Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
MAVERICK
W hen I wake, it’s with a throbbing headache and a dry mouth.
Soft but tense conversation is whispered close by.
Even at the nearly inaudible levels, my head wants to split in two at the sound.
With a groan, I open my eyes. The world comes into focus slowly.
For a second, I’m stumped as to why I’m staring up at the ceiling of my bedroom.
How’d I get here? How long have I been asleep? When did I go to sleep?
Conversation stops as I move to sit up. The room spins and my body sways. Nausea rolls over me. It takes a moment and a few deep breaths to quell the urge to vomit on myself. Fuck, I feel drunk.
“Vick!”
I blink away the rest of the fuzz from my vision as Nolan appears before me. His hand drops to my shoulder and he asks, “You ok?”
Peeling my tongue off the roof of my mouth, I mutter, “I’m fine. What the fuck is going on?”
Nolan opens his mouth to speak, but another voice answers for him.
“You had an unexpected visitor who needed something from you, and when you didn’t give it to him, he was going to send you off to Rookwell. I stopped that from happening.”
My spine goes ramrod straight as I realize who’s in the room with us. I move to stand but Nolan’s hand applies pressure to my shoulder.
“Careful, you were heavily sedated,” he explains. “It’s still in your system.”
Immediately, I knock his hand away but to pacify him, I don’t get to my feet.
“What the fuck is Braum doing here?” I snap.
The familiar angry haze threatens to descend over me, but then my mind processes what he’d just said.
Anger fades away as shock and fear collide.
“Wait, James Woodrow was here and he… he wanted Everly.” I lean around Nolan to find Braum sitting in a basic aluminum chair across the room.
His arms are crossed over his chest and he returns the glare I send him. “And you, you were there. Why?”
Braum gives me a cold, unamused smile. “Because I was curious who your visitor was. The last time someone showed up looking for you, it altered my world.”
Altered my world … I stiffen, not sure what that means but not liking it all. He says it as if Everly means something to him, but I know better. Braum doesn’t give a shit about anyone except himself.
Through gritted teeth, I ask, “Where’s Everly now?”
“Last I checked, she was in the library,” he replies. “She’s been there most of the day. Rowan thought she’d enjoy being around the books while he was in class.”
The library. Good, then she’s still here at Serenity Falls, out of her father’s reach… for now. I growl, frustrated.
“Okay, so why are you here?” I ask Braum. “What do you want? If you’re looking for a thank you, you’re not going to get it from me.”
Braum opens his mouth to speak but then shuts it abruptly. His brows smash together as he looks between me and Nolan. With a heavy sigh, he runs his hand over his face. When he’s done, he looks me dead in the eyes.
“It’s complicated,” Braum admits. “I’ve repeated every single interaction I’ve had with you since I arrived.
From the get-go we’ve butted heads. Your moral superiority always grated on my nerves, and your impulsivity for violence only confirms that you’re truly fucked up in the head.
But ,” his expression twists into confusion, “I never once considered our paths crossed for a reason and that was a mistake. Earlier, I unraveled one of the many secrets of The Universe and it told me that you and I were never meant to be enemies. Your soul is woven into Everly’s.
Without you, she’ll never be truly happy, and I can’t stand the thought of her never being fulfilled.
The two of us are to build a future together with the same girl. ”
A heavy silence filled with confusion follows his rambling.
Braum has never been terribly coherent. He’s spacey on his best days, and on his worst he just spews nonsense like a broken fire hydrant.
Hearing that The Universe spoke to him isn’t new.
Everyone knows Braum thinks he has a connection to a higher power.
In reality, he’s just a nut case. But hearing him talk about Everly and how her happiness apparently means something to him is disconcerting.
Even more so that he thinks he and I could work as a team to make her that way.
I glance over at Nolan to see how he’s taking this. He’s gaping openly at Braum like he’s sprouted another head. When he looks over at me we exchange a confused look.
“Okay, I think he may have actually lost it,” Nolan says, breaking the silence. “Should we call someone to come get him or do we just, you know, guide him out of your room and see if he wanders off on his own?”
Braum glares at him. “I’m not crazy!”
“That’s what crazy people say,” I point out but I’m distracted.
As I study Braum, I notice there’s something different about him. It’s what he said about me before my meeting with James but maybe it’s Braum that’s changed. There’s a clarity in his eyes I’ve never seen before. And the way we have his full attention… It's weird. Usually he’s off in dreamland.
“I don’t know, Nolan,” I mutter. “His eyes are clear and focused.”
“If you’re done analyzing me, we should move on,” Braum snaps.
“Before we do, I want to clarify something,” I growl. “You want Everly to be happy? Well, I heard she’s currently covered in bruises. Was that your doing? Or was it Rowan?”
Braum cringes, physically twitching away from the accusation. “Mistakes have been made.”
Anger returns. It fills my body, stiffening my limbs. “How dare you come in here and?—”
“Look,” he hedges, interrupting me. “Yes, I fucked up and I take full responsibility for it. I’ll repent, I promise.
To do that I came here to talk to you about a truce because The Universe has said our futures align.
But now there’s a more pressing issue at hand.
I think Everly’s life might be in danger. ”
Even the suggestion of Everly in danger sends a shot of adrenaline to my heart. I’m bearing down into Braum’s face before I even process that I’ve moved.
“Yeah, no shit!” I bellow. “James Woodrow wants to destroy his daughter’s life and that’s not even the worst of it! Right now, she’s trapped with you two!”
Braum leaps to his feet, shoving at my chest. I stumble back a few inches.
“Everly has bigger problems, Vick!” He snaps. “It’s not just her father looking for her. There are others after her! If they get their hands on her, our Everly will be gone!”
“ Our Everly?” I roar, furious at the implication. “She doesn’t belong to you!”
Braum shoves me back. “Yes, she does! I’ve seen the truth. She’s mine just like she’s yours.”
I’m going to kill him. The fact that he even thinks I’d share the love of my life is ridiculous, but to think I’d share with him ? With the way he’s tormented me for years? Fuck. No . I start to charge at him, ready to throttle the life from his body.
Nolan steps between us, his hands land on our chests to push us away from one another. “Calm down, guys!”
“Calm down?” I repeat incredulously. “Are you hearing him?”
“The three of us are meant to be!” Braum snaps.
“You hurt her! Do you think I’d allow Everly around someone who could do that to her?” I bellow. “Fuck you!”
Braum suddenly stills. His expression hardens as he glares.
“We’ve all been known to take things a little too far, Vick.
You were right by our side, watching on while Everly screamed out her innocence while strapped down to that hospital bed and you were threatening to electrocute her just like us.
You were there, you could’ve stopped it at any time.
Instead, you were willing to see it through to the end, just like how it played out. ”
The strike hits like intended. I recoil away from him as shame cools my temper.
“We both have made mistakes,” Braum points out grimly. “Let’s agree we won’t make them twice. I don’t want to hurt, or see Everly hurt again. Which is why—” his expression pinches with worry. “—the White Stag can’t find her.”
“What?” Nolan and I ask in union.
Braum stares between the both of us. “At the end of your conversation, James Woodrow said the White Stag wants Everly. They’re the ones pushing for this wedding.
But the time of the White Stag is null! I thought I was about to run away from the life I knew to protect myself—that bringing Everly was solely because we were destined to be together, but I get it now!
The White Stag wants her but The Universe is trying to prevent that.
It doesn’t want them to have Everly. It warned me to take her and run. ”
Silence follows Braum’s rambling. I gape openly, unable to wrap my head around how quickly Braum went from making sense to utter gibberish. When I look over at Nolan, he looks just as bewildered as I feel.
Braum notices our stupor. With a heavy sigh he says, “The short of it is: we need to get Everly as far away from the people that want her—a.k.a. the White Stag—as possible.”
“Who is the White Stag?” I ask.
“They’re…” Braum hesitates. “They’re the leaders of a secret organization called the Children of the White Stag. There are seven people that make up the governing body.”
Nolan shoots me a surprised look. “Holy shit.”
“What?” I turn to face him.
“You don’t remember?” Nolan’s eyes grow wide with surprise. “You used to talk about them all the time!”
Braum freezes, staring between the two of us looking just as surprised as I feel.
I shake my head, confused. “I did?”
“When you were first released from Rookwell Tower, one of the things you were ranting and raving about was that there was a secret organization using the place to experiment on people. You called them the Children of the White Stag. Everyone knows the patients that reside in there are extremely unstable and your behavior kind of just confirmed everyone’s belief.
None of us believed you.” He grimaced. “But it kind of sounds like we should’ve. ”
I stare at Nolan, trying to remember those early weeks of my release. Those moments are fuzzy and full of confusion and fear. Nothing concrete comes to mind.
“They were doing what ?” Braum asks sharply.
I ignore him as I stare at my friend. “The experiments I can remember, but the rest is a blur.”
“I’m telling you, Vick, you were trying to get us all to believe there was something sinister at play happening in Rookwell Tower and the Children of the White Stag were behind it,” Nolan insists.
A shiver of trepidation and fear slithers down my spine, coiling around each vertebrae as it goes. I don’t want to think about all the things that were done to me there. And I certainly don’t want to dredge up those memories with Braum around. Swallowing hard, I refocus.
“Okay, so an evil organization wants Everly,” I start, trying to piece together everything we’ve talked about. I shake my head. “I won’t let that happen.”
Braum opens his mouth, a scowl furrowing his brow. At the last minute, he seems to think better of whatever it is he wants to say because he closes it. With a shake of his head, he starts again.
“They’re a powerful organization, Vick,” he adds, finally looking up, “They have an infinite amount of resources to find Everly. They want her, so they’ll get her, eventually. We can’t let that happen. You and I have to get her out of Serenity Falls before she’s caught.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “This all sounds crazy. Where’s Rowan? What does he think about all of this?”
Guilt flashes across Braum’s face before he wrestles it back.
“Rowan doesn’t know I’ve come to see you or about any of this,” he admits. “I’d like to keep it this way. He’ll get, ah, worryingly possessive and territorial if he knows I want to get Everly out of here.”
“Can we go back to something real quick?” Nolan asks, suddenly breaking his silence. “You said Everly has to leave Serenity Falls, but why? She’s probably safer here than out in the real world… with Vick that is. Definitely not in your care.”
I nod. “He’s right. Give Everly to me and I’ll hide her here until it’s safe for?—”
“You don’t get it, do you? Neither of you.” Braum glares at Nolan then at me. “The Children of the White Stag started here. Their birthplace is the chapel that sits right in the middle of campus. She’s hiding right under their noses!”
The floor seems to drop away. I flinch, feeling suddenly unsteady.
“Well, shit,” I breathe in horror. “If she’s caught by the staff?—”
“—they’ll take her straight to White Stag,” Braum finishes for me. His dark eyes, clearer than I’ve ever seen them, bore into mine. “The only chance she has of not falling into their hands, is if she can save you.”
I don’t expect this. Frowning, I ask suspiciously, “I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
“Here’s the thing, Vick,” Braum starts slowly.
“I have the resources that could keep her safe once she’s on the outside of Serenity Falls.
But if I beg her to leave, she’ll dig her heels into the ground.
She’s not leaving without you.” With a poorly concealed grimace, Braum adds, “I need you to accept Everly’s offer and escape from Serenity Falls with her. ”
Leave Serenity Falls with Everly? I want to laugh. He doesn’t have to ask me twice. Before I can assure him that I have every intention of doing just that, Nolan shakes his head slowly.
“This all seems fishy,” he mutters. “How is it that you know of the Children of the White Stag, Braum?”
That’s a good question. I look at the asshole who suddenly goes eerily still. He looks between the two of us, his lips pressed in a tight line. Again, I can’t help but notice how normal he looks. There’s no spacy gaze or strange tilt to his head as he listens to the voices inside of it.
“If I tell you, it could put you in danger,” he admits slowly. He looks at me. “But, Vick, you should probably know if you’re going to help Everly. The more you know, the more prepared you’ll be.”
The solemnity in his voice puts me on edge.
Whatever Braum’s about to tell us is big.
I can feel it. There’s a pregnant pause as Braum considers his next words.
His expression tightens and his eyes flash with worry, maybe even with a hint of fear.
It’s that fear that triggers something inside of me.
Without thinking about it, I offer Braum a deal. “If you tell me how you’re involved in this secret organization, I’ll agree to escaping with Everly.”
Before James showed up, I had already made up my mind to leave with her, but no need to tell Braum that.
The tension in Braum’s face lessens, though it doesn’t completely fade away.
“Deal,” he agrees with a nod. “Except it won’t be just the two of you leaving Serenity Falls. I’m coming too.”