Page 21 of Tempest

“When you wake up,” I say, clearing my throat. “You’re going to be so pissed at how your hair looks.”

Mila doesn’t respond. Or move.

“Mila?”

Blinking, I search the area around us, keeping one hand on Mila’s strangely cold leg. It’s then I spot our driver out on the road, his neck twisted at an odd angle. He faces me with enlarged eyes almost popped out of their sockets. His tongue hangs out of parted, sagging lips, swollen and purple.

I swallow back a scream.

“Ardyn?” Clover asks behind me.

I slide backward. “I’m here. Are you okay? Can you get down?”

“Am I … am I the wrong way, or are you the wrong way?”

“You are. Here.” Without warning, I unclip her seat belt, and she crumples to the ground.

“Ow. Oh my God, ow.”

“Sorry.” It’s becoming hard to talk over my pounding heart. As time passes, my vision clears, and I’m not liking what I see. “We’re in a lot of trouble.”

Clover blinks and looks around. “Shit. Where’s Mila?”

“She’s sleeping.”

Clover slides her gaze back to mine, holding steady. “She’s what?”

“Right here. Sleeping.” I gesture behind me to Mila’s shoes, both tilted at unnatural angles. “The accident must’ve been too much for her, so she’s taking a nap.”

Clover peers around me. Her face pales, and her throat bobs before coming back to me. “Ardyn…”

“It’s okay,” I assure her. “Sleep is a wonderful escape. It makes you forget all the bad things.”

“Ardyn,” Clover whispers with more urgency. “Ardyn, wake up.”

“What do you mean? I’m awake. I’m here.”

“No, you’re not.” Clover’s eyes fill with tears. “I don’t know how you survived your kidnapping, I don’t know what you witnessed at the auction, and I don’t know what was in that flask you and Mila chugged, but you know what I do know? I know Mila’s dead.”

I shake my head in response, sharp and painful. “Stop lying.”

“She’s dead, Ardyn, and so’s our driver.”

“No. No one’s dead.”

“We need to call for help.”

“She’s not dead, Clover! She’s right here!”

“Ardyn. Ardyn, look at me—”

“No. No!” I scramble until I’m splayed on top of Mila’s legs, shaking the life back into her.

“Ardyn, she’s lost too much blood. It’s too late—”

“Nooooooo!”

---