In the background, distant noises could be heard, along with people yelling at each other beyond the walls of the room. She and Hector stared at each other as the windows brightened with spotlights and the room filled with the hum of hovercrafts. Their headlights made the room glow, banishing the last threads of the night. Snapshots. Pictures. The media.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she said, knowing their time was ending. “If things had been different…”
He laughed weakly. “You would’ve followed me to the darkest corners of the universe?”
“Yes.”
The shouting grew closer. She vaguely noticed as the hands holding her back from Hector switched. The android moved in front of her and picked up Hector’s fallen weapon.
Hector continued, drawing her attention back to him. “I love you. I’ve loved you from the beginning.”
“I love you, too.” Her throat constricted as tears streamed down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening.I don’t want to lose him, not like this.She’d wanted to go home, had wanted Lily safe, but she wanted Hector safe too. She wanted him to live. She wanted him. Wanted a chance to be with him.
Mr. Heartface aimed the gun at Hector’s head. “Happily ever afters aren’t meant for every—”
Blood splattered across her face, and then her world went dark.
24
Janet woke up much like she had weeks before, in a strange cabin, far, far away from home.
She shot up in bed and looked around the bright room. Beside her, on a separate bed of her own, Lily lay sound asleep, and between them and all around the room itself, were medical machines. These comforts didn’t stop the sudden racing of her heart or keep her hands from growing clammy with fear.
“Lily?” Janet called out, rising from her bed. Her baby sister mumbled in her sleep as the door slid open. On the other side stood a tall man in a crisp black suit, with short brown hair that was parted to the side, and dull citrine eyes.
“You’re awake,” he said.
Her lips flattened as she stood.
“You may ignore me if you wish but let your sister sleep.”
Janet looked at Lily and then back around the room, finally landing on the strange man who stood right at the threshold. Memories rose like waves in her head; Hysterian, Lily, the nightclub, all jumbled and out of order. The gun to Lily’s head, the love between her and Hector, their moments in the hovercraft, the fight. And the entire evening and night until it all ended on that final note with the bullet ringing in her ears.
“Hector,” she gasped, pressing a hand to her heart. Pain shot through her. “No.”
She didn’t know how long she sat there, unable to move for fear that something else would go wrong. She watched Lily’s sleeping, peaceful form for what seemed like an eternity. When she thought she had a grip on the turmoil inside, she looked back at the man. He hadn’t moved.
But she knew who he was.
“Nightheart,” she accused.
He cocked his head. Janet wiped her hands onto her shirt, realizing that at some point while she’d been out someone had changed her into standard space scrubs. She could only assume whoever had her now had performed a physical on both her and Lily.Why wouldn’t they?Hector could’ve been the monster the media made him out to be.
But he wasn’t. Not to her, not to Lily.
She should be thrilled, should be rejoicing. He was the bad guy who kidnapped her, right? But all she wanted to do was go back in time and do it all over again, knowing everything she knew now.
Her stomach sank.It’s over.
She walked over to where Lily slept and drew up the covers, tucking her sister in. Lily’s cherub face beamed innocently in her slumber, and Janet leaned down to place a gentle kiss to her brow. Lily was going to have a hell of a time growing up with the experiences she’d had, and Janet was going to be there right next to her as her sister faced life with all its brutality. She could only hope it would get better from here on out for her.
She turned to look at Nightheart head-on and joined him in the hallway. The door quietly closed behind her.
“Is he dead?” she asked, getting right to it.
“Yes.”
Her heart fell and she bunched up her hands. “You killed him.”
