“Sam,” he says again, his voice so quiet she can barely hear him. “They have my family, Sam.” His gaze is hollow and defeated, his eyes distant. He isn’t looking at her anymore, but at the wall on the other end of the room, as if he can see through it.
“Lumines?” she whispers, and he gives her a nearly imperceptible nod.
His family.Sam blinks and tries not to let his words pierce her heart. Ari has never told her before about his family—not explicitly, at least.
But now she thinks back through all their old letters, their thousands of wayward topics. Just like her, had he hidden his family throughout their endless ramblings about life and philosophy, had he buried his pain within musings about their favorite books and foods and movies? Had she never bothered to look?
His eyes are haunted with grief. “Lumines didn’t kill your mother,” he goes on. “But they did target her. Reed wanted to take her hostage, told me to use her to force you to meet me again. When I refused, he showed me photos of my family.”
Sam’s hands tremble. Her mouth feels dry. Ari could be lying to her, but somehow she doubts it, can hear the sincerity in his voice.Someone beat them to it.Someone else had wanted her mother dead. But who else would be interested in doing such a thing?
“I was supposed to kill you on the beach last night,” Ari says softly. His gaze locks on hers. “You were my target, Sam.”
She thinks of his embrace by the water, how he had transmuted away her grief. She thinks of how easily he could have taken her life in that moment.
“Why didn’t you do it?” she murmurs.
He utters a sad little laugh. “Sam.” His voice is so gentle, and in it, she can hear their entire childhood together. “You are my heart. If you die, I die.”
She hates that she can’t trust him, and yet every fiber of her being wants to. She hates that even now he can make her waver. She hates that he can bring the truth buried deep in her to the surface, that if she’s being honest with herself, there was only one boy she was ever in love with. That it has always been Ari.
“Where is your family now?” she whispers.
“They’re in Surat, Gujarat. Back home.”
Surat, Gujarat.So, this is the stranglehold Reed has had Ari in. He shows Ari his family, and Ari does what he is told. And then she realizes, with a deep pang, that he risked all of them in order to warn her, that in preventing Lumines from killing her that night on the beach, he might have signed his family’s death warrant.
Oh, Ari.Her heart feels like it’s bleeding.
“What else does Reed have planned?” Sam asks in a low voice.
But Ari doesn’t answer her, can’t bear to look at her.
She draws closer to him. “Ari, please,” she whispers. “If you don’t talk, they’re going to kill you.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Ari answers. His eyes swivel to her. “Sam, I know what it feels like, being trapped. Find out who killed your mother. Nothing else will set you free.”
It’s an absurd statement, in his position, after everything that has happened. And yet she can see the anguish in his eyes, feel the sorrow emanating from him.
She swallows and straightens. Her mind is spinning and she feels dizzy; she needs to get some fresh air. She steps away from his bruised body and his bent head, then turns to the door.
Sam, find out who killed your mother.
As she steps out into the hall, she can feel her breaths coming quick and shallow. The two guards, surprised by her presence, snap to attention.
“Get Demeter,” she says without looking back. “Tell her she’s needed right away.”
That night, when Will calls for Sam, she arrives to see Diamond Taylor seated in the kitchen. The woman looks as proper as ever, although this time, Sam can clearly see the dark circles under her eyes.
“Sit,” Diamond tells her, and Sam settles without a word onto one of the stools at the counter. As Will makes himself a drink, Sam notes how his sleeves have been tugged haphazardly up to his elbows, the top buttons of his collared shirt undone. His hair is unusually messy.
Sam braces herself, wondering if they will punish her for the secret meeting she had with Ari. Will they kill her? Somehow, the terror of the idea feels dulled tonight, and Sam finds herself morbidly curious instead, wondering what they might do as if guessing at the end of a movie.
“Demeter sent her report on Shakespeare,” Will says. “He’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
“You almost killed him today,” Sam says.
“You’re so concerned,” Will answers coolly as he lifts his drink. Sam shivers at the undercurrent of darkness in his words. He isn’t done with her yet.
