“I’m sorry,” he said and his gentle voice reverberated through me despite its somber tone.
“It’s my fault. I should have said something sooner. I got you guys mixed up in all this shit.”
Dare shushed me. He rubbed my back and shushed me.
“We’ll get him. I promise you,” he said but I didn’t know if he could make such a promise.
Victor was a slippery son of a bitch. And he definitely wasn’t one to run from a challenge. Especially one that involved me as the winning prize.
That was what I was to him.
A prize.
A reward.
Something shiny to keep on the shelf while it lost its luster and withered away into nothing.
Something to collect dust and beatings.
Slade’s phone rang again but I couldn’t even hear what he was saying. Everything had turned to white noise in Dare’s arms.
If only I could stay here forever.
“What?” Dare asked Slade and I turned my head in his direction.
“That was Donovan. He said a fire broke out at the lodge.”
Dread exploded inside me, and I felt myself go numb as I processed his words.
“L-l-lodge? L-Luna’s Lodge?” I asked.
“Yeah. It happened, like ten minutes ago, but the fire department has already put it out. It’s not too bad. Apparently it was contained to the west wing but thankfully no one was…”
I tuned him out and pulled away from Dare’s arms, from my safety blanket.
I stumbled backwards and shook my head as I remembered the old man. I’d bumped into him today. We’d hugged. He’d been so nice. So kind.
And that had been his undoing.
“It was him,” I said.
I knew I could sense him. Victor. I knew I could feel him watching me.
He was there. He had seen me with Mr. Rogers. He probably followed him and decided to play with me. To make me pay for not coming back to him.
“It was him. He did this. I know he did. He’s a pyromaniac. He loves seeing things burn,” I mumbled and kept walking backwards as both men glared at me.
Oh boy, did he love burning things. My fingers flared at the memory as if he was right here to put them through a candle flame and watch me suffer.
It was as if he was here burning my stuff and taking pleasure in destroying another thing I owned. I could smell the acid fumes assaulting my nostrils as yet another of his gifts went up in flames, turning into dust.
“Oh my God. What have I…what have I done?”
I ran. I spun around and ran into the bedroom, tears blocking my vision before I’d even hit the mattress. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe.
“Zach!” Dare called out but I drowned out his voice with a pillow. “Zach,” he persisted.
It was my fault. I’d run away from him and now I was going to pay. Everyone would unless I went back to him. And I couldn’t even run anymore. How could I? Nothing guaranteed he wouldn’t destroy these people anyway, just for fun. If hethought I cared about them—and I did—he’d hurt them before running after me to hurt me too.
