Nico just nods. “We’ll be right outside.”
I manage a small, shaky smile. “Thank you. I have to try. For all of us.”
The car slows as we pull up the long, gravel drive. My heart pounds, but I reach for the door and get ready to do what needs to be done.
27
BLADE
Carrie reaches for the door handle, her knuckles white, and Jace tenses up in the seat beside me. He grabs her arm. “Wait. We need to make sure you’re safe in there. You know how things can turn.”
Carrie looks back, her eyes clear and stubborn. “I have to do this.”
“And I can’t go let you go just like that,” I say equally stubborn.
“You have any bright ideas?” Levi asks sarcastically.
“Actually…” I say, digging through the glove box, tossing aside old napkins and empty wrappers, until my fingers close around something solid. I pull out a small, beat-up burner phone. I hand it over. “Here. It still works. I’ll call your number. Keep it in your pocket and keep the line open. If anything’s off, you don’t even have to talk. We’ll hear it.”
Carrie nods, takes the phone, and zips it into her jacket. Her hands are shaking, but her chin is high. She opens the door and steps out, shoulders squared against the cold.
From where I’m sitting, the Reaper clubhouse looks the same as ever—big, low, brick, with the chain-link fence and the heavy,padlocked gate. Bikes are lined up like guard dogs along the porch but there are fewer than I expected. Where is everyone? There’s a battered sign painted with the Reaper skull, old colors faded but still mean.
Carrie walks up the drive, slow but steady, her boots crunching on the gravel. I keep the phone pressed tight to my ear, listening for her footsteps, for the sound of voices, anything.
Jace is jittery, staring holes through the windshield. “She shouldn’t have to do this.”
Levi’s got his eyes on the building, one hand flexing on his knee. None of us breathe right until Carrie knocks at the door. She stands there, head high, but I can see the nerves in her posture. If she’s scared, she hides it better than any of us would.
The line is quiet at first, just the squeak of Carrie’s boots on old floorboards. I picture her walking in, chin up, heart racing. Whale’s voice comes through the phone, rough as ever.
“Carrie?” There’s surprise, then wariness. “Haven’t seen you in months. What brings you back here?”
I can hear her hesitate. “I need to talk, Whale. Alone.”
He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “Alone?”
Carrie tries to sound brave. “Things changed. Jinn’s gone. I’m not with him anymore.”
Silence, then a slow, suspicious exhale from Whale. “You show up out of nowhere. You got any idea what’s happened since you left?”
She keeps her voice low. “I heard some things. That’s why I’m here. I need help. For me…and for Nico, Jace, and Levi.”
Whale grunts. “Why should I believe you?” I hear him moving closer. “What’s in your pocket there?”
Carrie answers, “It’s just a phone.”
He cuts her off, his voice sharp now. “You recording me, Carrie? You better not be.”
Carrie tries to explain, but Whale isn’t listening anymore. “Who the hell are you working for? You think you can just walk in here and set us up?”
There’s a scuffle, the phone jolts, and I hear Carrie’s breath catch.
That’s it. I’m out of the car. Jace and Levi are right behind me. We run across the yard, the clubhouse looming ahead.
Whale swings open the door, dragging Carrie toward the steps. She looks shaken, hair falling into her face, but she’s still glaring at him, refusing to back down.
I’m there in two steps, grabbing her arm and pulling her behind me. Whale’s eyes go wide as he sees the three of us.
