I reached the bottom of the stairwell, my heart lodged in my throat. Sweat burst on my palms, and I kept forgetting to breathe. I pushed open the door leading to a corridor that led to the back entrance as well as the staff lounge.
The moment I walked through the door, I paused.
In the far distance, a laugh sounded, coming from the other end of the hall, tucked farther down in one of the rooms. From the lounge.
Someone was there. Or several someones. My throat grew drier than I believed possible. If any of the staff walked this way, I was fucked. My naivete had dripped away the longer I stayed in this place.
I took the first step forward. And then another.
The sounds at the other end of the corridor continued, and I paid close attention to them, to any minute shifts, all while I approached the door.
Feet lay between me and my freedom.
As long as the car Ursuline had mentioned waited for me outside the door.
My heart squeezed tight. I wanted to see them again to try to convince them to come. To tell them goodbye. To feel their tentacles wrapped around my limbs just one last time.
I reached the door.
The tinted glass was difficult to see through, obscured further by the darkness of night that awaited me. This was the final step. My heart lodged in my throat.
The sounds at the end of the hall quieted. My internal alarms rang. If they weren’t talking anymore, they could be heading this way at any moment.
I yanked the door open and stepped out into the brisk night.
A black car thrummed before me, the engine on, ready to go.
Time to leave.
My back prickled with awareness, enough to nudge my feet forward. I stumbled up to the back seat of the car and tugged at the latch.
“Get in,” a low voice barked at me.
My pulse thundered, but I dove inside, drawing the door shut behind me. The car jerked forward, and we set into motion.
I sank against the seat, the breath rushing out of me. To my left, I could feel someone there, watching me, but I hadn’t caught up with the fact that I sat in a car, escaping the Triton manor.
That I was leaving my old life behind and heading into the unknown.
“You okay?”
That voice…no, it couldn’t be.
Hope surged into an almost sickening swell.
I whipped my head to the left, and the person I’d wanted to see most was sitting beside me.
Ursuline reclined in the seat, their dark gaze glittering with concern. The air hummed with an undeniable electricity as one question emerged in my mind. Hope fluttered to the surface, too desperate and insistent to smother.
Their tentacle wrapped around my wrist, and they squeezed. Their gaze met mine, and I couldn’t look away if I’d wanted to. My heart lodged in my throat.
“Why?” was all I managed to push out.
“I’m coming with you.”
Chapter 24
Ursuline was coming with me.
