Page 54 of Healer's Call

“Well then how are we going to know where to go?” I ask.

“From the app.” She sticks a phone under my nose. I watch as a little red dot travels along her phone.

“You have a way to track him?” I ask.

“Yep.”

“How?” I ask in disbelief.

“Let’s just say I made friends with the nerdy tech guy. What’s his name again?”

“Stu?”

“Yeah. That’s him. He let me borrow a tracking device that I put on Maverick’s car earlier today.”

I have so many questions. “I can’t even. Why in the world did we hide here then if we could have just used the phone to track him?”

“Because this was more fun,” she says with a laugh.

I stare at her. “Who are you and what did you do with my friend? How did you do all this without tipping off Maverick or Cade or—”

“You worry too much.” She puts the car in drive. “Let’s go. You watch that phone and tell me where to go.”

“You’re crazy,” I mumble and orient myself to the map. “Go left.” It takes longer than I thought it would. Thirty minutes later, we’re still driving.

“That red dot’s still moving, right?” Ava asks.

“Yes.” We’re both feeling the stress. Not only has it been thirty minutes, but it also looks like we’re in a really seedy part of town. I glance out my window, wondering for the hundredth time tonight if this was a bad idea. I’ve had so many horrible ideas about where Maverick could be going that I refuse to think anymore. Finally, the red dot stops. “It’s stopped,” I say quietly.

“Okay. Let’s see where he’s at.”

It takes us a few more minutes to get close to the red dot. When we do, I’m even more confused. It’s a parking lot that’sdefinitely seen better days. Ava pulls in slowly. There’s grass growing up through the broken concrete. “Be careful,” I tell her. We park on the side where some other cars are parked, because there’s no other room. She turns off the car, and we sit in silence for a moment.

“Where do you think we are?” I ask in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know, but we won’t find out by sitting in the car,” she responds. Still, neither of us move.

“Ava, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. We don’t have to do this.”

“Do you want to go back?” she asks.

I look out the windshield and watch as more cars pull in. “Not really, but I don’t want to drag you into this, whatever it is.”

“Well, we’re already here. Let’s do it.”

“Are you sure?” I ask one more time.

“Yes.”

Then before I can overthink it, I open the door and step out.

Chapter 26

Rose

We follow a small group of people over to a building that has definitely seen better days. I wonder if the door will be locked, but it’s not. I glance at Ava, but she doesn’t look over at me. She holds her head high, looking like she’s supposed to be here, and I try to do the same. The group in front of us goes inside and we follow a moment later. We follow the people in front of us through a set of double doors, and I blink at the bright lights and the noise. We’re in some kind of old factory building. The electric probably stopped working a long time ago, but there are generators powering spotlights. Music pumps through huge speakers on the floor. I stare at the scene in front of me as I realize what it is. “Ava,” I call out, but she doesn’t hear me over the noise. We’re pushed forward, and I glance behind me, trying to see the door we came through but it’s long gone. There are too many people. We get pushed in further and further. We’re surrounded on every side by people...too many people. I feel myself starting to panic. Ava squeezes my hand. “What is this place?” she yells in my ear.

“It’s a fight club!” I yell back. Her eyes widen, but we’re pushed forward before she can say anything. I try to look back at the exit again but can’t see it. Panic claws through my chest, and I try to take a breath. Ava doesn’t look a whole lot better than I do, and I berate myself for putting us in this situation. I glance around, trying to gauge how it works. From what I can see, there are three fight circles. Fights are taking place in each of them. The noise from the music and the people yelling drownout the noise of the fights, and for that, I’m grateful. Since we can’t go backward, I figure we might as well keep going forward. “Maybe there’s an exit on the other side,” I shout to Ava. She nods, and we begin slowly moving through the crowd. It’s next to impossible. It takes forever to just make a little progress.

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