“I can’t pinky promise, so you’re gonna have to look at me. Can you see what I’m wearing?”
She cocked her head to the side at my question, then stepped closer to the bed. Her eyes landed on my cut, which is exactly what I wanted.
“I can’t really turn to show you the patch on the back, but I’m a Blackwing. Do you know who the Blackwings are?”
Her eyes widened at the name, and she nodded a few times.
“So, you know we can help you,” I said.
She nodded again.
“Good. Now, I need you to find something to cut these zip ties off with. Can you do that?”
She nodded again, then glanced around the room with a look of confusion on her face.
I bit back my annoyance and gave her more precise instructions. “Go over to the dresser and look in the drawers. See if you can find a knife or a pair of scissors. Anything that will cut through plastic will work.”
After opening each drawer and rummaging through the contents, she looked at me and shook her head.
“Come check my pockets,” I told her. “I always carry a pocketknife. I assumed they emptied my pockets, but maybe they didn’t.”
She looked at me skeptically.
“It’s up to you, Chloe. It’s not like I can do it.”
Reluctantly, she walked to the side of the bed and carefully reached into my pocket. I knew the idiots hadn’t checked me for weapons when her eyes lit up. Moments later, she was holding my knife out to show me.
“Great. Now, cut the ties so we can get out of here.”
She flipped the knife open and moved toward the zip ties with shaking hands while I internally cringed. She was going to cut me; there was no way around it.
I felt the burning sting of the knife slicing my skin before the tension around my wrist disappeared, and my hand was free. “Thanks,” I said and reached for the knife. “I’ll get the other one.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“It’s okay,” I said, even though I hadn’t looked at the wound. And judging by the wetness I felt, it wasn’t okay. But it would have to wait. We had bigger issues to deal with.
Once I was free, I got to my feet and promptly swayed as the room moved in unnatural ways. “Fuck,” I hissed and rubbed my forehead. My head was pounding while my stomach roiled with nausea. “What’d he hit me with, a torque wrench?” I asked, laughing at the irony. “Fuck, that hurts.”
“Are you okay?” Chloe asked quietly.
“We’re going to pretend like I am,” I said and moved toward the window. “Please tell me we’re on the first floor.”
“We are.”
“Great. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
I had the window open and the screen pushed out when I heard a car approaching. “Fuck.” I didn’t know for sure, but Ihad a feeling that car was headed our way. “We’ve gotta go. Now!”
With that, I grabbed Chloe and shoved her out the window. It wasn’t gentle by any means, but it was necessary. “Sorry,” I said as I jumped out behind her. “Go! To the trees.”
She scrambled to her feet, and we sprinted to the woods. I had no idea where we were, but it wasn’t important. The only thing that mattered was getting as far away from that house as we could before they discovered we were gone.
Unfortunately, my body was in no condition to endlessly run through the woods. We ran until I couldn’t run anymore. My head was hurting so bad that I nearly collapsed. Reaching for the nearest tree to brace myself, I leaned forward and vomited.
“Ink, are you okay?” Chloe gasped.
“No. No, I’m not,” I finally admitted and lowered myself to the ground.
