Page 68 of The Flame

“Lisa said—”

“The Sisterhood has caught whiff of your little letter campaign, that’s what,” Lisa supplied, stepping inside, her nose twitching as she glanced around the cabin. Her gaze landed on Daniel. “Well, hello there.”

“Lisa.” He folded his arms, scowling at all of us. “What the hell?”

She looked at me. “Who’s bright idea was it to hide out in the nature reserve? Anyone with half a brain cell would know this is the first place they’d search for a fugitive.”

My jaw tightened. “Mine.”

“Of course it was.” She rolled her ice blue eyes. “Well, we have to go. Now. You can’t stay here.”

“They’re searching for you,” Jessie said urgently.

My heart kicked violently. “Geneva knows we’re here?”

“For some reason, Geneva thinks you’re holed up in The Smoke and are somehow managing to slip your letters over the wall,” Lisa said. “But she’s not taking any chances. She’s not raising the alarm yet, doesn’t want a public outcry, but she’s ordered the Guard to be vigilant and tasked a search team to sweep the Nature Reserve.”

“When?” asked Daniel.

Lisa’s gaze swerved to him. “Half an hour ago, so the team’s probably here already. We would have been here sooner, but Jessie was playing coy.”

“I thought it was a trap,” Jessie muttered.

It could still be. I looked at Daniel. “What do we do?”

“Oh, for goodness sake,” Lisa sighed. “I’m not the big bad wolf. But we have to go now.”

“Go where?”

She shrugged. “Anywhere but here, trust me.”

Did we have any other option?

“Pack your things,” I said to Daniel. “If Geneva isn’t sure we’re still in Capra, I don’t want to leave anything behind to change her mind.”

Lisa slapped her palms together. “Chop-chop.”

Jessie stormed around her and started clearing the table. “Do you have a bag or something to dump this into?”

“In the kitchen.” I gave Daniel a shove to get him moving and I darted into my bedroom. My heart pounded, every nerve in my body pinched tight, but I couldn’t panic—I refused to panic.

In all honesty, I was more worried about Lisa than the manhunt. I wanted to trust her, but she was Sisterhood through and through. Like I’d once been. For all I knew,shewas the search team, on a sanctioned mission, and we were walking—no, running right into her hands.

But I didn’t know.

I didn’tknow.

So I went through my room like a whirlwind, shoving as much as I could into my overnight bag and bundling the rest up in the quilt. Lisa came through to help me carry, and we dumped it into the trunk of her car.

Between the four of us, we cleared the cabin out. There wasn’t space in the trunk for my bicycle, so I pushed it a short way into the trees. If anyone did stumble across it, they wouldn’t necessarily connect it to me.

Lisa and Jessie sat up front and I jumped into the rear with Daniel.

The car shot forward then jerked to an abrupt stop as Lisa cursed and hit the brakes. Gears grinded and then, with a few more stutters and abrupt jerks, we were reversing.

“Do you even know how to drive?” I muttered.

“I’ve been teaching myself.” Her gaze met mine in the rearview mirror with a devilish glint. “This is my second lesson.”

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