Page 88 of Sawyer

“Why ask a question,” she murmurs while gazing at my shoulder, “you already know the answer to? Turn.”

My hands blindly find Rumor, and I look up into those cool eyes of his that hold more warmth than anyone I know. There’s a question in his gaze.

I can’t allow myself to think too hard, though, because if I do, I’ll find a phone and call my brother. He’s the only one who would have put a tracker in me, and I know when he did it.

“After I began at Haven,” I say to distract myself from the slice that Mila cuts into my skin, “my brother invited me out to dinner. Neither of us had spoken to our sister, and we missed that sibling connection, you know?”

“I do not,” Mila answers blandly as she digs into my skin.

Closing my eyes to keep from crying out in pain, I grip Rumor’s arms and continue. “We ate and saw a movie, and then he walked me back to my apartment. The next thing I remembered was waking up to the sun coming in through my apartment window.”

Tension lines Rumor’s face, and his lips lift in a snarl. Sin turns around, unable to look at what Mila is doing. I can feel it as she scores my skin and massages something out. It feels like she’s trying to pop a painful pimple.

“I should have known I didn’t just fall asleep.” Dammit, Shep, what have you done?

“He’ll have to pay for that, Sawyer.” Rumor cups my jaw.

Mila’s hand jerks, and she grunts. “Here.” I don’t know which one of us she’s talking to, perhaps Bryn since I can’t see him. “You will heal.” She slaps a bandage on my shoulder, holding it there for a long moment as the pain subsides. “Sometimes, people make bad choices for the right reasons.” Releasing me, she steps away.

I don’t acknowledge her words right away because she’s right, and there’s something else there, something unspoken that I don’t fully comprehend yet. “He could have talked to me first.” I spin around to gaze into her onyx depths, where I swear a universe exists.

“Yes, and he did not. Now go, you are all about to get everything you want.” Mila winks at the four of us before disappearing in the back and yelling, “Shoo,” over her shoulder.

“She creeps me out,” Sin admits, grabbing a packet.

“I should have known she already read our cards,” I mutter, grabbing the packet labeled explicitly for me—the only one that’s labeled.

Foreboding sweeps through me once more. I’m about to get everything I ever wanted.

What the hell does that even mean?

Sawyer

“I’m telling you, we need to enter here.” Sin points at the map with his finger and a tap-tap-tap until the paper crinkles. Bryn, the tallest of the trio, hovers above them with a small flashlight.

“We need to stay off all the main trails. We’ll be paving our own way,” Rumor reminds Sin for the tenth time.

The mountain range runs north to south in one long, treacherous line. There are multiple ravines, valleys, peaks, and cave systems. Early spring is one of the best times to hike the outer path. Few venture too far in, and it’s actually banned by the council to even think about it. Even so, it’s better for us to travel now than any other time of year.

Save for one issue—snow often coats the peaks. We’re assuming the facility we are looking for isn’t on a peak, but there’s no official proof of its existence.

This entire mission is based on assumptions. We could all be wrong no matter where we enter. However, there is one truth that I’ve been rolling around in my head repeatedly.

“You guys are overthinking this,” I mutter and wiggle between Rumor and Sin. I point at the southern end of the mountain to the east, where the academy for omegas butts up against one of the mountains. “The castle is here, right?”

Three sets of eyes look down at me, and to my surprise, they are all quiet.

Clearing my throat, I point to where the jogger found the bodies. “They found five gammas right here, dead, on the west side. On the east, they found a few more. We can make the deduction that the north is out.”

“I agree,” Rumor says. “We can draw a line between the bodies, and it looks as though it’s equal parts from the castle as well.”

Bryn gives the last word. “So we aim for the intersecting lines, and if we discover anything along the way, we follow the lead.”

We are back on the logging road where Rumor caught me and negotiated his way into my life. We hid the SUV off the logging road by moving timber and brush, and then threw it over the vehicle.

Night fell after we left Mila’s store, giving us the coverage we needed, and we didn’t pass a single person as we headed this way. Most people are abiding by Finch’s decree and staying off the mountain.

Everyone except us, of course.

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