No.“Yes.”
Josh sobs quietly next to me.
“Is it the redhead?”
I force the word out. “Yes.”
A horrible thought crosses my mind:It’s a trick.He wanted to know who I was willing to lose so he could kill the other one. Before I can scream for him to stop, he shoots Trey in the head. His body slumps to the side, and I have a sick moment of relief before remorse and grief overwhelm me.
“You better split before someone starts looking for them,” the leader of the guards says.
I don’t look at Trey’s body so I won’t remember him as a corpse. I knew him for most of my life, and I’m determined to get my revenge. Starting right fucking now.
I meet the scarred Raider’s gaze. “You’re about to have Semi-Humans on your tail.”
“The fuck you’re talking about?”
“They didn’t tell you? Maybe I wasn’t the only one who got set up.”
“You’ll be fine,” the leader of the guards says, but the worry in her voice is clear. “Leave now, and no one will come after you.”
“If you want to make sure of that, best not leave any loose threads,” I say.
“The Semis will know something’s off the second the guards return,” Josh says. “They can read minds.”
Smart boy.Almost no one knows what the Semi-Humans are capable of, and reading minds is just one of the rumors that has been circling around for decades.
“They’re trying to mess with your head,” the leader says, almost shouting.
I hope this is about to turn into an all-out shooting spree where both sides go down, but I only get half my wish. The Raiders are quicker, and the silence of the night is replaced by gunshots and screams of death. The thick smell of gunpowder slips through my nose and into my brain.
This is for Trey, I tell myself, but my revenge is far from finished.
They pull Josh and me up and shove each of us into a different buggy. I have a second to catch his eyes and convey to him that he better survive this, or I’ll chase him to the afterlife and kick his ass.
With the smell of death still lingering in the air, they drive us off into the night.
Chapter 12
Finn
“Dance with me,” River says.
“I’m looking for Caden.”
“He went out with Josh and Trey.”
A while ago.I wonder if Caden hates this ball so much that he’d spend most of his evening outside. He seemed fine when we got here, but maybe he pretended for my sake. I leave Timothy with Lyla and Otto and go dance with River, happy to see that people are already leaving. I’m more interested in speaking with the king about the jetpacks than taking part in more pointless conversations.
“River, you’re hopping.”
“So?”
“It’s not dancing.”
“Of course it is. Don’t you know how to hop?”
“I can hop just fine, but…” I catch a guard entering the hall and walking straight to the throne to speak with the king. As I watch their exchange, the king’s eyes dart around the room and land on me.
