Page 23 of Mud

“But most importantly, of course, I promise you this: you will be perfectly safe. You will not get hurt in any way, Rosabel. Do you understand? You will besafe.”

From Madeline. From her wrath. From her judgment. Frommy life.

“What we need, really, is information about a boy that you will be going to school with. Just a boy your age, whom we think might be working for some bad people. All we need is information about him, that’s all. Only information—and it is absolutely vital that he remains clueless as towhoyou are and what you’re doing in that school.”

That sounded…easy,didn’t it?

I dreamed aboutnotbeing who I was all the time. I dreamed about it, and if I had the chance to make that dream come true, I’d give it my very best.

Iris, is this really happening?

“So, what do you say, huh? Are you in? Are you ready to be a hero yet?”

A hero.

Such a pretty word.

“Or do you need some time to think about it?” said Hill, eyes open and honest. Smile wide. Hands on my shoulders still as he waited.

He was really asking me that. He was really asking me to go away from Madeline for six whole months, something I never actually considered because where the hell would I go that she couldn’t find me?

I looked at Madeline because, despite everything, she owned my soul. I was convinced she’d done some kind of magic to me, even if that kind of magic didn’t exist at all. She’d found a way to infiltrate my thoughts and makeme completely dependent on her, make me crave her approval, make me so damn scared of her that my skin crawled when she was around.

Then again, maybe that’s just the consequences of psychological abuse?

Maybe.

But I looked at her, and she didn’t tell me to say no.

She didn’t let me answer, either.

“She saysyes,David. She’ll do it,” she said, throwing back the last of her whiskey. “If you so insist…”

David Hill laughed again. Madeline poured herself another glass.

That night, my life changed forever, indeed.

Chapter 7

Rosabel La Rouge

Present day

If you’re ever alone or in need of something, anything at all, go to the blue house behind the hill. I’ll find you there eventually.

That’s what he told me once when things were…different. When everything was different.

And that’s what I was thinking about when Michael found me.

“La Rouge, you’re early.”

I was on my way out of the dressing room to go grab a bite. Not that I was hungry—far from it—but it was already nine a.m. I’d showered and put on my uniform, and the siren had revealed where she’d hidden hertreasuresto me after another two hours of playing her games. I was weak. My body was protesting. I needed food whether I liked the idea of eating right now or not.

Michael was right there in the hallway as soon as I walked out. He was my team leader, possibly the most positiveguy I’d ever met in my whole life. He smiled at ungodly hours, and it was mostly genuine. It freaked me out, especially when he constantly tried to getmeto smile, too.

“Hey, Michael. You, too.” Our shift didn’t start until ten this week.

“I got a call twenty minutes ago. I was just gonna text all of you to come in right away,” he said, waving at the door opposite ours—men’s dressing room. “Glad I caught you. Let’s meet in the main room in fifteen.”

---