“Quinn!” I set my bag down and hurry towards him.
His stormy blue eyes meet mine, wide with surprise. “Teagan? Is that really you?”
“No, it’s your fairy Godmother,” I sass, rolling my eyes at him now that I know he’s okay and not dead. “Stay still. I’ll get you out of there,” I reassure him, using the machete to hack away at the beautifully offending flowers.
Helping him up, I bring him to the bench where we first sat together. “You okay?” I ask, looking him over for other injuries I can’t see. He’s sporting a rather large bruise across his right cheek, along with what looks like a busted eyebrow.
Quinn reaches out and grabs the hand I was extending toward his face before brushing a chaste kiss upon my knuckles. “Thank you for finding me. When Travis realized I was trying to lead him away from you, he knocked me out and threw me into those bushes. I’m ashamed to say that I was scared shitless when I heard you creeping about the garden. I thought it was him coming back to finish what he started,” he explains, his voice shaking and his cheeks staining red as he grips my hand harder. “But I was even more terrified that his coming back meant that he had found you…and had succeeded in killing you.”
I can’t help the way my heart swells hearing his confession, because I feel the same way now that I’ve found him alive. It might be wrong to trust him, but it feels a little like fate has brought us together to keep each other alive during this. I don’t think I would have made it this far without him.
“We both made it. Well, almost. I’m not sure what comes next,” I say with a sigh.
Quinn’s lips twist into a sad smile, like he knows that it won’t be as easy as both of us walking out of this place together. “How about we find a place to hide, and then we can worry about what comes next.”
“Where do you suggest?”
He gets to his feet and pulls me up with him. “Come, I know a spot.”
My heart flutters in my chest with both elation and worry as he leads me further into the darkening garden. The sun has set, and the stars are starting to show themselves against the velvet sky above us.
Quinn stops when we get to a small wooden shed hidden amongst the towering trees and shrubbery. “Trust me?” he asks, his voice trembling slightly.
I nod and let him guide us into the shed. Except, once inside, I realize it’s not a shed at all. It’s a tiny cottage. One fully equipped with a full-size bed, a small kitchenette, and, I hope, a bathroom.
I’m about to ask him how he knows of this place when Paws makes her presence known by howling from my bag.
Quinn takes a step back and raises an eyebrow at me before pointing to the noise in question. “What the hell is that?”
Unzipping the bag, I let Paws stick her head out. “Quinn, meet Paw Prints,” I tell him with a grin. “But Ahmed and I call…called her Paws.” I hold my hand to my chest as too many emotions I’ve forced down swell to the surface. “Ahmed saved my life. Travis shot him through the throat with an arrow.”
Quinn pulls me into a hug. “I’m sorry, Teagan. I’m so sorry. I tried to hide him in the dumpster, hoping it’d keep him safe while he was unconscious. Travis was busy looking through the cages to see if there was anything he could use to tie you up. I thought Ahmed deserved a chance—a chance Amber and David weren’t afforded.”
I pull away and wipe at a tear, resolving to let that be the last one I shed until we get out of here. “We can mourn him once we get out of this mess we’re in. I just wish I knew where Travis found that bow and arrow. I feel like this game is rigged. Pierce is obviously playing with us all. I just don’t understand why he’s singled me out.”
Quinn tenses, then nervously runs his hands through his dark hair, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “Ahh, I know how he found the bow,” he tells me as he plays with Paws, who has gotten herself free of the bag and is swatting at Quinn’s fingers on the aged quilt covering thebed. “When we were heading toward Windermere, we stumbled upon a bunch of tents.”
“The tan ones in the clearing? All facing each other?” I interrupt him, sitting on the bed next to him.
He gives me a questioning look before continuing. “Yeah. Did you find them too?”
I nod, twisting my fingers in my lap as I remember my own gruesome discovery. “Did they have dead people inside of them when you found them?”
“Dead people? No…” Quinn knits his eyebrows together as he looks up at me. “We didn’t even think to look inside. Travis saw the bow and the quiver of arrows sitting against the fire pit, and we ran as soon as he grabbed them. I wasn’t about to sit around waiting to get shot like Amber.”
I close my eyes as I remember all the death I’ve seen today, swallowing hard against the knot forming in my throat. Travis must have finished the trail of arrows on his walk back to the lighthouse after attacking Quinn.
“I’m so sorry for everything you’ve gone through today, Teagan,” Quinn says as he closes the distance between us. Paws hops off the bed and squeezes herself back into the duffel bag sitting on the floor at our feet. She seems to feel safer there, the same way I feel safer with Quinn by my side.
Lying my head on Quinn’s broad shoulder, I look down at my hands, still covered in so much blood and grime. “It’s not your fault, Quinn. You didn’t bring me here. You aren’t the one putting us through this nightmare.”
Quinn kisses the top of my head softly. I close my eyes for the first time in what feels like days. It’s the first time I’ve felt safe enough to lower my guard. “If you had been killed today, I never would have forgiven myself.”He sucks in a sharp breath before continuing, “Because it is partially my fault you’re in this mess.”
My eyes fly open as I jerk away from him, stumbling off the bed like it’s made of those same burning coals I found in the fire pit. “What? What do you mean by that?”
His expression is full of self-loathing, pain, and regret. “Atlas…Mr. Pierce…is my oldest brother.”
My mouth drops open. I stumble away from him, going as far as I can in this tiny cottage. “No, no, no,” I gasp, my back hitting the oven in the corner of the room.
