“It’s not enough.” We both knew it.
Charlie took my hand. He didn’t say anything, but he squeezed my fingers.
I rounded my shoulders and shivered. “How did you get over Marty?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I haven’t.” He shrugged. “But it was pretty hard to grieve when I was trying so hard not to end up like him. I didn’t have time to be sad about it when I was so busy trying to find food and a place to lay my head, and when I wasn’t doing that, I was running from bullets. I didn’t have space to miss him, so I just… shoved it down. Never forgot about him, though.”
“I know if he could see you now, he’d be proud that you made it,” I whispered.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m right back in the same spot I was years ago. I’m alone in the world with no one to love.” Charlie’s voice was choked, and it hurt me.
“That’s not true. Thingsaredifferent now, because whatever happens, I will always love you.”
It wasn’t even a confession, just what was reality. I’d never stopped loving him. The breakup meant nothing. A thousand years could pass, and Charlie would always be the only one for me. My heart had already decided that.
Charlie completely froze. There was surprise in his eyes, like he hadn’t been expecting to hear that. His entire body went stiff beside me. I swear, his hand in mine turned cold.
It was right then that Marcus knocked on the doorframe and leaned in. “Hey, Ava. A couple of guards told me your uncle is here to see you. He’s waiting in the entry hall.”
Of course. Way to ruin the moment.
I wiped my eyes again. “Coming.”
I closed the door and got dressed. Charlie sat in silence as I disrobed, and Oberi waited for one of us to say something.
I didn’t know what we were doing anymore, because the longer we were separated, the more and more pointless this seemed. When I’d slipped on my uniform, I opened the door, and Charlie stood.
“Marcus is sneaking into the Warden’s office tonight,” Charlie said abruptly. “I’ll reach out to you once he’s found something.”
I suddenly felt very small. “Oh… okay.”
Oberi’s ears flattened in defeat as he led Charlie away. I counted the steps he took all the way down the cellblock, until he disappeared around the corner.
I’d laid it all out there, and he’d pushed me away. Again.
And yet, I couldn’t feel sad about it. I didn’t have any regrets about being brave. I was glad I told him how I felt. After everything he’d been through, he deserved to know someone loved him.
Uncle Jonah’s towering frame was so comforting to see in a place like this. Several big guys threw nervous glances at him as they passed by. I ran forward and flung my arms around him. “It’s great to see you!”
“Isn’t it, though?” He hugged me back, lifting me off the ground by a few feet. “You look amazing, by the way. Very healthy.”
“I’ve… actually been taking care of myself lately,” I said, shocked to realize that it was true. “I’ve got some really good friends here.”
“Friends are the best. They’re just as good as family,” he said. Uncle Jonah wrinkled his nose as he looked around the dusty entryway. “Is there anywhere— ugh—less filthywe can have a private conversation?”
“Not really, but… come on.”
I led him to the balcony above the prison. I hadn’t been up here since Charlie and I had broken up. It was physically painful to take these stairs and remember what had happened up here. But I wasn’t sure where else we could talk that was safe besides the chapel and the Lair, and it felt like both of those were off limits.
“Finally, a nice view and a good breeze,” he said. He sat backward and used his Yapluma power to hover in the air, like there was a chair there. He crossed his legs and said, “Sorry to say, it’s not good news. But it’s important, which is why I had to come.”
“Did Daddy find something that can get us out of here?” I asked quickly.
“Yes and no,” he stated slowly. “What your dad found is… complicated.”
“How so?” My stomach dropped like a stone. I thought he’d found us a way out of here, but clearly, it wasn’t that simple.
“Your dad found records of the experiments at the prison.Recentrecords, of prisoners who’d gone missing from the Institute, only to turn up dead a few months later,” Uncle Jonah said.
