I open my mouth to answer before immediately snapping it shut. Honestly… thanks to cell phones, I haven’t had to memorize any phone numbers since I was a kid.
Shit.
“We could Google the number for Ledger’s bookstore in Mercy Ri…” I trail off, remembering how the city wouldn’t even show up on GPS and I had to use a paper map to get there. “Okay, scratch that. Does Myles have a gamer handle?”
Bell shrugs and sets the phone on the counter to taunt us.
Fuck.
While he caresses my cheek, I lean into Bellamy’s palm with a heavy sigh. My brain hurts, I feel like shit, and honestly, I could probably sleep another six hours. But the guys have to be losing their minds not knowing what happened to us, and I’ve already been unconscious for gods only know how long.
“If we can’t call them, we better start walking. Think your family will give us some supplies for the road?”
His thumb tenderly strokes against my cheek, and my eyelids flutter closed. “It's a brutal journey from here to Mercy ridge, and too dangerous for the two of us to rush into without careful planning.”
“You literally just made that trip alone a few weeks ago,” I argue, and he tugs me into his chest, resting his cheek on top of my head.
“Yeah, because as unfair as it is, walking alone and camping on the side of the road is a hell of a lot safer for a guy than a woman. Let alone if anyone realizes you’re a myst, and a center to boot. It’s a shitty reality, but it’s the one we live in. Even if you weren’t a mimic, it’d be risky. And as terrified and furious as the guys likely are right now, they’d have my head if they found out I put you in danger for their sake.”
My stomach twists. I know he’s right, but it’s complete bullshit. This is exactly why I prefer the virtual world; reality sucks. At least in video games, I have a shot of leveling up and changing my fate. In the real world, I’m helpless to change anything that really matters in the grand scheme of things.
Actually… if I knew how to use my abilities when adrenaline was crashing through my veins instead of needing to be completely relaxed and concentrate, itwouldbe a game changer. I wouldn’t need to worry about mysts trying to kidnap me; I could just turn their powers back on them.
Mimics might just be the biggest supernatural threatbecausewe hide behind myths and legends. There’s power in the unknown.
Oblivious to the rabbit hole my brain wandered down, Bell says, “Give me two days. With access to my computer again, I should be able to track down one of the guys’ numbers and Arson can meet us outside the barrier and shadow walk us home. If not, it’ll give me time to come up with a plan to get you home.”
Hands on my shoulders, he gently pushes me back so he can look me in the eye. “This is literally what I do best; prepare for anything that could go wrong, and find a way to get someone out safely despite the danger. I know you’re anxious to get out of here, but I need you to trust me on this.”
I hate it, but can’t find a single point to refute his logic. Rushing out of here when I’m still light-headed, don’t know how to reliably use my abilities, and honestly, don’t know how to get home without GPS, would be epically stupid. Not to mention, the outdoors and I are bitter enemies. If I had to hike for three days to get back to Mercy Ridge? I’d be lucky to show up in one piece.
As soon as I accidentally use poison ivy as toilet paper, I’d happily play Russian Roulette with forest mushrooms, praying one of them would put me out of my misery.
“Two days,” I reluctantly concede. “But if you can’t reach one of the guys, we take our chances hopping on a bus.”
“There aren’t any buses for a hundred miles, sweetheart.”
“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not the one planning our escape, isn’t it?”
A knock at the door startles me out of my thoughts. Bell tucks me behind him, and I narrow my eyes at the back of his head. For all of his claims that we’re safe here, surrounded by his family and friends, the fact that he automatically stepped into a defensive position between me and the door doesn’t escape my notice.
“If you’re not decent, you have two seconds to cover up,” a raspy feminine voice calls. Two seconds on the dot later, the door opens, an elderly woman striding into the room, cane clacking on the stone floor.
“Grandma, you can’t just waltz into other people’s apartments,” Bellamy chastises, but his shoulders relax.
“I gave you a warning to put your pants on,” she argues, waving him off. “Besides, not like it’s anything I haven’t seen before. Do you have any idea how many people fool around in any shadowy corner they can find? And don’t even get me started on the baths. If the hot spring flowed any slower, pretty sure half the women in the compound would wind up pregnant taking a dip in that biohazard.”
“Thanks for that visual,” Bellamy replies, tone flat, while a small smile twitches at the corner of my mouth.
“Well now, sheislovely, isn’t she?” His grandmother eyes me up and down, and I have to remind myself you can’t kick an old lady in the shin for talking about you like you aren’t there, no matter how tempting the idea is. “I can see why you ran away from home to chase after this one,” she continues, hobbling closer. As soon as she’s within reach, she swats Bell’s arm. “You couldn’t leave an old woman a note? Fates above, you damnnear gave me a heart attack, boy. Remind me to send whoever punched you in the face a fruit basket.”
Okay, maybe she’s not so bad.
“Sorry, ma’am. I wasn’t thinking clearly when she disappeared and panicked,” he mutters, earning him another swat.
“Well of course you did, she’s stunning! Pretty girls turn even the smartest boys stupid.” She scowls. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to the woman you nearly killed your grandmother for?”
I snort as he rolls his eyes. “Grandma, meet Everest Moore, my mate. Ever, thischarminglady without any sense of boundaries is Elder Naomi, my grandmother.”
