Page 45 of See How They Hide

“Calliope believes I’m dead because Garrett and Anton told her they saw me drown. I left evidence—a shoe, a torn shirt—on the far end of the lake where the river starts, where the boulders mask the sudden drop. I did it to protect you, to protect me and everyone we rescued.”

Riley didn’t understand why Thalia was so angry.

“I solved the problem of me leaving,” Riley insisted. “If she thinks I’m dead, she won’t look for me.”

Thalia shook her head. “Without you on the inside, I don’t know if I’ll be able to save anyone else. I hope you can live with that, Riley.”

Without Jesse, no one else could escape with clean identities to start a new life. Without Chris, no one would have support and training to adapt to the Outside. Anyone Thalia rescued would be on their own without protection or help.

And Calliope would never stop looking for them.

Sometimes, Riley wanted to burn the whole place down. Because Havenwood never forgot.

“They probably don’t know where we live,” Andrew said.

“What?” Riley asked, pushing back darker memories that threatened her already fragile state of mind.

“Donovan and me. You said Jane and Chris were killed nearly two weeks ago. So they probably don’t know where I live.”

“Maybe not,” she said, but she didn’t know for certain. “They want Thalia because she took Robert and they drained all of Havenwood’s accounts. Maybe they found her... Maybe they don’t care about anyone else.” Riley didn’t believe that.

Eleven years ago when Thalia and Robert drained the bank accounts and left Havenwood, they believed that Havenwood would implode.

It didn’t. Calliope and her inner circle rebuilt the community as an open-air prison.

Andrew stared at her. “Calliope wants you.”

He sounded like he was accusing her, as if this was allherfault. And, deep down, she wondered if it was. If somehow, her mother found out she was alive.

If Jesse had been tortured, would he have given her up?

A chill ran through Riley’s body.

“We have to call it in,” Andrew said after a minute. “We can’t leave Jesse like that. It could be weeks—months—before anyone finds him.”

“Pay phone. Burner. Something.”

“Maybe,” he said cautiously, “we go to the police.”

“And tell them what?” she snapped.

He didn’t respond.

After a long minute, he said, “For the first time in my life, I haven’t been looking over my shoulder. I haven’t been living in fear. When Donovan and I first escaped, I kept expecting them to show up on our doorstep. As months, then years passed, I finally felt we were free. That they didn’t care that we left, that their threats and warnings were hollow. We have a good life, a quiet, peaceful life. And now...it’s going to take even longer to feel like we’re safe again, if I ever feel safe at all.”

“You’re going to stay in Fort Collins?”

“We’ll go on vacation. We have some savings, we can go south, enjoy the warm weather. Florida or Arizona or something. Ride this out.”

Riley nodded. It was a good plan. Except, “What about Thalia? They’re looking for her, she needs our help.”

If they haven’t found her yet, Riley thought.

“Thalia has always been able to take care of herself.”

“I need to be able to reach you.”

He didn’t say anything.

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