was there.
The behemoth grabs my sister by the shoulders and tries to pull her away. She bites at his hands while I kick at his legs. But he’s too big and obviously has experience capturing people, because he’s able to secure her while at the same time using one hand to shove me clear across the room.
I bounce off the counter and land in a heap on the floor.
