Page 4 of Ashes

My heart had broken as her screams for Church had turned into a soft, shaky hum of a song I hadn’t recognized.

Church’s words as he had held her in his arms.“He broke her. He broke my specter. Fuck, baby. Come back to me.”

I’d never seen Church cry before. Not even when his mom had died.

We all had realized she was too far gone. She’d gone stiff and silent after that. Like a pretty stone statue as Church had begged her to look at him.

Nothing. There had been nothing left inside her.

Seth Cain had won.

But what did he win when she was just a shell now?

Seth had fallen to his knees in front of Church, whispering frantically to her. Clinging to her hand. Trying to take her from Church before Stitches had snapped out of his heartache and had punched him in the face over and over.

It had taken me coming to in order to stop Stitches from killing him.

We’d brought her straight here to the medical wing. And that was where we’d been for the last three hours.

Church was inside with her. Sin was nowhere to be found. He still wasn’t answering calls or texts. I was beginning to worry about him too.

I didn’t know where the hell Seth was. I didn’t give a shit either. As long as he was far away from me was all that mattered now. I was barely keeping myself together.

“What’s going on?” I immediately got to my feet as Church came toward us.

Stitches looked up with bloodshot eyes.

“They’ve called her family. They’re on the way.” He breathed out, his body shaking. “It’s not good. She’s. . . not here right now. Her mind. The doctor thinks she’s catatonic. They have her in bed and medicated. They’re doing some other shit to her. Testing and whatever. S-she won’t even look at me. Her eyes. . .” His voice cracked.

“Fuck,” Stitches choked out, tugging at his hair as he rocked in his seat. “Fuck!”

I closed my eyes briefly.This couldn’t be happening! We’d just gotten everything sorted with her. She was getting better. Fucking Seth Cain. . .

“Headmaster Sully has Asylum here,” Church said, drawing in a calming breath, as if reading my mind. “I told them about how we found them locked together in that fucking coffin. He questioned him, and they’re keeping him here for observation tonight. Fucking prick is going to pay.”

“He won,” Stitches said softly. “She screamed for him.”

Church’s body vibrated with rage. “She screamed forme.”

I didn’t want to argue about it right now. If she didn’t get better, it wouldn’t fucking matter who she’d screamed for.

“We need to find Sin, and Stitches needs to sleep,” I said, taking in my friend as he continued to rock.

He was barely holding on. We couldn’t let him spiral. He’d only just gotten better.

“I don’t want to leave her,” Church said, his voice rough.

“We need to sleep. They know to contact us,” I said, knowing damn well everyone needed to rest. We were running on fumes. When Church couldn’t find her tonight, we’d rushed around, searching for her for hours.

Even Bryce got punched in the face when Church lost it after a two-hour search for her had ended in nothing.

And fucking Sin wasn’t answering his phone.

“I’m not leaving. I already told Sully. I told the fucking staff. I’m staying. Take care of Stitches and get some rest. I’ll let you guys know if anything changes.”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He pivoted and stormed back the way he’d come.

Sighing, I looked at Stitches. He rubbed his eyes.

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