He nods slowly, his gaunt face catching the moonlight in a way that makes him look positively skeletal. It hurts to see him like this.
Fuck, he'd hate it so much.
"I think there are lots of things trapped there," he murmurs.
I nod.
"Do you remember…" I start, biting the inside of my cheek. "Do you remember that girl we brought a few weeks ago? Eli's girlfriend?"
He frowns, thinking, and after a few seconds, there's a flicker of some memory he's trying hard to hold on to. "Yes. Her name was…was…"
I wait while he thinks.
"Aurora?"
I sigh. "Yes. Yes, that's her name."
Pushing my hand into my jacket pocket, I find the tiny metallic dick I keep there, pinching it between my fingers like if I hold on to it hard enough, I can hold on to her, too.
"It's not just Eli who cares for her. We all do. She's…"
Damn.
When I speak again, it's through my teeth, and I have to push the words out hard. "Aurora's really fucking important to us, Jules." My voice cracks on her name, and I have to stop. Swallow. Try again. "And something has happened to her."
Something I caused. Something I could've prevented if I'd been smarter. Faster.Better.
The weight of the truth presses down on my chest like a fucking boot.
Eli wanders back, huffing a sigh through his hands. "And now, we need to know what you know so we can help her."
Julian's brown eyes search his son's face, confused but clearly trying to understand.
"It won't be easy to get the information out of your head," I add. "And we aren’t even completely sure if you have the information we need."
"But she's important," Julian finishes. "So you need to try."
Eli's eyes glisten again, and he pinches away the dampness there before speaking again.
"We do," he agrees. "But we can't do it here. It isn't safe. We'd have to take you somewhere else."
At this, Julian recoils. "Well, what about your mother?"
My stomach turns.
I try to understand how he can behere,but alsonot here.
How he can rememberus, but not that she's gone.
Julian turns to me. "Could Flo come with us?"
I lean over my knees and look up at Eli, but his eyes are squeezed shut and I know he's thinking the same thing I am.
We can't do this.
There was a time when I thought I could.
I thought I could put him through it all just for a chance at something that would give us our revenge, but now we're here, and…
