She shakes her head. "It's in my room."
"May I go get it?"
She nods stiffly.
"I'll be ready to go in an hour. Don't worry about packing up Ellie's things. I already have her set up at the new place."
Then he's gone, and Aurora sags in his absence, a fresh knot forming between her brows.
She’s scared. I can see it now—beneath the anger and all the walls she's built up around herself. Aurora is terrified of what comes next.
That makes two of us.
9
THE ART OF THE LIE
AURORA
Ellie has been inconsolable the whole drive.
Even with me sitting in the back seat with her, reassuring her that we'll see the guys soon, the instant she saw me packing all of my things into the back of Atticus's SUV, she's been upset.
I stroke her fur, and there's a lump in my throat as I swallow. This isn't goodbye. I'll be a matter of miles away. A quick drive, really.
Then why did it feel so wrong watching the cabin grow distant in the rearview mirror?
Was it the same for Seven and Elijah as they watched us go from the front window?
True to his word, Atticus hasn't spoken to me since we left the library. He's been a stone-silent chauffeur for the entire drive, and as he pulls up to an apartment building, he grunts, and I take that to mean we're here.
"Come on, Ellie. Let's go see our new place, huh?"
I try to sound cheerful, if only for her as I lead her around to the back of the SUV where Atticus is already unloading my bags.
I don't tell him I can do it myself, even though I want to.
When we reach the door, a simple white one with a peephole and the number six next to it, Atticus sets my bags down to grab a key from his pocket and open it.
Ellie races in first, letting out a little yap as her claws click over the linoleum.
I'm not sure why I expected the place to be empty, but it's definitely not.
As Atticus shuts the door behind me and flicks on the light, bathing the space in a soft ivory glow, I can see it's more than just furnished. It looks like someone's been living here for at least a little while.
The small but functional-looking kitchen off to the left has clean dishes on a mat next to the sink, a loaf of bread on the counter, and a fruit bowl filled with oranges and bananas.
The living room straight ahead is furnished with secondhand items that make the space look cozy and like a realistic, broke college student apartment. There's a TV perched atop a tall sideboard, and next to it a record player and a milk crate full of records, some of which I think I recognize from Atticus's collection in the basement at the cabin. None of Flo's from what I can tell, but I recognize the record we listened to when he…
I will not let him ruin Sleep Token for me. Absolutely not.
Peeking into the bedroom and small bathroom, I find it all looks similar. Honestly, when I imagined getting a little place for Ellie and me, this is exactly how I'd have pictured it. Not too big, but not tiny, either. Cozy and just enough for what we need. A yard would have been ideal, but I'm assuming rentals like that, this close to the university, are probably all scooped up already.
It's okay, though. I'll walk her lots.
Atticus sets my things down next to my bedroom door, and I realize a little belatedly thathe'sthe one who set all this up. For some reason, I can't picture Atticus at a secondhand shoppicking out furniture, or at a Costco picking out sheets and a comforter for my bed.
My face screws up, and Ellie barks at me, doing little circles in the new doggy bed pushed into one corner of the living room. It's black, massive, and already has a bone atop it that she settles in to gnaw on once she finds a cozy position.
