Page 148 of Irreversible

Heat sears my face, pushing me back several steps. No sirens yet, so I let myself linger long enough to pull out my phone and send a message, staying in the shadows just outside the flickering orange glow.

Sometimes it’s nice to take a minute to enjoy the spoils of war.

Jesus, I sound like I belong in one of Everly’s historical romances.

Blood-soaked curls and lifeless eyes flash through my mind.

I shake my head and remind myself it isn’t?—

Itwasn’t?—

Why can’t I just be allowed to forget?

But it’s a game now, a fucking dangerous one, and every facility I destroy raises the stakes even higher. I need to find that bastard before he takes his next turn. Because now, I’m playing with fire.

Literally.

It crackles as I send the information to a contact from a local agency who assists trafficking victims. I’ve already advised the police of the dock location where Vincent’s latest “sale”is awaiting transport. They should be on their way.

The flames crawl up over the roof just as the distant whine of sirens tells me it’s time to move on. I give one last look and pull the hood of my sweatshirt tighter around my head, leaving the wreckage behind.

The blaze roars louder, devouring everything in its path. With the fire at my back and sirens on the wind, I walk away, blending into the shadows. Let them pick through the ruins—I’m already hunting the next piece.

This isn’t over.

Not until he’s burning, too.

36

Fifty-thousand plants, an aviary, two cats, and a partridge in a pear tree greet me as I traipse through the front door of my mother’s house with a bag of kitty litter. Macaroni, a high-strung macaw, squawks at me as I drop the bag in the entryway, while two tabbies, Jojo and Juju, curl around my ankles. “Mom?” I look around the small bungalow, drinking in the bold prints and eccentric knickknacks, as the smell of sage and incense wafts underneath my nose.

“Out back!”

I set down my duffel bag and wind around to the back of the house, exiting through a door off the kitchen. My mother is sprawled out in a lawn chair, sipping iced tea. “Hey. You look cozy.” I send her a smile as I gather my hair over my shoulder.

She smiles back through neon-red sunglasses and tips her head toward the sky. “You know what’s underrated?”

“Kinetic sand?”

She frowns, twisting toward me. “Good one. But I was going to say aging.”

I saunter toward her, plopping down in the adjacent chair that’s already stocked with my own sweating glass of tea. Fiddling with the straw, I follow her gaze as she peers back up atthe cloud-spattered sky. “Yeah,” I murmur before taking a sip. “I’m on board with that.”

“There’s something so liberating about not giving a crap anymore, you know?” She drapes both arms over her head as sunlight bathes her in a golden glow. “I’ve gained twenty pounds, stopped dyeing my hair, and updated all my pictures on social media to a selfie I took last week, finally replacing that yearbook photo from high school. It’s beautiful.”

My mother is beautiful.

Right down to her soul.

Mom removes her sunglasses and glances my way, her eyes mirroring her smile. “How was the drive?”

I settle back in the chair and cross my leg over my knee. “Long. I was listening to a podcast about how spiders function as indicator species for habitats and ecosystems.”

“That’s my girl.” She chuckles under her breath as ice cubes clink against her glass. “I’m sure Festus is living his best life.”

Festus McGarrity IV is my pet tarantula.

The day I packed my meager belongings in my car and made the trek from Los Angeles to San Francisco to start over, I considered leaving the arachnid behind. After all, my mother had been taking good care of him during my absence, and I felt unfit to take care of anything with a heartbeat—including myself. In the end, I ran back into the house and gathered up the giant terrarium, bringing the pet I deeply missed with me.

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