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Keaton shrugged. “I have nothing better to do with my time.” He leaned forward slightly, the chain on his ankle jangling. “So, you see… I need to get out of here. I’m not going to let one crazy fucker stop me from getting to another. And I refuse to turn before I’ve carved the bastard’s heart right out of his chest.” He wrenched his gaze away. “You probably don’t understand.”

“I do,” I said, and meant it. “Family is important.”

He gave me a searching look. “Is it?”

I took a deep breath and said something truly honest for the first time in a long while. “The chain I wear… my grandma gave it to me when I was a child. She said it would protect me from harm, the same way it had her. Her parents gave it to her on her thirteenth birthday. They died not long after. Her little brother, too. It meant a lot to her, and therefore, it means a lot to me.”

Keaton nodded, looking suitably serious before his lips curled up into a smile. “You and family don’t exactly go together. That’s why I thought you were found in a cabbage patch.”

“More like deadly nightshade.”

The smile turned into a grin. “Yeah, that fits better.” The smile died as a key turned in the door, both of us turning our heads to see who would walk in.

Chapter Twelve

Keaton

The man who stepped inside the room was surprisingly fresh-faced, with frizzy red hair and freckles that stood out starkly against his pale complexion. He wore a lab coat that had presumably started off white, but had long since resigned itself to being gray. He was tall enough that it stopped at mid-thigh. Beneath the lab coat were grubby blue jeans and trainers of two different colors, one black, one blue. Most shocking was that he didn’t look a day over eighteen.

He beamed as he looked between the two of us. “You’re awake!”

August and I shared a look, a silent question passing between the two of us that asked who was better equipped to handle this. The slight tilt of August’s chin said he would. I was happy to let him try. We’d already established how good a liar he was, and perhaps this situation would call for it.

“We are awake,” August said quietly. “And there seems to have been some sort of misunderstanding. I assume your… safety measures…” The deliberate pause said that hadn’t been his first choice of word. I assumed it had replaced trap. “…are designed to keep out biters, and probably to catch animals as well. And I’m sure it’s difficult to tell whether we’ve turned when we’re dangling ten feet above the ground, so you took precautions. Understandable precautions. But now we’re having this conversation, you can see we’re not biters.” He looked to me, the message clear: talk to prove you can.

“Not biters at all,” I agreed.

August lifted his leg, the metal chain giving an obliging jangle. “So… how about you unlock us, give us back our stuff, and we can get out of your hair and be on our way?”

“’On our way,’” I echoed.

The stranger tilted his head to one side. “Are you hungry? You’re probably hungry. I can get you some food.”

“You don’t need to trouble yourself,” August said quickly. “We don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality.”

I nearly laughed. Hospitality, and being caught in a trap, drugged, and then chained to a wall were eons apart, but I could see where August was going with it.

The man flashed another smile. “It’s no trouble. Honestly, it isn’t.”

It occurred to me that perhaps he wasn’t all there, that there were a few neurons misfiring. “Are your mother or father here?”

A frown replaced the smile. “My mother’s dead.”

“And your father?” I prompted.

“He’s here.”

“Yeah?” It was difficult to keep the relief out of my voice. “I’d love to meet him.”

He stared at me for a long while, his eyes blue like August’s, but such a pale blue you could be mistaken for thinking they were gray. Finally, he nodded. “I’ll get him. He enjoys meeting new people.”

He left as suddenly as he’d arrived. August and I instinctively let him get far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to hear us before we spoke. “His father will come,” I said. “He’ll have the key. He’ll release us, and we can be on our way. I will get to Dover.”

“You will,” August said. “I’ll help you. And I’ll help you kill the bastard that took your sister.”

“Yeah?”

When he nodded, a warmth filled my chest, and I had to look away in case he could see the emotion on my face.