Chapter 37 #2
“And how do you know the twins? You spoke of them like you know who they really are.”
He sighed, leaning back on the seat. “Not everyone does. They were not born here, but they grew up here. Partly. And watching them grow up, I’ve seen some things about them that are just not normal.
They are too smart, too dangerous, too reckless, too bold, and don’t understand or tolerate anyone but themselves.
And somehow, everything they do seems to align with Nimorran—”
“Including kidnapping? That’s not even a ‘bad’ thing.
That’s a bad thing,” I cut in, my voice sharper than my strength could manage.
My vision tilted for a moment, spots flaring at the edges.
I forced my eyes wide open, clinging to the rhythm of my breath.
“And I can’t even report them because this town doesn’t have a fucking police station. ”
“We don’t need them.”
“We sure as fuck need them for people like Amelia and her brother since they don’t get punished for things they do.”
“Or maybe Nimorran wants you dead in the first place and doesn’t mind anyone doing it for her.”
The words stabbed me clean through. “Why do you keep saying that? That was all you chanted before you left.”
Weeny Man lifted a hand from the steering wheel to run down his face. “I’m sorry. You just have to leave Nimorran.”
I sank back into the seat. “I think that option is out the window. Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“There’s nowhere safer than Thrax’s place.”
“You cannot go there.”
I leaned forward, staring at him in disbelief. “What?”
“You cannot go there, Sanora. You have to stay far away from him until you’re able to go home in a month,” he said with finality.
I almost laughed. Almost. But my throat closed on it, and instead it burned in my chest like acid. “No, I need to go to him,” I said, but he paid me no attention. “Right now.”
“You’ll be safe where we’re going. You just need to stay there and away from him till—”
“And you think he’s not going to know that I’m in Nimorran for one month? This drug in my blood is going to fade in no time and he’ll find me.”
He shook his head. “Do you think it’s only the twins that are practitioners?”
My body jerked back like I’d been stung. The car seemed to tilt for a second, and my stomach lurched with it. He didn’t even flinch at his own slip up. “Are you saying…”
He spared me a glance. “It’s for your own good, I promise you.”
“No!” My voice broke. “That is—you’re not trying to protect me. You’re going to inject me daily to keep me away from him. That is not protection. What you’re doing is…” My brain fumbled, words clashing with the dizziness. “…re-kidnapping. You have to take me—”
“Are you in love with Thrax?” His words cut through my words as he stared at me like he wanted—needed—to be wrong.
I looked away from him, leaning back with no intention of arguing or convincing myself or him on that one. I was hundred percent certain I’d fallen head over heels for the immortal, and I couldn’t find it in me to regret it even though I knew how it’d end.
His hands on the steering wheel started to tremble with my silence. “No, Sanora. Snap out of it. You can’t.”
“It’s done.”
“How—how did you—why—” He stumbled upon his words. “He’s trying to manipulate your feelings and use you.”
I rolled my eyes, even though the motion hurt, making the inside of my head slosh like water.
He’d been back barely thirty minutes and for the first time since I met him, Weeny Man was making me angry.
Little me would have never thought. “What do you mean by that? You don’t even know him outside the fact that he’s the Soulless Man. ”
“And you also don’t!”
I was losing it, my voice rising even as my body begged me to shut down. “Winifred, just take me home. I’m fucking tired.”
He shook his head. “No, Sanora. You’re coming with me.”
“You’re kidnapping me.”
“For your own good.”
“Gods!”
I exhaled loudly, my fingers pinching the bridge of my nose as I tried to steady my breath, but it rattled as though the air didn’t want to stay in my lungs. I was weak and starving, and the drug was still clawing at my system, making every beat of my heart feel like a hammer to the ribs.
Weeny Man had to be kidding me. There was no way he was serious about locking me up for a month while injecting me like some lab experiment. But what if he was serious? He wasn’t a man who joked about things like this.
“At least tell me why you need to lock me up and keep me away from Thrax,” I said, calmer now as I opened my eyes to look at him.
“He’s dangerous.”
I scoffed. “That’s all?”
“You can’t stay with him.” He glanced at me again, his eyes old and hollow. “And you know that.”
“Alright then, at least take me to the cave.”
His brows snapped together. “What cave?”
“Cave of the Undead.” I needed to know if it was the same one I’d seen in the dream. Thrax had said he didn’t live in that cave, but he’d been lying unconscious in one. If it was the same cave, then it’d make sense that he frequented that place for his “unfinished business.”
Horror flared in Weeny Man’s face before he smoothed it away. “Never.”
I closed my eyes, breathing through the tightness in my chest. “No?”
“You can never step foot anywhere near there.”
I ground my teeth. “I’m not going inside. I know it’s dangerous—”
“That is not the reason why I said so. It’s one of the reasons but specifically, you cannot near there.”
Why the fuck did he keep forbidding me from places? I would have kept arguing, but damn if I wasn’t so exhausted. I only adjusted in my seat, crossed my arms over my chest, and stared out the window, fighting the fatigue trying to swallow me.