Fix carrying Teddy. Wren walking behind him holding Teddy’s limp hand. And two cursebreaking teams flanking them, refusing to let anyone close. Placing themselves as protectors from those who pretended to protect. They trusted nobody anymore, and they were open about it, shaking the very foundations of an institution that wanted to pretend to be perfect.
Wren watched them carry out boxes filled with files, diagrams, and charts. Data about the sick plan designed to destroy the one thing he loved more than anything.
A man walked in front of them, PUMA jacket over his shoulders, dark curly hair messy on his head. He was carrying a stack of files under one hand.
Fix opened the door to a car Wren didn’t recognize and his attention was diverted.
Hart took Wren’s hand and unhooked it from Teddy’s.
Wren’s insides burned with the magic and exhaustion.
Trace helped put Teddy in the back seat.
Echo led Wren to the passenger seat and helped him get in.
People talked.
Wren looked out the window, his vision going blurry.
The man with the PUMA jacket and the files walked by the car.
He turned to look at Wren, who sagged against the door.
He gave a lazy grin, dark eyes glinting. He held up his phone to shake it at Wren, his sleeve pulling up and revealing an eye tattooed on the back of his wrist.
Wren’s phone pinged. His heart hammered and he tried to get out of the car, but his legs were refusing to cooperate as the last of the magic seeped out of him.
“Fix!!” he called weakly, voice cracking and barely audible.
The doorhandle gave and he spilled out of the car, crawling after the man, who got into a car just a few feet away from him.
“No,” he whispered as the man started the car, realizing he’d never catch him. “Blu, follow.”
He scrambled for his phone, pulling it out of his pocket and finding the screen cracked and the battery almost dead. He thumbed at it, desperate to at least take a photo of the plates, but his hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold it up.
A message flashed on his screen as the man waved one more time and hightailed it out of there. Files in hand. An eye tattoo on his arm. And a text on Wren’s phone.
Unknown:Thanks!!
Wren’s strength gave out and he collapsed on the ground.
Chapter 24
Wren
There were eyes on him. Tracking his every move. There were people carrying files, walking past him as he screamed silently for someone to stop them. For someone to do something because there was information being stolen. Dangerous people were getting their hands on it.
There were pings on his phone. Message after message after message.
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Taunting him. Goading him into playing this game of cat and mouse where he ended up losing every single time. He wasn’t one step behind. He hadn’t even started the journey, while their train had reached the final station.
He’d lost. They’d lost.
