Another shot rings out, followed by a second and a third, each one making me jump as Star silently cries into my shoulder.
“Stay here,” Nevaeh orders, looking a damn sight braver than I feel. I hear the gun click, signaling that it’s empty. Nevaeh grins, but I shake my head because nothing is as simple as she seems to think it is.
“You can’t go out there, Nevaeh. He’ll kill you.”
“Not if I kill him first.”
“There are no weapons here. He took everything and then used Star to make me comply.” And he did it knowing I’d give in every single time if it kept her safe.
“Everything’s a weapon with the right intent.”
I look around the empty room and find nothing. When I look at Nevaeh, she’s staring at the curtain pole above the window. She pushes Star’s bed directly underneath it before she climbson it and fiddles with the brackets holding the pole in place. She pulls the curtains hard until the pole slips free, stepping back so it doesn’t hit her.
“Yes,” she hisses, slipping the fabric free from the wood, which is when I notice the pole is actually two pieces screwed together in the middle.
Nevaeh rushes to unscrew them as Jasper’s voice slithers up the stairs like a snake ready to strike.
“If you don’t come down here now, I’ll set fire to the house and watch you all burn.”
I swallow the vomit rushing up the back of my throat and try to control my racing heart as sweat dampens my forehead and my arms start to shake.
Nevaeh turns to me with one of the curtains in her hands and wraps it around us, effectively tying Star to me. “Take this.” She passes me half the pole before grabbing the other half for herself. “You stay here unless I tell you to move. If he comes for you, give him hell. He’s an old man now, Citi, and you have a daughter who needs you to fight.”
I nod rapidly, the rushing of blood in my head now a roar, but I won’t give up, and I won’t give in. Not this time. Not ever again.
Jasper’s voice calls out in the creepy fucking voice that he uses before he’s about to do his worst. “You’re being very naughty. I’ll count from five, and if you’re not down here by the time I get to one, you die.”
“Fine by me,” Nevaeh snaps, and then before I can say anything else, she’s gone.
“Four.”
I close my eyes as Star starts whimpering.
“Hush little baby, don’t say a word, mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”
“Three.”
And if that mockingbird don’t sing, Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
“Two.”
And if that diamond ring turns brass, Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke, Mama’s gonna buy you a billy goat.
I stop singing when I don’t hear the countdown reach one, straining my ears to hear what’s happening.
“I love her.” A loud roar has me stumbling back.
“She was a child, you sicko,” Nevaeh snaps back
I start singing again, louder now, so Star can’t hear what’s happening.
And if that billy goat doesn’t pull, Mama’s gonna buy you a cart and bull.
And if that cart and bull turn over, Mama’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover.
I sway on my feet, my head swimming, my heart beating out of control.
