“That makes two of us.” I’d meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, but instead it was a calloused fact.
I watched as Dia roughly chewed on the inside of her cheek, her fingers repeatedly flexing around the wheel. She looked like she was trying not to rip it from the car. Faeryn and Vivian had so much vitality to them, but that spark of liveliness seemed to be long dead in this female.
“The van is all yours once we’re at the edge of the forest,” she informed me.
“That would help.” It would at least get me back to my car. This thing’s speedometer was maxed out, and itstillwasn’t fast enough.
“So,” she exhaled, “First time getting kidnapped by the E.A.R.T.H. folk?”
“First time,” I admitted. “First time rescuing someone from them?”
She allowed a short, humorless cackle. An interesting response.
I turned to face her. Tesilvis… where Faeryn had been kept all those years until… the power grid was blown, and she escaped to be found by Graysen.Is Dia the culprit? “Do you know anything about the breach?”
Her furrowed brow supported my suspicions.
I’d heard the rumors that a goddess shut down the grid and freed all her sisters from the facility. Dia didn’t look happy to be reminded of it. As if she—assuming itwasher—hadn’t done what an entire organization of trained specialists had been failing to do for longer than I’d been alive.
“They all died or got re-captured,” she sighed. “Saying I rescued anyone isn’t exactly accurate. This is probably the first time I’veactuallyhelped somebody captured by E.A.R.T.H., and you aren’t even a goddess.”
“Faeryn is free,” I remarked softly. “And living out her days in safety with her mate.”
Her mouth warped. Not to a smile. But less of a frown. “That’s a start.”
“This is where I jump off,” Dia said as she guided the van to a steady stop at the edge of the forest.
I fought the urge to warn her to be careful. The sounds of the beasts were loud and clear, dangerous and very close. Then again, who was I to question her survival skills? She’d been the one to saveme.
“Thanks, Dia. I hope you get the chance to kill Gable one day,” I offered.
The corner of her lip suggested a smile as she lowered herself out of the vehicle. “Me too, as long as you don’t get to him first.”
I slipped into the driver’s seat, adjusted all the fixtures, and set off. I had a long journey ahead, somewhere between five and ten days. I couldn’t be sure how long I was unconscious in the van.
I would get to Vivian if it killed me. And anybody who stood between us was as good as dead.
Vivian
In the days since I left Cassius for dead in the woods, my paranoia had become maddening. It was impossible to not be consumed by the dread of knowing at any moment my home,my sanctuary, could be breached. I thought I saw a silhouette every time I passed a window. I could barely sleep. Was my location compromised? What would I do if it was? Could I live with Ida? Would she be safe if Ididmove in with her?
Maybe my existence wasn’t meant to be safe. Maybe I was doomed to a life in limbo, always waiting for the second shoe to drop. Everything in my life had been up-ended so many times, could I handle it again? What happens when the bough breaks?
It was morning, and I sat in my bed, hugging my knees and staring at the wall. Paralyzed. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to doanything. I was out of tears and alternating between a state of panic and numbness was exhausting. Crash out was inevitable. It was everything my dad had predicted.
That infamous day played on loop in my memories.
I was walking back from my tutoring session. It’d gone well. My instructor told me I was well ahead of my grade in my studies, especially language arts, and that made me feel good.
Shrieking echoed down the hall, my only warning to get out of the way. I should’ve run for my bedroom like I always did when the screaming started, but I was frozen. It wasn’t until they were around the corner that I hid under the chaise.
I watched as a man thrashed like a fish out of water on the clean white floors, leaving a trail of red behind him as he was dragged by his ankle. Did he see me? His eyes were so wide and scared, they seemed to be staring at nothing.
The concrete basement door opened and finally closed, muffling his cries. I bolted for my room. A safe place to hide.
“What’s wrong, Vivian?” my father asked, clearing a hole in the pile of plushies I was hiding in.
“I don’t want to live here anymore,” I whimpered. “I’m going to run away.”
