“Hailey,” I repeat. “Okay. Okay, Hailey.”
Chills ripple over my skin. “It’s going to be okay, Hailey,” I tell her anyway, even though I don’t know if I’m in any position to reassure anyone. Because fuck me, I’m a captive.
When my eyes finally cooperate, I see more than just Hailey’s outline. We’re in the back of a van, a tin can boxed in by metal and shadow, with nowhere to go.
And it isn’t just the two of us.
There’s another girl in here. She’s limp, slumped at an angle that looks wrong, completely unmoving. A cold, sharp line of fear cuts through what’s left of the fog in my skull.
“That’s Lila, isn’t it?” I whisper.
Both girls are bound with plastic zip ties at their wrists and ankles. The restraints bite deep enough that the flesh bulges around them. My stomach rolls hard.
The van hits a seam in the road and everything shudders. The jolt sends a spike of pain through my head, a pulse so deep and nauseating it feels like my skull is trying to split from the inside. I clamp my jaw and breathe through my nose, because if I open my mouth, I’m going to throw up.
“How do you know?” Hailey asks, her eyes widening.
The panic in her voice is immediate, and I realize I’ve just scared her even more.
“I… I want to help you two,” I say quickly. “I know about you. I came here to free you.”
It sounds ridiculous out loud, like the kind of lie someone would invent when they’re out of options. Unfortunately for both of us, it’s the truth.
Hailey doesn’t answer right away. In the dark I can’t read her expression, but I hear the shift in her breathing, the way it turns cautious.
“Free us,” she repeats.
Another bump jars the van. My vision tilts and my skull throbs in response, a sickening, heavy pulse that makes me swallow bile.
“I know how it sounds,” I whisper. “But I’m not with them.”
“With who?”
“The people driving. The ones who took you.”
Hailey’s eyes catch a smear of light from somewhere, just enough to show the fear still clinging to her expression.
“Well, you’re in here,” she says. “So how are you going to help?”
I shift carefully, inching my weight onto my knees.
“I came with… other people,” I say. “We were outside. We tried to stop them.”
The moment I say it out loud, the memory punches straight through the fog. Cassian shot. Nathaniel tranquilized. My pulse stutters. Where the hell are they now? What happened to them?
Hailey’s gaze flicks to Lila. “Good thing she cannot hear you right now,” she whispers. “Or else she’d burst into tears.”
“It’s true,” I whisper back, and my eyes drift to the girl.
Lila is folded wrong, head tipped forward, hair stuck to her cheek. Her chest rises, but only shallowly, like her body is doing the bare minimum to keep going. I reach out before I can talk myself out of it and brush her hair away with my fingertips.
Her skin is damp.
“Lila,” I whisper. “Hey. Wake up.”
Nothing happens.
Hailey makes a small sound, almost a warning. “Don’t,” she whispers. “She won’t. Not yet. I always wake up first and have to wait for her.”
