Preston sat me down on the dresser and gave my cheek a light slap.
“Look at me.” I did, even though I didn’t want to. “You’re freaking your sister out.”
Shit, Trina.
She was staring at me from the corner of the room with wide eyes. One look at the sheet she was covering herself with had me jumping off the dresser to throw my arms around her.
“Trina, I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, Marnie,” she cried back. “I never wanted you to see that.”
We held each other for what seemed like forever, yet it didn’t feel long enough. I wanted to hold her until she knew everything was going to be okay. That her suffering was over, and she was safe now. But I also wanted to know…
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I pulled out of my sister’s embrace and gazed into her eyes. There was a dullness behind that vibrant glimmer that I hadn’t noticed. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. “I could’ve helped you.”
I was so caught up in what was happening to me that I didn’t think about what could be happening to her. I’d never forgive myself for being so blind.
Despite everything that just occurred, Trina still smiled. “No, you couldn’t, Marnie. I know what happened with Nash.”
She did? How? I never told her.
“I saw the look on your face that day. Nash broke you, and I couldn’t let our father do the same. So when I saw him watching you sleep, I convinced him that more was taken from you that day.” Trina glared over at what was left of our father. “Sick bastard had a thing for purity. As long as you weren’t pure, he wouldn’t touch you.”
All this time, I thought I was protecting her. “Trina—”
She cut me off. “It’s okay, Marnie. It’s done.”
“It’s not okay.” It would never be okay.
My sister pinched my chin like she used to when we were little. “You’re fine, so yes, it is.”
My response was interrupted by shattering glass. The next thing I knew, smoke was billowing into the room so quickly that I lost sight of everything else. The room faded away into a thick, suffocating cloud.
“Marnie, get down,” Preston called out, followed by what sounded like gunfire.
I fell to my hands and knees and crawled in the direction I thought he was. It was so chaotic. Crashes, bangs, and yelling flooded my ears until I was lying on the floor, praying for it to end.
A familiar hand suddenly shot out of the madness and lifted me off the floor. I’d never been happier to see Preston than when he carried me out of the smoke-filled room.
Then I remembered. “Trina’s in there.”
I reached over his shoulder, desperately grasping for the cloud my sister was trapped in.
“No, she’s not.” Preston shook his head. “He took her.”
Arift had grown between Trina and me during our teenage years. I assumed it was because we were so different. Trina liked to party, and I preferred being left alone. As it turned out, we were more similar than I thought.
We both experienced traumas, but we handled them very differently. At least I had my sister to lean on, but she had no one. Trina suffered in silence, and now, she was alone again.
I’d just gotten my sister back, only to have her taken away. It was the worst feeling in the world.
My brow rose when Preston pulled into the outlook on the bluffs.
He said he knew where they were going, but this place?
The storm dampened the geysers’ roar, but the winds splashed their tinted spray across the ground. It looked like a river of blood was bubbling up through the earth. Some people in town said this place was cursed. Many had ended their lives by jumping off the edge, and even more had thought about it, including Chase. Dread hung in the air here. It painted the rocky surface with the souls it claimed.
This was the last place for a rescue mission.
