“Oh, get over yourself. You’re not crazier than any of us.”
I manage a smile although I still feel like shit. “Best for us not to sleep together until I get this shit under control.”
He shakes his head. “I’ll just tie you down before we go to sleep. It will make it easier to finger you.”
He exits the room before I can think of a reply. I try to slow down my racing heart and rationalize what happened. I’m clearly more affected by my encounter with Hector than I thought, but I’ve lived through plenty of horrible shit during myyears as a Defender, and nothing has ever made me react this way.
Something isn’t right.
I can feel it.
Chapter 9
Finn
When I finish showering, the room is empty. The rest must have gone down for breakfast. I put on a fresh set of clothes, but I keep my assembly uniform in my bag until we reach High Hope. Before I leave the room, I spot a few drops of Josh’s blood on the floor, so I clean them up. I’m the expert in nightmares, and I can’t remember ever waking up so upset as to turn violent.
When I step into the hallway, I hear, “Finn.”
I jump and turn around. “You scared me.”
For once, Otto is not wearing his assembly uniform, though he’s still dressed too neatly for the road. “Sorry. I heard the commotion earlier.”
“It was nothing. Everything’s fine.”
“Oh, okay. I… well, I wanted to thank you for helping me out yesterday when that Raider was about to smash my face.”
I try to remember if I did that, but the moment is lost among everything else that took place. “You’re welcome.”
“And I’m glad that Josh and River will be joining us. They seem like good people.”
“They are.”
He walks toward the stairs. “I assume we will be leaving shortly. I’ll see you later.”
I wait a few seconds before climbing down into a small dining hall, where I find River sitting next to Timothy and Josh. They have a plate of food in front of them, with cheese, fruit, and bread. I sit down on the other side of the table, grimacing at Josh’s nasty black eye and swollen bottom lip.
“How are you?” I ask.
He shrugs. “It’s worse than it looks.”
“I’m very upset,” River says, his arms crossed.
“It was an uncontrolled reaction to a bad dream,” Timothy says calmly. “I assure you that Caden is more upset than any of us.”
“I know,” Josh says with his shoulders slumped. “Please don’t bring this up to him.”
I watch him closely. Behind the pain he’s clearly in, he also seems troubled. “Did he say anything while he was dreaming?”
Josh shifts uneasily. “He said things like ’What the fuck do you want?’but… I’m not sure he was really dreaming.”
An unpleasant feeling grows in my stomach. “What do you mean?”
“I woke up when I heard him speaking. He was sitting in bed with his eyes open, like he was looking at something that was in the room with us.” He shivers. “It was terrifying.”
“Well, now I’m even more upset,” River says.
Josh shakes his head. “Don’t be. Whatever it is, we’ll keep an eye on him on the road.”
