Page 97 of The Eleventh Hour

River laughs and follows me back to the house. “I don’t believe you.”

“I swear, Riv, she bared her teeth in an actual grin.”

“Nah, you’re wrong. I’d put money on it.”

There’s a lightness in my chest. My secrets were heavy and dark and painful for my narrow shoulders to carry.

Too bad the worst are still inside.

Jax

“All right, Joe Hinklestein should be around here somewhere, just drive a bit slower.”

Rafael slows down but checks the rearview mirror repetitively. “I think we lost them. Tenacious fuckers. Who would have thought the media could be so resourceful!”

“You have no idea,” I mutter. “Wait, stop, I think I saw something.”

Rafe pulls over, and I jump from the car before it even stops moving. I dash through the opening of a shell of a building and catch sight of a man jumping through a window. A cry escapes me as I burst into a run across the concrete slab, narrowly avoiding glass bottles and bits of debris. I fling myself through the window.

“JOE! Wait!”

The old man pauses and cocks his head to the side. He looks exactly as he always did, just older. His hair is in matts, his face is lined with wrinkles and in a perpetual scowl, and he looks emaciated. I’d know him anywhere. I used to feel sorry for the way people treated him. I gave him my lunch once. He wasn’t scary, just…lost. “She talking to us? She can’t be talking to us. We be invisible.”

“Joe, I don’t know if you remember-”

“Jackie Blackwell, nee, Harmon, also Jax Shade, and the fiancée of one very evil Louis Falcon. I know you, little girl. You growed up and out. Got fat. Should try my diet, it’s called air.”

I purse my lips and bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t hiss out a furious retort.

“Air will keep you slim. Air will keep you healthy. Air will make sure you can run when you need to run.” The old man stabs air with a yellow fingernail.

One side of the building is dark, with bits of wood planks and old machinery sitting like someone walked out one day and just never returned. The other side has a huge tear in the wall, and nature is slowly encroaching inside. Joe is framed in light, making it hard to make out his features.

I frown. “Why do you need to run, Joe?”

Joe surges towards me, ignoring Dane and Rafael, who rear up to stop him from getting too close.

“Not me, stupid girl, you. You need to run now. He’s back.”

I feel the blood drain from my face. “He can’t be,” I whisper. It’s not possible.

“He is. Looks so different, but under the skin, he’s the same evil little tot that climbed into the dark wilds of Hurricane and spilled blood upon our hallowed grounds.”

“Louis?”

“Don’t say his name,” Joe hisses and darts into the shadows. “He’s always watching. Eyes everywhere.”

“Uh, Jax, are you sure?” Dane asks under his breath.

I ignore Dane and step closer to Joe. “He came back here? You saw him?” I press.

“He took the girls. The poor little girls. Dragged em, weeping and whining, into the darkest parts. Into the maze no one can find him in. If we go into his playground, we all die.” Joe tilts his head back and howls so loud it scares the crap out of me. I cast a furtive glance around, just in case he is right and there are eyes.

“I have to. He’s got Jacob’s wife,” I say when he stops.

“That fat pastor boy? He should count his blessing’s that Louis didn’t come after him. Cut his losses and walk away.”

“But-”

---