Chapter Sixty-Three
Kwame
Aftermath
“What the hell was that?” I ask turning to my father.
He’s sitting stock-still, gripping the arms of his chair, his face frozen in an unblinking, wide-eyed, open-mouthed stare. “Dad?”
He doesn’t appear to hear me. Alarmed, I walk around to his side of the desk and snap a finger in his face. He blinks rapidly but his eyes remain unfocused. He’s aged twenty years in the last minute.
“Dad, do I need to call your doctor?”
His eyes come to mine. “It just…reminded me of the night they came for my father.”
I want to go and see what’s going on out there but I’m not sure my father is okay. His father died when he was a baby. What is he talking about.
The same sound that had drawn Oz out of the room is back. It flips a switch and whatever was gripping him lets go. His eyes clear and he swivels to look at his computer screen and curses. “Something is wrong at the lodge.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t Oz just go there?”
“It’s offline. Why hasn’t my security arrived?”
A text from Sin pops up on my phone. At the lodge, where are you?
A surge of panic cures my indecision, I turn for the exit. “I’ll be back. Stay here.”
“No. Wait until someone comes. Anything could be happening.”
“I’ll be fine.”
He shakes his head, his eyes glassy. “Kwame, wait. Please.” He looks down at his lap. “I can’t lose you,” he says quietly.
“I’ll be careful,” I reply even though I get the feeling he’s not talking to me.
I yank the door open and sound comes rushing in. The soundproof room muted the complete pandemonium from the center wing of the house.
“Stay here,” I call to my father before I close the door and start running.
From the wall of glass sliding doors that lead to the terrace I see the cause of the disturbance.
The blaze of fire and plumes of smoke from the bottom of the back lawn looks like something from a horror movie.
I run against the flow of people moving toward the front of the house scanning the crowd for Sin’s face. I reach the doors that open to the back without finding her.
I run to the ballroom and find it completely empty.
A roar fills my ears as I sprint toward the fire praying like hell that I’m not too late.