I’d protest about sleeping, but I’m so tired my eyes are burning from being open.
Still, I dare ask one more question, one that’s been bothering me. “How did James get a hold of you?”
“I was on the run when one of his guards was able to track us and tranquilize me, kind of like what happened to you. When I woke up, I was locked in a cell. But I wasn’t worried. I knew Aiden would help me as soon as he found out I was there.” She says it without any wavering doubt.
“Weren’t you worried he was the one who put you there?” I question. “Didn’t that cross your mind at all?”
She shakes her head without a drop of doubt. “Not at all. I knew he wasn’t aware that James found me. Just like I knew if James got ahold of you, he’d get you out of there.”
I lie down as my eyelids grow heavy. “But how did he not realize I’d been taken until almost two weeks after I had? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Like I said, James has been running Aiden raggedly. And just before he took you, he was sending Aiden on these outlandish missions in an attempt to find Broken Crown Island. Aiden has been doing these missions for a while, and he wants to find the island and keep the location from James.”
“So he’s like a double agent.”
“Yeah, you could look at it like that.”
“Why would he do that?” I ask. “Why not just run away and go restart his life?”
Again, sadness resurfaces in her eyes. “Again, that’s for Aiden to tell you.”
Speaking of the devil, Aiden shouts up the stairway, “Ellie, I need your help with something! Can you come here?”
“I’ll be right down,” she calls out, then stands to her feet. “Get some rest. No one will be here for at least five hours or so. It could be longer, depending on the weather.” She walks out of the room, shutting the door behind her before I can protest.
While I had been sleepy from the crying, being alone in the room with the midnight sky plaguing the outside, is plucking at my consciousness. Finn and I spent many nights staring out thatsingle window in that panic room, at the stars and moonlight twinkling against the midnight backdrop, pretending we were someplace else, like in a tranquil field stargazing. Nighttime was the only time the air grew still enough that we could pretend we weren’t locked up. It was our peace. But now that I’m all alone, the silence is almost maddening…
The car accident…
The contract…
Having sex for the first time in that godawful situation…
Being locked up…
Being touched by doctors…
Drugged….
James’s fucking sick twisted glee every time he looked at us suffering…
I ball my hands into fists and stab my fingernails into my palms, spitting the flesh open. When tears of rage begin to well in my eyes, I throw the blankets off me and climb out of bed. I pad out into the hallway and start to descend the stairs, but pause when the voices of Aiden and Ellie reach my ears.
“You need to tell her,” Ellie is saying to Aiden. “Because of the environment she grew up in, Maddy is naturally suspicious. She won’t ever fully trust you if she thinks you’re keeping something from her.”
“I can’t tell her everything yet,” Aiden responds in a gentle tone that doesn’t seem to fit his harsh demeanor.
“Why not?” Ellie asks. “Maddy’s very understanding. She just wants honesty.”
“I’ll tell her soon,” Aiden mutters. “But right now, I have a ton of other shit to deal with, like figuring out where this goddamn, nearly nonexistent island is. I was beginning to question if it was even real, but this scroll, if it’s real, might be the key to finding it.”
“Where’s the book?” Ellie asks. “I want to look through it.”
They settle into quietness after that, so I tiptoe back up the stairs and down the hallway to the room Finn is staying in. The door is closed, so I tap my knuckles on it.
A pause, and then Finn says puzzledly, “Yeah?”
“It’s me, Maddy.” I roll my eyes at myself.Like he can’t recognize your voice, Maddy?
