“LOUISE?” I ASKED as fear gripped my heart between icy fingertips. “But she’s . . .” The final word was too heavy on my tongue and unwilling to leave my mouth until I forced it out. “Dead.”

“I know, but it was her.” His gaze stared straight ahead, unfocused and blank, and his voice was almost hypnotically quiet.

“It doesn’t make sense,” I said, trying to divide my attention between the road and him. “Maybe it was someone else? It’s dark, after all.”

He buried his head in his hands and a horrific sob ripped from him. I wanted to comfort him, but with the melted mess that was the steering wheel, it was taking everything I had in me just to keep the car on the road.

“It was her,” he whispered assertively. “I know my own sister. I just . . . don’t understand. Why would they let me think that she was dead? Why would they make me give that stupid fucking speech?” His voice rose steadily until he was practically screaming. “Was all of it meaningless?”

“I don’t know.” Being unable to give him answers—barely able to understand what was happening myself—made me feel helpless.

“I was at her memorial when you left,” he was in hysterics and almost hyperventilating. His nose flared in time with his rapid breaths. He gazed at me with big eyes, desperate and longing for answers neither of us could provide. “If she isn’t dead . . . why would they make me do that? Why?”

I clearly saw his train of thought. He’d been there, mourning someone who wasn’t even dead, instead of by my side when I was finally lucid enough to listen to the truth. If things had been different—if she hadn’t faked her own death, or whatever had happened—he might have been there to stop my rash decision to flee.

“I shot at her,” he murmured as he turned away from me. “I could have killed her.”

The events had visibly shaken him, and I didn’t want to rattle him further by pointing out that if Louise was indeed the one who had followed us—despite the fact that it seemed impossible—then it was likely that she was also the one who had been following me since Detroit. She would have killed me if she’d caught me—I had no doubt about that. I couldn’t force that logic on him though; he was barely coping with the thoughts rushing through his own head.

Risking a glance behind us, I saw a concerning sight. A possible new threat followed us. Each time I swung around the corners of the road, glimpses of another set of headlights had replaced the truck’s reflected in my rearview mirror. The car was still a distance behind us, but not far enough back to let me relax.

I pressed my foot down to the floor again. As much as I wanted to help Clay, it was more important to get away first. We could examine the rest at length when we were secreted away in a motel room somewhere far away.

A little further on, a sign warning that there was a barrier ahead caught my attention.

“Shit,” I murmured under my breath. Not only did I have to choose between swinging the car around on a twisting road or driving toward a dead end, I had to make that choice alone because Clay wasn’t in any position to be helpful. Watching him carefully out of the corner of my eye, I only hoped he would be responsive when the time came for action. I wouldn’t leave him behind again—not now that I knew how he really felt.

How we both really felt.

On the right hand side of the road, I spotted a parking lot with a handful of cars that I guessed must belong to campers. Not willing to do anything that would risk the lives of innocent people, stopping for help was out of the question. One of the caravans had a hand-painted symbol on the side, a semi-circle crossed by an “M.” It was the same thing Louise had drawn on the wall of the apartment in Detroit, the same symbol I’d seen so many times. I was certain it meant something to the Rain, but I didn’t know exactly what.

“Clay,” I said, hoping the sight of the symbol would be enough to pull him from his funk.

He offered no response and didn’t even acknowledge I’d spoken.

“Clay, I’m scared,” I admitted in a harsh whisper when my first utterance was met with silence.

Fast running out of road, I weighed my options. If I turned around, whoever was following us might force me off the road, but if I stopped, we would have to continue on foot into the national park.

Does that symbol mean the Rain is nearby though?

If I turned and they forced us off the road, or if we ran out of fuel, we might not be in a place where we could easily hide. If the Rain caught us in an open space, we would be sitting ducks. If we went on foot now, there was the possibility of finding somewhere in the vast national park to lay low until they gave up looking for us. When I gave it some proper consideration, I saw that there was no real choice.

“Clay,” I said again, still trying to rouse him from the stupor he’d sunk into. “I need you.”

He raised his head, but his eyes were hollow as he looked at me.

“I’m going to stop the car up here, and then we need to run. They’re right behind us.”

Catching my concerned gaze, he nodded absently. My brow instantly furrowed at his lack of care, but I tried to soften my expression because I understood the numbness and shock that must have been dueling inside of him. Despite the years, I could still remember the pain of Dad’s death and my unwillingness to accept it. His situation was reversed, but in some ways so much worse. As well as having to process Louise’s survival, he also had to come to terms with the knowledge that his whole family had betrayed him.

Rising from the road just ahead were a series of poles forming a barrier that was impassable by vehicle. Slowing the car a little, I gathered everything we’d need. By the time we reached the barrier, I had our bags at hand. At the last moment, I pulled on the handbrake, causing the car to shudder to an abrupt stop.

“Let’s go!” I shouted at Clay as I threw my door open.

He sat still, staring motionless ahead of him.

“Now!” I didn’t have time to remove the evidence in the car the way I usually would, especially when setting a fire would call too much unwanted attention. Ignoring my instincts to cover my tracks, I raced to the passenger side door. I yanked it open and leaned inside to reach for Clay’s hand. Closing my fingers around his, I pulled him from the car and tried to break his semi-trance. I understood his need for time to comprehend his family’s lies, but understanding that wouldn’t matter if we were both dead.

“Run!”

Thankfully, he followed me without resistance and didn’t dawdle. Hand-in-hand we raced toward a tunnel that seemed to swallow up the road. I didn’t like the look of it, but it was the one thing that stood between us and freedom.

The darkness inside the tunnel was absolute; there was no way of knowing where it ended or even if it had any bends. I just ran as fast and as straight as possible, dragging Clay behind me. The ground underfoot was slippery with moss, and the air around us was dank and thick. Each breath I took dragged heavily through my lungs. The atmosphere gave the darkness a presence of its own—a life-force that desperately tried to swallow ours. It sounded like there was an extra set of footfalls that lagged just a split second behind ours, and a terrible noise, almost like laughter filtering through the brick from miles away, filled the musty space.

Just when I thought entering the tunnel was a huge mistake, that it was impossible to take even one more step, we burst out the other side. Breathing deeply of the fresh night air, I risked a glance over my shoulder and was relieved to see no one was directly behind us like I’d feared. From this side, the opening of the tunnel looked like a giant gaping mouth, yawning wide to swallow us whole and drag us back to our pursuer. Shaking off the thought that escape was impossible, I tugged lightly on Clay’s arm to make him move again.

With the stars in the sky lighting our way, I found the beginnings of a trail and followed it for a mile or two until the terrain gave us an opportunity to stop for a second.

Almost instantly, Clay fell to his knees before dropping his forehead onto the wet earth.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I moved to sit beside him.

Sitting back on his heels, he raked both his hands roughly through his hair before shaking his head. When I’d run from the hospital, I’d broken him, and although our reunion had clearly rejuvenated him, it wasn’t enough to give him the capacity to cope with learning of his sister’s survival or the ultimate betrayal by his family. His travels had already left him weakened, his wasted muscles not providing the same strength he’d had in Detroit, and I worried that this newfound knowledge would shatter him.

His sad eyes assessed me, and I realized that he needed my strength before he’d be able to take even one more step. Moving closer to him, I let him rest his head on my shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and took a few deep, rattling breaths. The grip of his hands on my sides was almost painful, and his arms squeezed me tightly. Sensing that he needed the closeness, I didn’t ask him to loosen his hold. Instead, I held him in return.

A moment later, his body shuddered as he released a horrendous sob. I held him tightly in my arms, wishing there was more that I could do for him, but knowing he had to process the discovery of his family’s deception in his own time. Barely able to comprehend it myself, I could only imagine how Clay felt.

Regardless, he needed me and, for as long as that was true, I had to keep myself together. As he silently held me, drawing the strength he needed with his thoughts no doubt racing through his mind, I listened out for any sounds that our pursuer was closing the distance.

The night air washed over my skin cooling the heat marginally and taking away the immediate worry that I would accidentally hurt Clay. Fear and adrenaline heightened every one of my senses as I sat giving Clay the time he needed to gather himself together.

Somewhere nearby, the rumble of an engine pierced through the sounds of nature.

When his grip loosened slightly, I moved to stand. His hands tightened again reflexively, but I reluctantly stepped away farther.

“We need to keep moving,” I said softly, running my fingers lightly through his hair. The sensation of being observed built within me again, and I didn’t want to wait around to see whether or not it was real or just my paranoia mounting again.

“I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “I shouldn’t have lost it like that.”

Pressing my finger to his lips, I shook my head to silence him. “I understand.”

“You shouldn’t,” he said, sounding utterly disgusted with himself.

Given his past, how highly he valued his strength, I appreciated why he hated his weakness, but I didn’t mind being the strong one for a while. I’d fallen apart often enough in his arms. “I should. I’ve had my share of similar moments.”

A moment passed between us when we both understood the meaning behind my words: so many losses and not always through death.

“I lost the gun,” he said, looking ashamed. “I dropped it when I saw her.”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “I’ve survived this long without one.”

“But you’ve had other advantages.”

Raising my eyebrow at him, I said, “That’s one way of putting it. But from what you’ve said, I have another year before I lose those advantages so I can still use them if I need to.”

He started to argue but I pressed two fingers against his lips.

“I’m not losing them tonight at any rate.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“I don’t know. I do know that you need to tell me how things have changed now we’ve discovered it’s Louise who’s been hunting me.”

I was beginning to think he’d gone back into shock when he spoke. “It doesn’t really change anything except I know that she will never give up.” As he said his last words, he stood up beside me. “If she was willing to let me believe that she was dead just so the Rain could get the chance to take you . . .” he trailed off and stared into the distance. “We won’t be able to shake her by going to another city or even halfway around the world.”

“What are you saying?” I had some notion of the seriousness of his words, but it was unfathomable. I needed him to say the words to confirm my suspicions, and I needed him to not say it because it was a terrifying thought.

“We’ll have to get rid of her.”

Pausing for a second to absorb his words, my mind reeled. The casual ease with which he mentioned murdering his own sister chilled my blood. It was proof that despite his distance from the Rain the trained killer in him lurked just below the surface.

Over the years, I’d feared him, and his words had just confirmed that I had been right to. I grew thankful that it wasn’t him who had been hunting me. Louise barely knew me compared to the knowledge that Clay possessed. If it had been Clay and not Louise, I would have been dead ten times over.

Seeming to sense my hesitation, he reached for my hand.

“It’s kill or be killed, Evie. She’s had a vendetta against you ever since she found out what you are, and it seems she’s only grown more obsessed with time. If she’s been hunting you for this long, she’ll probably know your next choice better than you do.”

“I can’t hurt her,” I said. The guilt of her death the first time was almost unbearable. Despite what she’d done since then, I couldn’t justify murder.

“I wouldn’t want you to,” he murmured as he brushed his hand over my cheek.

“I won’t do it, and you shouldn’t either. I can’t ask you to kill your sister for me. Regardless of what she’s done, that’s too much.”

“You’re not. I made the choice to be with you. Hell, I made it years ago, way back in high school when I decided not to tell Dad or anyone else what you were. I made it again when I tracked you to Charlotte. And again when you found me in Salem. I might not have realized exactly what my choice meant in the beginning, but I don’t regret it. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not even my family.”

“I don’t want you to do something that you’ll hate me for later.”

His fingers curled around my jaw. “I could never hate you.”

The sound of footfalls echoing from the concrete of the tunnel behind us set me immediately on edge.

“Did you hear that?” I asked, looking around the area.

By the time I looked back at Clay, he already had both of our bags in his hands, ready to run. “Let’s get out of here,” he said in a harsh whisper.

Following him closely, I raced into the thick forest of oak trees. The starlight cast the area with odd shadows. Some even appeared almost human shaped as we ran. The fallen leaves underfoot crunched loudly in my ears, and I was certain that whoever was following us would easily be able to track us by the sound of our footsteps. I tried unsuccessfully to step lighter, to take longer strides, to do anything to muffle the sound.

We’d barely run a quarter of a mile into the forest before a loud shout echoed in the air. Clay and I ran faster, entwining our hands tightly together. He was a few steps ahead of me but looked back at me as the sound of shouting rang through the night again. His eyes confirmed that his thoughts echoed my own—Louise had caught up with us.

We ran deeper into the dark forest, and the ground became unsteady beneath us. Based on the shouts coming from behind us, it sounded like Louise was no longer alone. I pushed myself to run faster and soon drew level with Clay, but then my foot snagged on a twisted tree root, and I stumbled. His hands closed around my elbow, and he stopped my fall before I smashed into the forest floor. He helped me back to my feet, and a knowing look passed between us. We couldn’t outrun them.

We risked becoming trapped if we didn’t keep moving, but there was no way for us to get ahead of them, not without losing sight of each other. I looked around for an alternate plan. A dark clump of trees stood to our right, and I decided our chances would be better if our stalkers were forced to slow down as well.

Silently, I indicated with my head the direction I wanted to go. He nodded in response, and we moved into the thick clump of trees that I’d seen. It slowed us down to the point where we were barely able to take two steps without having to climb over rocks or duck under low-hanging branches, but I hoped it would slow down any attackers that were chasing us as well.

I held a bundle of small leafy branches out of the way for Clay to scramble over a tree root and into a thicket of bushes that lay beyond. Large sections of bark had been torn off most of the branches of a tree we passed. Deep grooves sliced through the wood as though a huge bear had stripped it.

Clay paused for a moment and ran his fingers along the marks.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“I’m not sure,” he said in hushed tones. “These just look really familiar.”

He frowned for a moment before a darkness took over his eyes and a shudder rolled through his body.

After a moment, he shook loose whatever concern had held him. “Come on, we have to keep moving.”

We picked the hardest path each time, hoping our pursuers would assume we’d taken the easy way and put more distance between us.

Voices rang out through the darkness, coming from all directions at once, but still we pressed on. Stopping wasn’t an option any longer, not even for a quick break to catch our breaths. When we came to the end of the thicket, we crawled out carefully to assess our position. We were on a ledge that ended just a handful of yards ahead of us and the voices seemed to be closing in on us. Clay crept forward to peer over the edge.

Shaking his head to indicate that the jump was too high, he looked around for another path down. As he spun around, his eyes widened, and I knew he’d spotted someone. Seconds later, hollers filled the air that told me he’d been seen too. His eyes flicked to mine briefly.

“Trust me,” he mouthed before standing up and exposing our position completely.