Page 24 of Fall

But I can’t do any of that, as I’m a marionette with cut strings and no way to fix them myself. At last I realize both of them are watching me, waiting, and their combined attention wakes some part of me that’s been unconscious this whole time. The numbness departs a little, and my fingers twitch with the first sign of life I’m sure I’ve given in the last hour or so.

Not that it felt like an hour.

“Hey.” Val reaches for me, curling his hand over my fingers. “You’re okay, Noa. Everything’s okay. We brought you home.”

Everything is not okay. But I just tip my head and gaze at them without moving. Is this shock? I’ve never been in shock before, and even wondering about it is a distant, unimportant worry. Kieran sighs and I look at him as he gets out of the passenger seat. Seconds later, my door is open and the seatbelt is no longer across my chest.

“Come on, darling,” he tells me, gently tugging me out of the car. My knees buckle when my feet hit the ground, so Kieran scoops me up into his arms, carrying me bridal style toward my apartment door while Val fishes my keys out of his pocket.

Along with my phone that I haven’t seen in a few days. I want to fight, to squirm, to writhe away and demand that I walkmyself into my apartment. But I can’t find it in me to do more than open my mouth, though no sound comes out.

When I blink again, we’re at the top of my stairs and Val places my keys on the counter. Kieran doesn’t hesitate, and carries me to my bedroom as Finn zooms down the hallway, doing his best impression of a fluffy bowling ball. It makes a detached smile twitch at my lips, and when I inhale the familiar smells of my apartment, it brings something back to life in me.

“I can walk,” I murmur finally, just as Kieran pushes my bedroom door open all the way. With my arm around his shoulders, I grip his shirt and gaze up at him, still feeling strangely detached. “I can walk,” I say again.

“I know you can,” he replies, but he doesn’t set me down until he can lower me to my knees on my bed.

God, I missed my bed.

My fingers find the comforter under me and I twist it in my hands, my heart starting to pick up speed in my chest. “Why?” I ask stupidly as Val pokes his head into the room. My question draws his interest, and he sits down beside me on the bed to rest his head affectionately on my shoulder.

“Because now you can’t tell,” he replies. “Now you’re involved, too. No one will believe we made you do it. If you tell the police about any of this, they’ll think you’re our accomplice. After all, you were the only person not to die at the haunt. And you’re the one whose prints are all over the hilt of the knife that no one will find as long as the cops aren’t told.”

I shudder at the blatant threat, but Val just reaches up to run his thumb over my lower lip. “Don’t be upset,” he tells me kindly. “One of us would’ve done it, anyway. He would’ve died, whether you were the one to stab him or not.”

But I didn’t kill him willingly,my brain screams. That truth is the only way I can get through this; the only way I can makeany part of this make sense, so something might eventually be okay. “I didn’t want to,” I say, as if that was even a question.

“I know, princess.” Val leans towards me, and I stiffen. Part of me thinks I’ll jerk away from him, but I sit perfectly still as he kisses me sweetly, kindly, and warmly enough that I want to sob.

“You did nothing wrong.” Kieran’s voice is soft, and he wraps his arms around my shoulders to pull me back against him. “But this way, we know you can’t turn us in.Anyof us. We needed a guarantee, Noa. We needed this to keep you alive.”

As if I’d chosen any of this at all. A spark of rage ignites in my chest, though a shiver that raises goosebumps on my arms snuffs it right back out. I’m sotiredand cold. I just want to sleep and sleep andsleep.

“What will you do now?” I ask finally, when the quiet between us becomes too much. “Are you—Do you plan on staying here?” Two mornings ago, I would’ve welcomed them to stay. Even earlier today, I could’ve been convinced to let them hang out on my couch if they wanted to.

But not now.

Now, I want them gone so I can figure out what I’m going to do and how I’m supposed to move past this.

“We’re going to let you sleep,” Kieran says firmly. “We have a few things to take care of, anyway. But we’re not just leaving you forever, okay?” He speaks as if he needs to reassure me. Like them leaving me alone is the worst option.

I’m frankly not surewhatthe worst option is. I can barely form a string of coherent thoughts as I look between them, so I have no idea how to react to this. “Fine,” is the only reply I can come up with.

Not that my lack of enthusiasm seems to bother either of them. Kieran holds me against him while Val leans in to brush my lips with his again, and when he pulls away Kieran pulls me closer to bury his face in my hair.

“You’ll be fine,” he promises. “You are fine, okay?”

“More than fine. You’re our perfect, feral little thing,” Val adds with his hand resting on my cheek.

Feral little thingsuddenly feels like an insult and I don’t have the words to give them a reply. But they don’t seem to expect one. They both get to their feet, leaving me on my knees on the edge of my bed, and it’s Val that hesitates, looking worriedly back at me while Kieran heads to the door.

“Maybe we should…” He glances at Kieran, who eyes him with impatience as he sets my phone on the nightstand.

Kieran glances my way, surveying my face. But whatever he sees there makes him shake his head. “She doesn’t want us around right now,” he assures Val, who bites his lower lip. Gone are the monsters from the haunt and from the woods. They’re back to the two men I became infatuated with, terrified of, and intrigued by.

But now I can’t help but wonder which is the real version of them.

Are they Valentin and Kieran?

Or are they really justRavageandHarrow?

“Bye.” I don’t know where it comes from, but the word slips out from between my barely parted lips. It earns me an affectionate grin from Val, and even Kieran turns to study my face from the hall.

“We’ll be back, Noa,” Kieran says again. “You can’t get rid of us so easily.”

“Especially now,” Val agrees confidently. “There’s no getting rid of us ever again, Noa. Not when you’re connected to us permanently after tonight.” He flashes a grin my way as a shudder goes through me. Then I listen as the two of them walk through my apartment, down the stairs, and close the door behind them.

Finally, when I’m alone, I can’t hold myself up anymore. I fall onto my side and press my face into my pillow, muffling a scream against it as I try not to fall apart at the seams.

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