Page 39 of Lethal Truths

Countless footsteps and voices follow, too close for comfort as we try to maneuver down here. I wasted too much time, took too long to agree to Asher, and now all I can think as my lungs constrict is that his life will be on my hands. He could have left me behind and took off, but… he didn’t, and now he may die because I hesitated.

My feet trip over uneven ground, my chest burning with the rapid inhale and exhale of this stale air. His large hand wraps around my waist and steadies me, miraculously keeping me upright in the dim, damp space.

“Keep moving, Prudence,” Asher orders, dragging me in front of him with a hard yank of my hand. At my back, he acts as a barrier between me and them, the people growing closer by the second, and something about that weighs heavily on me. “Run!” he barks when the first rays of a few flashlights sweep around a curve in the hall behind us, illuminating our fleeing forms for whoever is chasing us.

Panic is a bitter acid in my throat. I have so many questions, so many half-assed answers, and I won’t go out without demanding the truth, once and for all. With a renewed fight, I blow out all of my messy thoughts and focus on the next thing, and then the thing after that. My pace steadies, my feet pushing harder, and Asher keeps up easily. We round a corner, losing the flashlights on our asses for a moment, plunging us into near darkness once more.

Just up ahead, the hall forks. I take the right path and send a silent prayer to the fucking stars that we make it out alive. They owe me a hell of a lot, after all.

26

Prudence

Bursting through a hatch at the top of some old concrete stairs, the night air greets me. I don’t have time to appreciate it or the fact that I’m actually out of that dank cave before Asher is shoving me forward, urging me to keep moving. I stumble out into the forest, spinning in time to watch him slam the square door shut behind him.

“Where are we?” I mutter between heaving panting.

Asher’s grim face scans our surroundings. “Blackwood, technically. The woods just past the main campus.”

I nod numbly, following after him as he turns and walks away from the hatch in the ground. A sense of urgency is riding me hard, and I know if we linger, whoever was chasing will be on us in moments. Even though my body is drained of every last scrap of energy I have to give, I force myself to keep moving after Asher, trusting that he’s not leading me into some new trap.

“How did you find me?” I ask a few minutes later once he’s slowed his brisk pace just a bit. I guess he thinks we’re far enough away to be safe, which is ludicrous. As long as The Celestials are still operating, they’ll be hunting me. Hunting us if they know he helped me escape.

Asher glances at me from the corner of his eye, his expression heavy and tired. “Luck, mostly. Griffin had already combed over every inch of the actual campus, and I know he wouldn’t have missed anything in his search for you, so I knew I had to think outside of the box.” He pauses with a deep sigh, rubbing his palm over the back of his neck. “The school is surrounded by acres of forest. What better place to hide grotesque shit like this? I figured it was a long shot, but then I wandered right into that clearing and knew I’d hit the mark.”

I hum, too tired and shocked for real words. I think this is the most Asher has ever spoken civilly to me, and it’s fucking with my already fucked head. I let my thoughts drift away and we walk in silence through the thick woods.

“You’ll be safe from them, Prudence. We’ll make sure of it,” Asher says a while later.

I blink at him, brows furrowed. “What about being safe from you?” I counter. Just because he got me out of that place doesn’t mean all is forgotten and it sure as hell isn’t forgiven. Asher has been despicable in every possible way.

His lips curl into a slow, cocky smile. “Oh, pet. You’ll never be safe from me. But I think you like the push and pull just as much as I do.”

I roll my eyes, refusing to dignify that with any kind of comeback. Instead, I turn my focus forward once more and work on putting one foot in front of the other. Later, I’ll worry about setting Asher straight. Tonight, I’ll let him think whatever the hell he wants.

It’s been almost twenty-four-hours since Asher led me out of that cave, and I’m finding it difficult to speak. My mind is just too loud and busy, so many thoughts and revelations fighting for first place that the words I want to say never get the chance to squeeze their way through.

Asher owes me some answers about my so-called sister, but I don’t have the energy for anything else right now. No more bombs dropped on my life, at least for a few days. I just need to let myself settle with what I’ve already learned before I can tack on anything more.

I’ve been practically catatonic in Creed’s room since I got back. Asher and Griffin haven’t come inside to see me, and I have to wonder if that’s Creed’s doing. If I thought he was protective of me after Fright Night, I had no idea how much more he could become. He hasn’t left my side once. He’s either been in bed, holding me and begging me to talk to him, or he’s been pacing the floor, nearly tearing out his hair. I don’t know if he’s restless, anxious, furious… possibly all the above, and that’s a bit frightening. He seems like he’s on a hair trigger.

“I need water, please,” I murmur when his sixth lap around the room starts giving me a headache.

Creed stops and whirls toward me, his beautiful amber eyes heavy with a wild kind of sorrow. With a slow nod, he says, “Alright. Okay, yeah. Um, just…” He strides over to the door and pulls it open, but when he curses under his breath, I assume the guys aren’t there waiting to be my slave like Creed expected. He looks over his shoulder at me with a deep frown. “I’ll be right back, alright? Do you need anything else while I’m downstairs?”

Right on cue, my stomach grumbles angrily, reminding me that I haven’t eaten in days. When I first came back with Asher, I couldn’t stomach the thought of a meal, but now it seems my body is going to fight me over it.

Creed gives me a sad smile and then adds, “I’ll grab you something to eat too, baby.” Then he slips out of the room, leaving me alone for the first time in what feels like days.

The silence only lasts a moment and then it’s shattered by my phone ringing on the nightstand. It takes all my energy to glance over at it. I frown as I read the number on my screen, trying to place the digits, trying to recall why they look so familiar. Then it dawns on me.

The hospital that Mom’s in.

They don’t usually call me directly, so I hadn’t recognized the number at first. Venomous butterflies take flight in my stomach, creating a sickening mixture of worry and dread. I snatch my phone up with clammy hands, feeling like I might puke any moment.

“Hello?” I croak, wincing at the dryness in my throat.

“Prudence Sexton?” an older sounding man asks. I vaguely recognize his voice through the chaos in my brain, I’m pretty sure it’s my mom’s psychiatrist.

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