“My name’s not Allie!” I called back.
I could almost feel Simon and my mother and father exchanging looks.
“I’ll get Dr. Simmons on the horn,” my father said in low tones, like my supposed mental breakdown also made me deaf. “He’ll be here within the hour, and we can get her set up at a nice private facility.”
I sat up on the couch. I couldn’t believe it. I’d been home all of fifteen minutes and not a single person had touched me—no hug, no squeeze of affection, not even a handshake.
Not a single person had actually wanted a response as to where I’d been. They all just assumed I’d turned into a hippie who lived on the beach and wore cotton dresses, which sounded pretty nice to me. Honestly, I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t tried it already.
It didn’t take Dr. Simmons an hour to arrive. It took twenty-nine minutes. Simon had eventually given up fiddling with the doorknob, and my parents had retreated with my ex-fiancé to the sitting room to wait for professional help.
“Silas,” I muttered to the ceiling, “get your fine glutes back here.”
I prayed to the magical fates and Fae Queens that he’d hear me, but no luck.
The doorknob fiddling started again thirty-seven minutes after I’d entered the room. Apparently my parentshad only needed eight minutes with Dr. Simmons to explain my current predicament.
As the fiddling grew louder, I wondered if they would drag me out of here kicking and screaming against my will. Surely, they wouldn’t go that far.
I didn’t have to consider long. I knew the answer. It was why I’d been a top student in my class. An overachiever at everything I tried. Failure wasn’t an option. Dissent wasn’t an option. Opinions of my own—also not an option.
My parents had wrung the individuality out of me from the day I could walk, starting with my preferred name, continuing to my choice in career and husband. I wasn’t sure I’d made a decision on my own until now.
I sat on the couch, spun my hair into a bun with the hair tie from around my wrist.
Waited.
The fiddling stopped for a while. Another forty minutes, maybe, while I sat and waited. The next time I heard a noise, there was no fiddling, no request to enter—there was only an entry.
A key twisted, and the door opened. Dr. Simmons was flanked by two men, both bigger than him and dressed like bodyguards.
“Allie. Good to see you,” Dr. Simmons said kindly, like this wasn’t a hostile takeover. “I’m sorry you’ve beenfeeling ill. It happens to the best of us. That’s what keeps my business booming.”
He gave a fake, coarse laugh that grated on my ears.
“What, kidnapping?” I muttered, thinking how ironic it was that I’d come back here to make my own decisions, and in turn found my freedom more elusive than ever.
Nowthiswas a kidnapping. What Silas had done—that man was not capable of this. I didn’t care who he’d killed or kidnapped. At least he’d probably had a good reason—like possibly saving an entire island worth of lives.
My parents were no Hunters—they were worse.
“I’m not going with you,” I said calmly to the medical professional and his thugs. “I don’t ever want to see any of you again. Just leave me alone, and I won’t bother you ever again.”
“Where will you go?” Simon asked, like I’d told a joke. “You need me. We’ll still be married, Allie. It will just take some time for you to get yourself right. Everyone will understand. Don’t put up a fight.”
“Like hell I won’t.” I eyed the bodyguards.
I wondered if my magic might work here. Probably not, seeing as I was on a twelve-hour probation. I didn’t feel the now-familiar connection to my powers like I did on The Isle—a faint sense of being in tune with nature and the world around me.
Or maybe it was just my parents’ house blocking out anything remotely natural.
“I’m not going with any of you,” I repeated. “Leave me alone.”
“Don’t threaten them,” Simon said, controlling the narrative. Always controlling it. “Or they’ll have to use force, and they don’t want to. It’ll be all your fault, Allie.”
“Just leave me alone,” I insisted. “Let me rest here for a while, and by tomorrow I’ll be gone.”
“I’m sorry.” Simon pasted a frown on his lips. “That’s not how this works. Unfortunately, you are in such a state you can’t possibly be expected to take care of yourself. Let me take care of you.”
