Page 94 of Echoes

"If it only happened this morning, wouldn't she be here?" Avery asks.

I nod, pleased that she's able to connect the dots. She's smarter than I gave her credit for. "Yes, she would."

Her eyebrows furrow as she leans against the closed cabinet. "What's going on, Damon?"

"I don't believe Capello killed herself," I tell her, looking over at her slumped figure. "I don't think she's dead at all."

Avery blinks at me, her gray eyes scanning my face curiously. "What do you mean?"

I straighten up, resting my hands in my pockets. "I told you this place has secrets. I think they are about to be cracked wide open."

"I—"

Her next sentence gets cut off by the sound of a door opening and closing down the corridor, footsteps heading in our direction.

That fucking bastard. I knew he'd be onto it quickly.

At least I have the confirmation I needed. We can make a plan now and go from there.

I start to head toward the door to get ready to meet the guards when Avery flies forward, grabbing my arm.

"What are you doing?" she whispers heatedly. "We need to hide."

"There's no point hiding," I scoff. "They know we're down here. It's just a shame we didn't get more time."

Avery's eyes dart to the mortuary cabinet, and I raise an eyebrow, sensing her train of thought.

"I'm not getting inside the damn box, Avery."

Amused, I watch as she runs across the room, opening an adjoining door. Her small gasp nearly makes me laugh as she comes face to face with the storage room, random caskets perched up on racks.

What the fuck did she think would be in there?

I can see her body tensing, trying to come up with a solution.

She turns around, running back to me as the footsteps grow louder. "Come on," she hisses, pulling me with all her strength toward the storage room.

I'm surprised by her power, finally stopping her when we're in the doorway of the storage room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I ask her.

Her eyes light up, as if she's mastered the greatest plan in the world. "Get into a casket," she says, watching as my eyebrows shoot up. "I'll let them find me. They will think that they have caught whoever is down here and you can keep looking when we are gone."

"That's preposterous. Arthur will know I'm here."

"But they will be distracted by me for a while. It will buy you time."

"Avery," I growl in frustration. "You do realize that if you're caught, they will put you into solitary confinement."

Her face drops slightly, but she just nods solemnly. "I know. But this is important. We need to protect you, especially if shit is going down."

"I don't need protecting."

It's like a lightbulb goes off in her head, lips parting. "You have to protect the king."

Well, now she's just fucking rambling like a lunatic. I have no idea what she's even going on about. However,we doneed more time down here. It might be our only chance.

Begrudgingly, I grab her wrist, pulling her into the storage room and closing the door behind us. "Get into a casket," I order. "Quickly."

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