Why hadn’t he said anything? “Phoenix?”
“Bourbon. It’s the scent of bourbon. Drenched in it. I never could… stand alcohol. With everything I do to myself? I don’t drink. I think… I think that whoever had us, they were drenched in it.”
We stared at him like he’d dropped a bomb. That was huge. I remembered when we first all got together the guys had said that Phoenix didn’t drink. I’d never thought to ask why. He did all kinds of drugs. Why not alcohol?
Well… maybe there was a reason that hadn’t been on his list of poisons.
Jer’s phone rang and he physically jolted. He blinked. “An actual call? What kind of spam this time?” He grabbed it. “Huh. Might be a real number. Not an area code I know, but it doesn’t say potential spam.” He frowned.
“Pick up the call or don’t.” Julian rolled his eyes. “Don’t make a thing.”
Jeremy answered it and then widened his eyes. “Can I tell her who’s calling?” He was quiet for a moment before he motioned for me to take the phone. “It’s Sally.”
Sally? I grabbed the phone.
11
“Sally?” I spoke into the phone. Could it be possible? I’d left a message, but no one had gotten back to me anywhere I’d called yet.
“Alatheia,” she squeaked. “It is you. My father, he mumbled something and gave me a number. I wasn’t sure the name he gave, it was close but not right. How are you?” She sounded almost frantic.
It was ridiculously good to hear her voice. “I’m okay. How are you?”
“I’ve been so worried about you. The way your boyfriend carried you out.” Barrett. Okay. It made sense that she thought it was my boyfriend. “And he had his brothers and all those men. You had a whole hoard of people come get you. They were yelling. Demanding doors opened, and the headmistress did it. She was actually doing it. Then we got cleared out and sent home. I felt so sick. So sick.”
Right. She’d had to go through withdrawal too. Everyone did. Maybe not as much as I did because I had the drugs in solitary. But, we’d all been dosed every week. I’d had so much help. It sounded like Sally had none.
“Me too, but I… Sally, listen, I have to talk to you, and it’s serious. I heard that no one really left that place. Not ever. They didn’t get to go when they turned eighteen. They were killed. I know my family wants to kill me. Is there… is there any reason your family might want to kill you?”
She was going to holler or hang up. That’s what any rational person would do. But she was silent. Then when she spoke again she whispered. “Yes. Wow. I thought I might be crazy.”
“You’re not. Why? I mean for me it’s money.” I couldn’t expect her to share if I didn’t.
“My grandmother left me money. A lot. I mean we’re not rich, but she was. I get it when I’m eighteen.” Her voice shook. “Oh. What the fuck? What the everloving fuck? They were going to kill me. Oh my god. I have to get out of here. This is my number. Text or call me. I don’t know where I’ll be, and at some point I’ll have to ditch this phone.”
“Sally.” I tried to stop her, but she was already gone.
I stared at the phone before I looked up at the guys. “Well, she wasn’t… um surprised. She’s running.”
“She’s running?” Julian stared at me wide-eyed. “Where?”
“I don’t know. Honestly.” I swallowed through the lump in my throat. “All the care you guys have given me, all the help in the hospital, and the therapy and the love, she hasn’t had any of that. She’s alone.” I pulled at my knitted cap. “With her head shaved.” That was a small thing, but for me it had come to represent a lot. “Running for her life now.” I stared at them. “Is everything always about money?”
Barrett nodded. “Ninety percent of the time everything in life is about money. Ten percent of the time it’s something else.”
“I can’t do anything for her. I don’t even know where she’s going.”
Phoenix drew me to him. It was cold out and after my phone call I was feeling it more acutely. He was warm. “She’ll call backand then we’ll see if we can help her. Text her from your phone when we get home with your number in case you aren’t with Jeremy when she gets in touch.”
“I don’t know if I could have survived it without you guys. How did she?”
With his warm lips, Phoenix kissed my head. “You could have. You’re so strong.”
I wasn’t. I kept trying to be, but inside… I was just a wreck.
We satwith Dina while she slept. Eventually, each of the guys had something they had to go do. They all had jobs for their fathers, and Phoenix wanted to go skate to clear his head. But I sat with her, which gave her companion a break. Technically, I was supposed to be that, but I was pretty sure at this point that had all been a ruse to just get me to do her journals. The lovely woman had just wanted to save me from a fate I wasn’t sure I could really be saved from.
So, I read them. That was the least I could do. The very least.
