Chapter 13 #2
"Logan's been coordinating the search teams all night," Ryder explained, “We are gonna find this bastard and make him pay, I promise you.” His promise felt more like a threat, especially with the gleam at the impending violence in his mind. I was glad that I wasn’t the target of it.
But just as quick as it had come, the violence drained from his eyes again.
“Ready to go, Poison? We've got a long drive ahead,” his earlier chipper excitement returning.
"I guess," I said, glancing back at Logan, who had already returned his attention to his computer screen. "Shouldn't you get some rest?" Logan looked up, surprise flashing across his face. Was he shocked that I cared? Or that I'd dared to suggest what he should do?
"Later," he said curtly. "There's work to be done."
"Come on," Ryder tugged at my hand, impatience radiating from him like heat. "The car's waiting."
He led me to the front door, where a sleek black SUV idled by the kerb.
The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of autumn, my favourite time of year.
The Halloween event was a few days before Halloween and part of me was excited to see all the students dressed in costumes around the university ground.
But then as the masked figure flashed into my mind a fear settled in my stomach.
Would I be able to defend myself next time?
Ryder held the door open and watched me with a strange sad look on his face.
"We're picking up Luce on the way," Ryder informed me quickly, and I realised he had seen my fear response to my memory and assumed it was about getting in a car with him. I watched as he headed around to the driver's side and got in.
“That wasn’t it,” I said quickly. He looked up at me confused.
I smiled quickly and reached out to touch his arm.
“I wasn’t worried about being here with you?
I was worried about being on campus with people being dressed up, you know after last night.
” His confusion cleared, and he smiled a megawatt smile.
“Oh,” he said and then leant over and kissed my cheek. “Don’t worry about him, he’ll be dead soon enough.” I knew he said it as a reassurance, but it kinda had the opposite effect. Those were just words right? Ryder wasn’t actually talking about killing the guy?
I tried to respond, but couldn’t think of anything that would be appropriate so opted for diverting the subject slightly.
“I mean I am happy Luce is coming,” I blurted. “I know how much she loves your mother, like her own mother.” Something crossed over Ryder’s eyes before his smile returned.
“I’m glad you and Luce are friends,” he said.
“She could do with less of the vapid bitchiness of the girls we grew up with. You are good for her. You are good for me.” Ryder smiled, a genuine smile that reached his eyes, making him look younger, almost innocent.
It was disarming, that smile, making it easy to forget the darkness I'd glimpsed in him.
The drive to campus was short, and we found Luce waiting outside her dorm, chatting animatedly with Max, the houseman who'd been assigned to guard her.
She looked up as we approached; her face lighting up when she saw me in the passenger seat.
Luce was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.
She waved goodbye to Max, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading toward our car.
I caught Ryder's expression darkening at the gesture, his eyes narrowing as he watched Max and couldn’t help but smile.
After Luce climbed into the backseat, Ryder called Max over to the driver's side window. "You're supposed to be protecting my cousin, not trying to get in her pants," he said, his voice low and menacing. Max paled.
"Sir, I wasn't-"
"If I find out anything happened between you two," Ryder continued, his tone conversational but laced with threat, "I'll cut you into pieces and bury them where no one will ever find them. Understood?"
"Ryder!" Luce leant forward from the backseat, smacking his shoulder.
"Back off! He's just doing the job you told him to, and he's my friend.
Stop going all big brother on me, you're my cousin, not my keeper.
" A strange expression crossed Ryder's face, something conflicted and almost pained, before it was masked by his usual grin.
"Just looking out for you, cuz," he said lightly, but there was a tension in his shoulders that hadn't been there before.
He pulled away from the kerb with a squeal of tires, leaving Max staring after us, visibly shaken.
"So, road trip!" Ryder announced cheerfully, as if the tense moment had never happened. "This is going to be fun." Luce caught my eye in the rearview mirror, her expression communicating volumes. Are you okay? I gave her a small nod, though "okay" was a relative term these days.
"How are you feeling, Cade?" she asked aloud, her voice soft with concern. "I heard what happened last night. God, I feel awful that I wasn't there." I swallowed hard, unwilling to revisit the terror of being pinned down, a knife at my throat.
"I'm fine," I said, the lie coming easily. "It'll be better when they catch the guy."
"Oh, we'll catch him," Ryder said, his grip tightening on the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened.
"And when we do, he'll wish he'd never been born.
" The cold, matter-of-fact way he said it sent a chill down my spine.
I met Luce's eyes in the mirror again, and I could tell she'd heard it too, that promise of violence again, the anticipation in his voice.
After that, the conversation died out. We drove in silence, the only sounds the hum of the engine and the occasional ping of Ryder's phone with updates from Logan or Cole.
I watched the landscape change outside my window, buildings giving way to rolling countryside as we left the city behind.
About two and a half hours into the journey, the scent of salt water began to permeate the air.
I sat up straighter, recognising the signs for Whitby ahead.
"Your mother lives by the sea?" I asked Ryder excitedly, breaking the long silence.
It had been so long since I had been by the sea.
He made a noncommittal sound, something like "Something like that," as he turned onto a narrow road flanked by ancient oak trees.
Their gnarled branches formed a canopy overhead, dappling the sunlight as we drove deeper into what seemed like private property.
Eventually, the trees thinned, and I saw a security checkpoint ahead, complete with a guard booth and a heavy gate.
A sign beside the entrance caught my eye, and I felt my stomach drop as I read the words:
"Lexington Institute for Future Evolution."
Below the name, in smaller letters, was the familiar motto I'd seen around campus: "Trust - Resilience - Integrity." And there, at the bottom of the sign, was the skull symbol that I recognised from all my scholarship paperwork. The brand of the Trivium Foundation.