For once, Ana didn’t feel the need to pull away. Her mind was racing, processing. She’d told him everything, her horrific secret, and he was still here.
“You don’t…hate me?” She had to say it.
Alex shook his head and smiled. “You have to ask?”
A year. It was a long time to carry this. It wouldn’t go away, ever.But the weight was lifting.Wherever Danny is now, he knows I love him. He knows.
For the first time in a year, Ana felt like the broken parts of her were pulling together. Not complete. Not a whole. But close enough to feel just the smallest corner of herself, of who she had been before.
Alex leaned into her, his head falling on her shoulder, his curly hair on her cheek. She breathed him in, deeply. She remembered him. She remembered herself. The way he made her feel.
Like coming home after a long, dark journey.
There was no stopping it. Ana turned into Alex’s arms. Their lips found each other. They pushed together, clinging to each other; passion, desire, and grief shared between them.
Wrapped up into each other, they fell back, fingers curling into hair, breathing each other in.
No words were needed.
Soon enough they would have to face what was in front of them. The next hour would tick away and bring whatever sick cocktail of pain and fear was waiting for them. But just for now, for this moment in time, there was only love.
No more, no less.
33
Ana
36:56
Ana stood shoulder to shoulder with Alex in the baking-hot storage shack, looking down at the hatch.
The small flashing keypad winked at them tantalizingly. On and off. Stay or go. If they stayed, three of them would die before the sun set. If they figured out the code and got out of here, out of the “balloon”, they had a fighting chance.
There was no more thought about what they might find inside the hatch. There was no time for that. Maybe it would be empty—maybe not. Maybe whatever was inside was worse than anything they would face out here. Maybe it would kill them. They didn’t know. All they could do right now was focus on the next step. On getting the hatch open. Whatever came next, they would figure it out when the time came.
Game on, Bates.
No sign of Ellis or Jade. They were probably lurking around,watching from a safe spot. Ana felt her jaw set. Even if she somehow guessed the code, it was too late for Team Ellis. They’d lost their chance to escape with her when they killed Raya.
Her fingers were in her pocket; she touched the cool surface of Raya’s Zippo, feeling the texture of the etched letters. RM.
Not now. Later, the grief would come, but right now, their mission was clear. Find the four-letter code that would open the hatch and get inside. Ana kneeled by the keypad and, taking a deep breath, typedL O B A, followed by the hash. Beep. A white light flashed. Okay. That would have been too easy, but she had to try.
She looked at Alex. He shook his head and shrugged.
“I don’t know. Maybe ‘Hunt’?”
Ana’s hands shook as she enteredH U N T. If Bates had chosen the name of the kid who’d deliberately started the fire, what would that say about him? She was almost relieved when the beep sounded.
K A R L. Nope. Phew.
Beep. Three wrong guesses. The keypad turned red, and a countdown appeared on the screen. Sixty seconds, ticking down. Sixty seconds to think. Sixty seconds lost.
At the one-minute mark, the pad turned green.
S F H S—maybe St. Francis High School?
F I R E
