Chapter 24
Even though we both just heard that heavy key slide the deadbolt into position with a loud thunk, Saskia immediately whips around to try the doorknob just for the hell of it.
She balls up her fists and slams them into the door over and over when it won’t budge.
Hey, I try to soothe her, even though nothing about me feels even remotely soothing right now.
Don’t ‘hey’ me, she bites back. That asshole has my mother—and the key.
I wish I could rage and claw at the door alongside her.
Her anguish and confusion and anger feels like they’ve fractured every part of me that matters, but I can’t let her know how much this has affected me.
It isn’t about me. And I have to be her voice of reason, her foundation when everything’s falling apart.
We’re going to find both of them, I say. Your mother and the key. But first, you need to rest.
She scoffs. This was supposed to happen tonight. It needs to happen tonight.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she curls her fingernails into the wood hard enough to leave a mark. The pain shoots down her arms and cuts into my own heart.
We’re inside, I assure her. First step accomplished. But you can’t go anywhere right now, especially when you need to sleep this off.
I feel fine, she says, and I believe her. Her mind has calmed, settled back into her somewhat normal rhythm, but it’s still accompanied by the occasional zap to her brain. She’s in her right mind—everything is just heightened. We don’t have time to wait around.
The me from three months ago would have agreed with her regardless of her condition.
But I can’t risk it now, not when she’s still in such a fragile state.
She needs to stay put for now. That newfound fire pumping through her veins has made her feel invincible, but if she finds a way to break out right now, she’ll be putting herself in even more danger than she already is.
And that’s simply unacceptable.
I need to figure out how to calm her down. Relieve her stress. Take her mind off everything that just happened and recover. A dozen wicked things I can say to her, do to her, flick through my mind, but I swallow them down for the time being. I’ll let her take the lead on that.
Let her relinquish her beautiful control whenever she wants me to take over.
You can’t accomplish anything if you get yourself killed, I say softly, knowing she deserves logic and reason even if the words taste like acid on my monstrous tongue. Rest is more important right now so that we can find your mother and the key.
When she pauses, I take the opportunity to tug her attention in a different direction.
Saskia, I tell her, just turn around and open your eyes. Because I’m sure your room is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. And you deserve to see what you’ve always deserved.