With my wife at one side and my little nutcase at the other, I have everything. The guard gestures for us to follow as I keep both of them attached to me on our walk through the space to a narrow tunnel. Delilah doesn’t fight me, which I hope means she knows it’s me rather than being high.
Sasha trembles when we reach the part of the tunnel the light doesn’t reach. I try to stroke her back, but my forearm rubs against her ribs. The phantom limb syndrome is easier to deal with now that I know she’ll be by my side.
The guard pulls a thick black hood over Sasha’s head, then mine. I keep rubbing her side to relax her so she knows I’m not going anywhere as we’re taken to the boat.
74
DELILAH
My eyelids droop as my body is softly rocked from side to side, then I’m forced to stand. The gentle sounds of waves filter through the numbness of having the vials again. Something is dragging me, scraping my feet against a rough surface, but I don’t feel it with the sweet chemicals.
I’m going to see Kane again. With Scarlet and Luna. Our children have names and they’re waiting for me.
But they’re not there when I fall onto my side, greeted by a void. I try to stretch my hands into it, but the void doesn’t move as I whisper, “Nice.” I stretch my fingers into the inky abyss. “Nothing.”
“I have your baby, stupid girl,” it whispers back. Helene. She’s here, hiding in the dark to remind me, “The shadows belong to me.”
“No!”
I try to fight through the weight keeping my limbs stuck together as she continues taunting me. “Ashes…ashes…”
“It’s not yours!” I scream louder, so loud my cheeks burn from the force of the sound vibrating out of me.
“Shhh,” another voice says as I roll forward. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Give it back! Please, give it to me.” I hold my hands out to the darkness so she can put my baby back in my hands. “Please. I’ll be good, I promise.”
My baby. She has Luna. She doesn’t give me my baby as the shadows grow bigger. Like waves, they wash over me, pulling me into them. I don’t fight as I keep promising, “I’ll be good again. I’ll be good and listen. Please, Mother.”
75
KANE
She’s high, tripping like a motherfucker as she mumbles to herself, nearly rolling off the backseat. Sasha drives with one hand, pushing the other against Delilah’s chest to keep her in place. The route we carefully selected to ensure no one would be able to follow us from the port without us knowing is pitch-black, making it more difficult for her to drive.
“I told you,” she whispers, pointedly looking at the dash. “Use one of your syringes so she stops moving.”
“We don’t know what she’s on. It could make it worse.”
“You had to lose your arm like an idiot,” she mutters. “Now, I have to drive like this.”
I grab the steering wheel to stop her complaining but she slaps me away. “I know what I’m doing. You’re so annoying.”
“Sasha, are you ever happy?” I huff, sitting back in my seat so I can watch Delilah through the rearview mirror as we drive through the empty streets.
“Yeah, when you’re not being annoying.”
“I’m a fucking delight,” I say. “You’re the one who’s annoying with your insane appetite.”
“I am not annoying,” she grits. “I don’t even say anything.”
“Other than ‘hungry’ every five seconds.”
“Shut up,” she hisses. “Your voice tastes like shit.”
“Your breath smells like shit,” I fire back, discreetly turning the seat warmers on. “We should bottle it, so we don’t have to use the injections when we want someone to pass out.”
“That’s it,” she warns. “I’m telling your wife.”
