Page 98 of Fallen Stars

I peer over my shoulder with narrow eyes. “If it’s the people who took Levi, don’t you think they’d be out here trying to kill us?” I purse my lips. “I’m opening the door.”

His fingers curl around my shoulder in either frustration or acquiescence. I don’t stop to ask which.

The second brass key slides into the lock and I twist it. A loud click sounds as the key stops. With a twist of the handle, I ease the door open.

Huddled in the corner of a walk-in closet-sized room is a girl in a white sundress too big for her body. Practically a skeleton, she visibly trembles as she tries to blend into the wall.

“You’re okay, miss,” Tymber says in a voice so soft I’d never guess it was his. “We’re here to take you home.” He holds his hands up and keeps his distance. “We just need to take care of the bad guys first.” Inching back, he grabs a bucket on the floor and props the door open. “Stay here while we do that. Okay?”

She doesn’t speak or nod. She doesn’t give any indication she heard or understands what’s been said.

Tymber backs out of the room and tells someone that there may be victims behind the doors.

I stare at the scared girl for one, two, three ragged breaths. Then I stumble back into the hallway, turn my head, and look at the countless doors.

He’s here. Behind one of these doors, I will find him.

The backs of my eyes sting and my vision blurs. I blink the imminent tears away.

“Later,” I mumble. “Focus on finding him.”

Key firmly in my grip, I move to the next door and unlock it. A woman old enough to be my mother jumps back and starts crying. I grab the bucket in her room and prop the door open. Rather than soothe her with hopeful words, I shuffle to the next door.

One door after another, I unlock the doors and search for Levi. When I reach the last door in this hallway and still don’t find him, my heart clenches beneath my sternum.

Then I remind myself that this place is immense.

If I have to open hundreds of doors before I find him, so be it. I refuse to give up. Until Levi is in my arms again, I refuse to let a single part of myself rest.

Rounding the end of the hall and moving to the next, I unlock more doors.

My rib cage strangles my lungs tighter and tighter as I open one door after another and don’t find Levi on the other side.

Silence echoes in the air for a split second as the alarm shuts off. Then, all I hear is my jagged breaths and footsteps on the tile.

“I’m here, moje srce,” I say, the words garbled and thick with emotion. “And I won’t leave without you.”

Stepping around a man in a puddle of blood on the floor, I go to the next room. The key slips into the lock and I twist it as I have more than a hundred times already. I open the door and glance into the room, mentally ready to grab the bucket, prop the door, and move to the next.

But as I reach for the bucket, I freeze.

On the floor, legs bent and crushed to his chest, cheek pressed to his knees, Levi rocks back and forth.

“Levi?” His name is a tender question on my tongue as I narrow my eyes and take him in.

The man on the floor doesn’t look like Levi. NotmyLevi. But deep in my bones, Iknowit’s him.

In this life and every other possible existence, my soul unequivocally recognizes his.

Every cell in my body screams with joy in finding him. But the delight fades fast. A shiver rolls up my spine and goose bumps erupt on my skin as my eyes roam over him. As I listen to his muted voice as it says something indiscernible.

Uncertain what to say or do, I move the bucket to prop open the door with unhurried movements. As I straighten my spine, I take a tentative step into the room. On the next step, I stand within a foot of him.

He doesn’t move, doesn’t look up, doesn’t pay me a single ounce of attention.

I shove the keys in my pocket, take a slow, deep breath, and bend my knees to squat in front of him.

Levi jerks back and shuffles across the room until his back slams against the wall.

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