“Give me my daughter,” Cypress’s mom countered evenly. In response to her cold tone, Cypress took a half step behind Vesper.
“Mom, don’t do this!” Cedar cried from her chair. Bellamy startled and tried to lift her head and look around.
“Bel,” Vesper whispered. “What did you do to her?” she yelled, whipping her head around to glare at Cypress’s parents.
“She’s fine,” Cypress’s mom waved a hand, dismissing Vesper’s worries. “Cypress, come here. Now.”
“What’re you gonna do to me?” Cypress asked in a small, choked voice.
“Nothing, sweetie,” Thoai said sweetly, taking a half step forward before Vesper’s sparking fingertips warned him back. He glared at her, clearing his throat. “We’ve been looking for you. We wanted you back, to be a family again. Like we used to be.”
“That’s bullshit!” Cedar yelled.
“Cedar,” their mom started, still eerily calm, “did this. She was behind the whole thing. It was her idea. We only wanted to make sure we could all be a family.”
“That’s not true,” Cypress whispered. Her wide eyes were focused on the floor. She tightened her grip on Vesper.
“Of course it is, love,” her mom continued. “You know why we sent her away, off planet, for schooling? We worried about her. We worried about you.”
“Don’t listen to her!”
“We thought she could help us,” their mom said, ignoring Cedar entirely now. “She made the poison that was supposed to be given to you. The one that your dad and I took. It was her special project at school, a poison that could mimic all the real symptoms of death without the final result. It was a great breakthrough. We were going to bring her back. We just had todisappear first. That’s why we did everything. Your father and I, well, we were in trouble. We had to disappear, all of us. Then Vesper stole you. We’ve been beside ourselves with worry. Imagine our surprise when we finally find you all and your minds have been poisoned by lies. You’ve turned against us. Even our sweet Cedar.”
She turned to finally address Cedar, who was looking at her with a gobsmacked expression. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you our plan sooner. We knew you’d be upset with us for losing Cypress. We thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know we were alive. Not until the right moment.”
Vesper barely held in her scoff.Seriously? What a load of shit. She knew it was a lie. Cypress had told her, all those years ago when it went to shit, that her mother wanted her dead.
A lot of details from that night were fuzzy, distorted by time and adrenaline, the rush of the moment. But Vesper remembered that there was a specific difference in the poison they’d had for Cypress and the parents. She remembered with distinct clarity how serious their assignment had been: Cypress would get one, while her parents got the other. They were a different color from normal poisons—she remembered that too.
Then, with a start, Vesper realized she still had that poison. She hadn’t known what to do with it after not using it, but she couldn’t risk getting caught, so she’d shoved it into a hiding spot in her room. They could get it tested. Proof.
“If,” Vesper said, putting heavy emphasis on the word, “you’re not lying, then you wouldn’t mind letting us go back and get the poison you claim wouldn’t have killed her.”
“What are you talking about?” The mom snapped, finally losing some of her composure in her irritation with Vesper’s interference. Her hand clenched into a fist around something that glinted in the light overhead. Vesper squinted. It looked like a needle, but she couldn’t tell for sure. Weird.
“I still have it. The poison that was meant for Cypress.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Bellamy
She heard Vesper’s voice. A distinct panic flared up, jolting her into movement. Except the movement was stifled by the heaviness of her body. Rolling her head to one side was really all she could manage. Everything was weighed down. The fog in her head made it hard to keep up with what was going on around her.
The after-effects of whatever vile shit they’d given her were ridiculous. And seriously, could people stop fucking stabbing her? Or… injecting her?
The voices in the room were raised. Heated. They were arguing, she knew that for certain. One deep yet airy voice that she didn’t recognize was monologuing—long enough for Bellamy’s head to clear out a bit. It was over the girl; they didn’t care about anyone but her. She opened her eyes, lifted her head. Cedar was chained up in front of her. Fucking of course.
There was a faint memory of when she’d woken before. Cedar had been panicked, asking about Cypress. Bellamy hadn’t believed it. Cedar was clearly the one who’d put her there. They had Ves now, which meant they were all about to die, or she was about to give up the girl. Bellamy honestly didn’t know which one Vesper would choose.
Voices grew louder, angrier. The growing rage underlying Vesper’s soft tone jolted her unpleasantly into the land of full consciousness. The world was still blurred around her, but she could clearly focus her attention now. There was no attention on her. They were all across the room—the entirely empty room, devoid of furniture, aside from the chairs she and Cedar were tied to. There was one exit and no good prospects for escape. At least, as far as she could see without drawing attention to herself.
Cedar was in front of her, watching the arguments, horrified, her eyes wide and her mouth parted just a bit. Shock, probably. Bellamy examined the room. She’d been right earlier—they were encased in a concrete building. There was no hint of where they’d been taken or how many people might be involved. She had to assume that was why Ves hadn’t killed the parents and broken them out yet—she didn’t know any of that either.
The light she’d seen had come from flickering Energy attached to the ceiling via glass panes. Vesper could probably tell her how that was possible—shit, if she’d bothered with any design training, Bellamy could have dismantled and harnessed it—but right now, Bellamy didn’t fucking care. All she cared about was getting them the fuck out of there.
Plus, harnessing the Energy was fucking useless when she was chained to a fucking metal chair. Bellamy eyed Cedar, trying to assess if grabbing her attention was worth it. What could an herbalist even do in a cement box? Nothing helpful unless there were cracks and she could access the soil. Useless.
“Cy, you know they’re lying! Don't listen to them!” Cedar yelled, finally joining the arguments and drawing attention to the two of them. Bellamy caught Vesper’s eye and her expression immediately changed. The relief that washed over Vesper’s face made Bellamy’s skin flush as she remembered how she’d stormed off.
