I glance back at Mallorie and realize he’s not just watching out the window for threats—he’s watching over her.
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine. Thank you. Where’s Augusto?”
He swallows. It’s silent but I see the shadow move over his throat. “He went back to the Lodge.”
A chill drifts over me and I shiver. “When?”
“A couple of hours ago,” he says quietly. “He should be back soon.”
“What was he planning to do?” I whisper.
Arrow takes a long breath in, then releases it slowly. “Finish the job.”
“Is he—” I shift, uneasily. “Is he likely to come back?”
Arrow’s eyes crinkle at the corners, as though I amuse him.
“Yes,” he replies, with the hint of a smile. “Healwayscomes back.”
He pushes himself off the wall and walks past me to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Another lap of the perimeter,” he says. “Augie’s orders.”
I smile gratefully and return to our room after checking on my mom. She’s out like a light which I’m pleased about. I hate that this has put her in such danger she’s had to be brought outto the middle of nowhere to stay in a safe house. My mother is young for her age but I still worry that the traveling and the tension might be too much for her.
The lamps throughout the house have been dimmed. To any onlooker, there’d be nothing to see here. Which is, I suppose, the intention.
I lie down on the bed next to Paige who shuffles close again. But I don’t sleep. I can’t. Not until I know Augusto is safe.
I snooze a little, drifting in and out of light slumber, my mind replaying the worst of the events, keeping me on edge.
Then I hear it.
My eyes snap open.
For a moment, I don’t move. I just listen, my ears trained on the slightest sound. A crunch on the crisp ground outside the window. A rustle of branches. My entire body bristles, tuned into the smallest noise on the other side of the wall.
I soothe myself, thinking it is probably Arrow, or it could be an animal. But if that were the case, wouldn’t I have heard the sound before?
Could it be Augusto returning from the Lodge? But if it were, why would he come around the back of the house and not through the main door?
Crunch.
I suck in a breath, hardly daring to move.
Even though the sound is coming from outside, it sets the hairs all over my body on edge. After the last twenty-fours, my traumatized body is anticipating danger.
I’m staring at the wall when a shadow crosses it. It’s large, bulky and human-shaped. And it doesn’t look like Arrow.
Every nerve in my body fires like a sparkler, and I sit up without making a sound, my heart hammering so hard I’m certain it will wake Paige. To my relief, she only shifts slightly, her breaths still deep.
Panic fills my chest. Where is Arrow? Is Mallorie safe? My mom?
I lower my feet to the floor, my heart pounding and hands shaking. The cold tile bites into my skin as I stand, but my senses are numb, focusing only on the threat outside the window.
Who would be creeping around the house in the middle of the night? Maybe someone from the retreat? From what Augusto has told me, those people are the last of the threat, but Augusto was going back there to finish this thing—to eliminate that threat. So, if someone is here, does that mean Augusto failed? He’s not coming back?
