Fourth a Lie
“So...you’re telling me he injected you with a super drug that allows you to ignore everything you’ve already gone through? That it tricks your mind into believing you’re not hurt and drives you closer to a grave with every passing moment?” I grabbed the locked padlock to his cage, yanking it with terror. “My God, Sully. What the hell were you thinking?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care what happens to me at this point. I needed to be strong to protect you. With every hour that passes, I’ll increase in energy. It’s a stacking effect. By the time I’ve burned through everything I have left...Drake will be dead and—” His lips snapped shut, and his face shot to the side.
He bared his teeth and snarled, “Run, Jinx. Someone is in here with us. Go!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
MY HEARING HAD BECOME acute.
A so-called side effect of not having sight.
The barest of noises.
The faintest of sounds.
And I heard it.
I wished to fucking God I wasn’t locked up, so I could place myself in front of Eleanor and keep her safe, but at least she was free. At least I’d given her a warning.
“Go, Eleanor.”
“I’m not leaving you!” she whisper-hissed.
The noise came again.
Was it Drake?
No...too light of foot.
Was it a mercenary?
No...too swift.
“Who’s there?” I balled my hands, primal instincts crawling through my blood. I already felt stronger than when I’d first woken up. My fever had broken, and I could ignore the steady throb in my stitched-together leg. The rest of my injuries had become inconsequential. Simple scratches that didn’t require attention.
Despite the ending that awaited me—the possible fatal aftermath of my Tritec-87 concoction—I embraced the sensation of power. I welcomed back the use of limbs that’d become a hindrance rather than a help.
“Who the fuck’s there?” I growled.
“Shush!” The soft noise came again, the faint scrape of wood followed by a soft thud in the shadows. “It’s me.”
“Jealousy?” Shock rippled through me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Fuck, Cal would be pissed if he knew she’d put herself in harm’s way. I’d seen him watching her. I knew things he hadn’t divulged.
Eleanor’s inhale quickened my heart, making me insanely aware of her.
“I saw the boat,” Jealousy said. “And I couldn’t stomach sitting around another day not knowing if you were okay. So...I swam here.”
“You swam?” Eleanor asked. “On your own?”
“I didn’t tell anyone I was going. Arbi wouldn’t have let me.” Her voice softened. “I had to try. I knew the moment the boat appeared that it was you, Jinx. You’re too pig-headed and besotted to leave for good.”
Eleanor’s voice teased with a smile. “Well, thank you for putting yourself at risk.” The pad of bare feet paced in front of my cage. “We need to find a key. Even a piece of metal to work the padlock.”
“Forget about me. Leave. Swim back to Lebah.” I searched for Jealousy in my current blackness, settling on speaking in her general direction. “How did you get in here? Take Eleanor and go.”
“I came in through the window at the back, but two men are smoking outside now. It was only luck that kept me hidden.”
“Well...luck will continue to aid you. Take Eleanor to the beach and swim away.”
“We’ve discussed this,” Eleanor clipped. “I returned to get you. If I leave...you leave.”
“I’d be happy to, but right now, it’s not fucking possible.”
“Then I’m not going.” Her feet scurried faster, ducking to the corners of the villa and coming up empty. “No keys. No metal wire or tools to get you free.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to run.”
The tingling awareness of her heated me as she stopped outside my cage. “Did I run the last time you asked me? Did I run when you attacked me high on elixir? No. I didn’t. So stop asking me to because you’ll just get shitty at my reply.”
“Christ, you’re—”
“Annoying? Yes, I know.” The two goddesses drifted away, moving around the villa in a choreographed hunt. Five minutes later, Eleanor asked, “Anything?”
“No. Nothing. Not even a hairpin or paperclip.” Jealousy’s sweet voice came from somewhere in the distance.
“Shit.”
Eleanor’s curse lodged like a rock in my belly. I balled my hands. “I keep telling you. Run! While you still can.”
They flat out fucking ignored me. Eleanor asked, “Do you know where Drake is?”
Jealousy answered with hesitation. “I saw him, eh...having a barbecue by the main restaurant hub. He...um, skewered a few squirrels and a couple of herons. A few men dressed in black ate with him.”
“For fuck’s sake!” I ran both hands through my hair, digging nails into my scalp. How many more of my creatures would that motherfucker kill?
“I told Arbi we should radio for help...but he’s too literal and obeying your rules, Sullivan.” Jealousy’s voice moved closer toward me. “You’re adamant no police. Ever. So...he’s refusing to call them.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “He’s loyal but not forward thinking.”
“I tried to call them myself, but I couldn’t get access to the radio network, so I—”
The door opened.
Fresh air spilled into the space.
Screw being blind. Fuck letting the drops heal my eyes.
Tearing at the tape and ripping off the cotton, I blinked.
Blackness.
Just utter fucking blackness.
“Well, well, seemed Henry was right...we have a second visitor.” Drake’s oily voice snaked toward us. “Look what the sea spat out.”
I rubbed my eyes, begging them to work. Desperate for sight, shadow, shape. Anything.
His shoes grated on the floor as he turned to Eleanor. “How did you get free?” His anger boiled. “Why is no one inside here as I fucking requested?”
A man I couldn’t see muttered, “They were out cold. It got too hot and stuffy. Figured they couldn’t go anywhere, so we—”
“I hired imbeciles,” Drake muttered. “Shut up. I don’t care. Do your job, or I’ll end your purpose on this earth, got it?”
I blinked again, my heart rate manic as the first threads of light broke through the dark.
A soft feminine shout sounded in Jealousy’s vicinity. “Stop!”
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I grabbed the bars, wishing I could pry them apart and leap from this goddamn cell.
Drake laughed. “I love how you’re still giving orders, brother. Ah well, despite the lax security, it seems I have two goddesses to play with tonight.”
More light spieled through my vision, crackling like old paint, ripping back moth-eaten curtains.
Eleanor’s curse whipped my head toward her.
Her short scream made my mind drip motherfucking red. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER, YOU FUCKING SONOVABITCH.”
“It’s okay, Sully. I’m okay.”