I trace them with my eyes and wait.
Static.
Finally.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
konnor
When we turn down a dirt road and pass a sign that reads “Main Estate”, something dark shifts through me that bleeds into my focus and calm.
We pass an old, broken-down homestead overrun by vines. Large white pillars and a weathered timber frame, still in good nick—the three-story house looks like a waste of a great family home. And I don’t know why I keep looking at it in the side mirror.
It isn’t until we come to the end of the dirt-track that we notice Erik’s car parked up on top of a hill. She is with her brother. That’s… good. That’s good…
A sandy track leads up the hill, then continues along the top. Bet the view from up there is?—
Dark.
The thought comes unbidden.
“Lucky we brought the Prado and not the Beamer, hey?” Jax says, pulling the hand brake. “Should we drive up there? Or walk?”
I don’t answer.
My pulse spikes. Something is wrong. Something is wrong. Something is wrong. The field pulls at me like gravity. I can’t stop staring at... all those daisies. That single, crooked tree. The sun burning the top of the hill down to what looks like snow. And that smell—that sweet, sweet smell crawling up into my skull?—
Ringing starts.
My lungs have forgotten how to work—I rub my chest. I’ve never been here. No. No. I’ve never been here in my life. So why does this place already knowme? Why does it whisper my trauma back to me. Words surface from a place inside me that is deep and forgotten, a place I’ve been trying to reach for years.
“It is the daisies. They are my favourite flower. I will bring you a new one every day.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to share them with you. They light up the entire world.”
“No, you do that.”
“What’s up, man?”
“Slater?”
“Slater!”
Jax is shaking me.
I blink. “Huh?”
He frowns. “Slater, where did you just go?”
I meet his hard stare. Blink again. I shake my head, trying to dislodge the siren of the hill. Rattle it away. And fight to find the last few seconds.
Elise touches my shoulder, and I tense. She is leaning forwards to look at me. “Konnor? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I nod, stiff. Once. “Sorry. Ah…”
They frown at each other. Elise smiles tight, then says, “You just sort of zoned out.”
