So these five days are going to be my personal exorcism. And I’ve got a whole long-ass list of crap I want to exorcise from my brain. Starting with Chloe. Ending with Killan’s kiss.
Killan’sfirst kiss.
The weight of which threatens to crumble what little resilience I still possess.
I’ve seen the way he looks at you.He doesn’t want you to leave.
Stay.
Fresh panic threatens to well up inside me, so I stumble through the doorway leading from the kitchen onto the mezzanine, using fear as the ultimate distraction.
The forest cavern is dark, and when I glance up, I can’t distinguish between the high rock walls and the night sky overhead. Everything shadowed and black. With a hand on the railing, I slide forward, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but I can’t see anything farther away than my fingers.
Does that make it better or worse—that I’ve got to climb down a three-story ladder in the dark?
I get onto my hands and feet, feeling ridiculously stupid for turning my back on the long drop, but I’ve got to so that I can get my feet onto the first rung. I swear I’m going to be sick, and not for the first time today, I wish I hadn’t eaten dinner.
In the end, I close my eyes. They’re not doing me much good, anyway. And every time my brain threatens to imagine what I’d look like dead and splattered over the ground below, I force myself to remember Chloe instead.
She helped abduct me. She fucked with my mind. Yet she was brave enough to take a stupid-fucking risk and escape.
Terrifyingly, my entire body jerks as my right foot hits the next rung much sooner than expected. I gasp, holding on to the ladder with such force my fingers ache, but I’m not falling—not physically, at least.
Quite the opposite; I’ve reached the cavern floor. All by myself.
Killan
“What does this say?” I demand, stalking into Roan and Harlee’s dark bedroom. The blood is pounding in my temples, and I am holding my jaw so tight I can barely speak.
“Go away.” Roan glares at me through his inner eyelids, his usually bright pupils dulled by the semi-translucent skin.
“Oh, hey Killan.” Harlee drapes an elbow over her closed eyes, seemingly nonplussed as I grapple with Roan for control of his datapad. “Isn’t it a little early to be starting work, even for you?”
“This is not work.” As Roan’s sleep-heavy fingers slip, I press the datapad’s control for the lights, and they blast on, fillingthe room with artificial sunlight. “What does it say?” I repeat, leaning over my irritated brother and pushing Lydia’s dress toward Harlee.
She struggles to sit as she tucks the edge of her new blanket under her arms to keep it from slipping. A gift from Roan, delivered yesterday among the supplies. Taking Lydia’s dress from my hold, she winces, glancing between the dress and my stained fingertips. “It’s all smudged.”
“It is an entirely inconvenient way of leaving a missive,” I reply through clenched teeth. “It was not my fault.”
“Well, I don’t think she had any other way of writing one.I need some thinking time.”
“Why?” I demand. “You cannot read it? Are these squiggles not words?”
“No, Killan. That’s what the note says.” Harlee points to each smudge in turn. “I need some thinking time, so I’ve gone,er, ‘cave’ I think that word is”—she squints at the mess of my fingerprints—“exploring. Back in five days. No need to worry. I’ve taken lots of food. Lydia.”
“That is it?” Pressing my lower hand to the mattress, I lean over as far as possible, as if staring at the squiggles for long enough will turn them into readable words.
“Umm?” Harlee flips the dress over, searching for more writing on the back. “Yep, that’s it. God, I hope she’s okay. She was pretty angry last night about Chloe leaving, but I didn’t think she’d wander off by herself.” She looks up at me. “Did she say anything about leaving to you?”
“No.”Yes. I just never thought she really would.
“No?” Harlee sounds unconvinced.
“We argued.” I force the words out, hating that they are the truth.
“Fighting as usual,” scoffs Roan.
My temper, already at the edge of my control, latches onto a physical target, and I point a finger at his chest. “Do not start with me. I will snap your?—”
