Page 77 of Beautiful Prey

“I…I don’t know,” I said honestly.

He frowned, looking me over. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “Where is Uncle Wes?”

“Come.” He put a hand at my back and I followed him over to one of the ambulances.

The EMS were putting Wes in a stretcher; he had a brace around his neck and his hair was dirty with ash and smoke.

“Uncle Wes!” I went to move closer.

“Eve!” Aunt May took hold of my arm, her silver dress stained with dirt. Megan was right beside her, looking pale. “You're okay, we saw you going back up the stairs, what were you thinking?”

“I was…” I looked around me but didn’t see Emery in the crowd. I felt too open and I needed to go. I needed to put as much distance from him as I could.

“We need to go to the hospital,” she said. “Megan is taking the car, you can follow her if you want.”

I didn’t answer. If I went, Emery would follow. Nowhere felt safe.

They rolled Uncle Wes into the ambulance and Aunt May climbed in. She took her daughter’s hand. “See you there.”

They shut the door and the lights flashed on, the horn sounding to warn people to clear away.

As it disappeared, I searched over by the cop cars parked on the other side of the street, but the officers were gone.

Some people still wore their masks and a few of those people were workers from the mansion. They started to blend together, heightening my panic.

“I-I guess I’ll see you there,” Megan said, starting to walk away.

I grabbed her shoulder. “Wait.” I didn’t know what to say or do. I didn’t want to be alone but I couldn’t keep her with me either.

“I’ll come to the hospital as well,” Mr. Foley said. “I’ll take you to your cars.”

As we got to the front of the lot, I was relieved to see one of the officers, talking to what I assumed was one of the managers of Whiteleaf. I told Megan and Mr. Foley I’d be right back as I jogged over to them.

“I’m sorry to cut in,” I said, “but you need to get more police out here. There’s a very dangerous man, who’s responsible for the fire.”

The officer glared at me curiously. “You saw him?” he asked.

“Yes, he’s wearing a server uniform from Whiteleaf with a silver mask.”

The officer looked over at the manager, who shook his head. “I-I didn’t notice anything suspicious about our servers,” he said.

“No, she’s right.” The woman who had helped me before reappeared, coming up to join us. “I saw him too. He was after…her.” She gestured toward me.

The manager looked shocked. The officer gazed suspiciously at me.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Eve.”

“Eve what?”

“Eve…Layne. And he’s out here right now. You need to call in backup, help get these people off the streets to safety.” I waved my arm toward the street still full of people heading out through the dark.

“Why would he set the place on fire if he’s after you?” the officer asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe as some sort of distraction.”

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