“What did they say?” I ask, my heart lodged in my throat.
He glances up from his phone. “All she sent was an eye roll emoji. No, wait.” The phone buzzes again. “She’s on her way.”
I stand from the cold stone floor and stretch my legs in case this escape—or trap or whatever it actually is—involves more running. “And who is ‘she,’ exactly?”
“Someone likely to assume Riley was being an ass. She’ll let me out,” he says evasively. I want to push the issue, but I don’t want to give him any reason to leave me behind. Especially when there’s already a solid chance he’s only pretending to rescue us so I don’t freeze him to death.
If I thought the text took forever, that’s nothing compared to waiting for the mysterious sender to arrive. I jump at every tiny sound as I strain to hear the moment someone comes to the basement level. Finally, a door creaks open down the hall. I stop pacing, and I’m not even sure when I started walking the length of the small cell.
“Stand in the back with me,” Archer whispers urgently. “It’ll look more realistic if we keep our distance.”
I do as Archer says, anticipation making me jumpy.Footsteps approach and pause, metal sliding against stone, then the visitor approaches again. Paige, the third Hunter from Brooklyn, steps into view.
She raises a single eyebrow at Benton and leans her forearm against the horizontal bar in the door. “What happened, Hall?” She looks amused, and I take that as a good sign.
“Did Riley say anything?” Benton asks, sighing dramatically like this whole thing is nothing more than a ridiculous prank. Paige shakes her head, and Benton glances over his shoulder at us. “Ri thought it’d be funny to lock me in here withthem.”
“Boys,” Paige grumbles, looking fully irritated with both Benton and Riley.
“Let me out?” Benton bats his lashes and gives her puppy eyes. I want to vomit and maybe punch him one more time.
Paige rolls her eyes again and slips the key into the lock. She looks past Benton to where Archer and I are standing at the back of the cell. “If either of you moves, you’ll regret it,” she says, and turns the key.
The door swings open, and my heart soars with the chance for freedom. Benton steps through the door, but Paige closes the cell again. My hopes sink, and I reach for my magic. If I can drop them both before she locks the door, then maybe—
Benton lunges forward and wraps his arm tight around Paige’s throat, pressing his forearm against the side of her neck. The keys fall with a clang to the floor. She braces her feet against the door andshoves. Both Hunters slam against the opposite wall, but Benton doesn’t relent. Paige scratches his face, and he only tightens his hold.
She fights until her limbs fall to her sides and her eyes roll back in her head, unconscious. Benton catches her before she falls,scooping one hand under her knees until she’s cradled in his arms.
“Get the door.” His voice is choked with emotion as he steps toward us. I rush forward and push open the still unlocked cell door. “Move.” He shoves by me and gently lays Paige inside the cell, swiping the back of his hand over his cheeks before grabbing the gun from her waist.
I’ve seen this Benton before. Cold and unfeeling with a gun held firmly in his hand. My throat closes, and it’s like I’m back in his bedroom. But he tucks the gun in his waistband and strides through the cell door.
“Come on. We want as much distance from here as possible before anyone notices we’re gone.” Benton leads us out of the cell, and then the race is on.
I want to know where we’re going. I want to know what the plan is, but I force myself to trust the boy who just knocked a fellow Hunter unconscious to protect Archer.
To protect me.
Benton uses his thumbprint to open a door to a stairwell that wasn’t on any of the plans we studied and heads upstairs. I still don’t understand why he’s doing this, why he isn’t falling in line like Riley and the others did. But with my heart hammering in my ears and our footsteps too loud around us, I can’t concentrate on anything but running to safety. Running home to my mom.
“We’re almost there,” Benton says, pausing us before the next turn. “Once we’re clear of the building, we’ll be in a rear parking lot. It’s late, so it should be pretty empty. There won’t be much cover, so we’ll need to move fast.”
“Do you have keys to any of the vehicles?” Archer asks, breathing hard.
“Not on me,” Benton admits. “We’ll have to run as far as we can and figure it out from there.”
“If we can get out unseen, how long do you think we’ll have?” Archer glances around the corner. “If there are any older cars in the lot, I can have one hot-wired in a couple minutes.”
Benton shakes his head. “I don’t know. We—”
“Hall? Is that you?” Riley’s voice washes over us, and I tense. We turn and see the Hunter approaching from the way we’d just come. “What are you doing?”
“Not another step.” Benton raises the gun, his voice trembling but his aim steady.
Riley freezes, but even from twenty paces away, I can see the hatred burning in his eyes. “You’re making a huge mistake. Do this and you’re as good as dead, Hall.”
“The Order has lost its way, Ri.” Benton lowers the gun a fraction. “The detective is cured now. He’shuman. We’re supposed to protect him.”
