“Is that true?” I ask, nearly levitating off my seat.
Beep.
“Calm down, Ghost,” Finn snarls.
How can I be calm? This is it. This is the answer.
Courtney looks between me and Finn. “I don’t know. Stories in small towns tend to get bigger and more exaggerated the further they travel. But Gina didn’t seem like the type to do something that unhinged. She never fought back when people made fun of her. She just smiled and laughed along. She was cool like that.”
No one is“cool like that”when they’re being made fun of and constantly compared to someone everyone else thinks is “better.”
I know that intimately.
“Does anyone know where Gina was the night Kelly disappeared?” I ask.
“Noooo.” Courtney drags out the word, her eyes narrowing. “What’s that beeping sound?”
“Nothing.”
A familiar, sharp pain strikes my chest, but the adrenaline rush flowing through me is too fulfilling. I grit my teeth and sit up as straight as I can. Finn is hovering over me, looking for signs of pain. If he sees me folding over and clutching my chest, he’s going to do something crazy, and I have so many more questions.
“Courtney, are you still in contact with Jonathan?”
“I’m not. I think he moved out of the country.”
Beep.
“Let’s go, J.” Finn peels out of the chair and rises to his feet, a monster with smoke flaring through his nostrils.
Sweat beads on my neck. I pretend not to hear him. “By chance, do you know where Gina’s parents live or if they’re still in town?”
“Yeah, they are,” Courtney says. “Hey, are you okay? Your face is getting really red.”
My chest pumps up and down.
It feels like someone is tightening my ribs until they crack.
Damn this weak, pathetic body of mine. My mind is locked in, incredibly willing to keep going, but my body has the strength of a paper bag, easily crumpled.
“I’m… okay.” I grimace and try to subtly rub my chest. “Can I have directions…”
I’m flying off the couch and landing in Finn’s arms before I can fully pronounce the word “directions.”
“Stubborn, bull-headed…” Shadow Prince mutters expletives under his breath as he launches out of Courtney’s house.
Eyes squeezed shut and chest screaming with pain, I wave my phone and tell Courtney weakly, “Text… me.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
FINN
Ren is nowhere to be found when we leave Courtney’s home, but Hayato sees me moving briskly down the driveway, and he hops out to open the back door for us.
I’ve gotten so used to carrying J in my arms while I enter a car that I don’t hesitate at the door to measure my steps. Without missing a beat, I duck far enough that my head clears the roof, and I fold myself into the back seat with her in my lap.
The sun is setting on the horizon, blazing orange and red streaks across a fading blue sky. Light from nearby lampposts pops on, exposing the veins straining against J’s temple and the sweat glistening on her snow-white skin.
The front door slams as Hayato climbs inside and gives me an inquiring look.
