As we step outside, the cool night air hits me like a slap in the face, the realization of what we’re about to do washing over me. I have no idea what’s to come, and that thought is more than a little unsettling.
Nina speeds down the road, driving like I’ve never seen her drive before. She’s weaving around slow traffic and honking for people to get out of her way.
We’re pulling up to Muddy Mermaid in record time, and I know immediately that this is the one and we’re not too late.
Ashley’s black car is parked in the corner, just where I saw it in my dream.
“She’s here,” I say, quickly sending a message to Nick, telling him to head this way.
“I don’t know about this,” Nina whispers, her eyes wide with apprehension.
I twist in my seat, placing a hand on Nina’s shoulder. “We’re in this together. I won’t leave your side, and we won’t do anything that puts us in danger.”
She takes a deep breath, nodding her head once. “Let’s go be heroes.”
I grin, loving Nina’s positive outlook. We’re going to be fine. Ashley is going to be fine.
I’ll keep repeating that in my head until it’s reality.
We push through the creaky door of the lounge bar, and it’s exactly as I remember. The low light casts a golden glow over the place. There is a row of booths off to the side, but it’s hard to make out the faces of the people occupying the seats. The lighting in here is not great.
We stand just inside the door, scanning the area for any sign of Ashley. She’s perched on a stool almost dead center of the bar.
“That’s her,” I whisper, pointing to her back.
Except it’s not a man with a tattoo sleeve sitting next to her, but a girl. They’re chatting animatedly, only the back of the woman visible. She has stick-straight black hair that hangs to the top of her jeans, only the sleeves of her white T-shirt visible.
The woman turns to look over her back toward the door. It’s hard to tell her age from this distance, although it’s clear she’s younger than me. Her full, pouty lips, heart-shaped face, and nose with a slight dorsal hump are hard to miss. Her catlike green eyesland on me briefly, but she doesn’t seem to give me much thought, turning back toward the bar.
I’m about to suggest to Nina that we head that way, when the door opens behind us, and in walks the man with the tattoo. The octopus surrounded by roses stands out starkly against his alabaster skin, running from his shoulder to his wrist, inky vines slipping onto the top of his hand.
The woman turns, subtly tilting her head in a gesture that might escape notice by most, but not me.
“That’s him,” I whisper into Nina’s ear. “And that woman is involved.”
Nina’s eyes narrow in on the girl with Ashley, eyes turning hard.
“It takes a special kind of evil to be involved in this,” Nina says under her breath.
She’s right. Whoever this woman is, she’s vile.
We both watch as the woman rises from her seat, exchanging words with Ashley, who responds with a smile, looking over her shoulder at the man. It’s obvious that Ashley finds him attractive, her eyes sparkling and her smile widening with a hint of mischief.
“Oh my god,” Nina says, pulling my attention toward her. “She just dropped something into her drink while her head was turned.”
The woman strides toward the restroom, leaving Ashley alone at the bar. The tattooed man slides into the now-vacant seat. Ashley says something to him about it, because he feigns ignorance, making to move, but she stops him, tapping the seat, signaling for him to sit.
That’s when my dream plays out in front of us.
“Let’s go,” I say, pulling Nina away from the door, realizing we’ve been standing here for too long.
The last thing I want to do is draw attention to us.
We move to the far end of the bar, where I send another text, checking in with Nick.
Me
Where are you? He’s here.
