Page 108 of Valkyrie Unknown

As I pushed past my reaction and made myself think, I registered that she was wearing a baggy T-shirt and sweats. Her hair was a tangled mess around her face. She looked nothing like the put-together woman we met yesterday.

Did she just get out of bed?

Then again, how bad did I look?

“Why are you out here?” I made sure the question was kind rather than accusing.

She shook her head and shivered as she rubbed her arms. “You’re not the only one dealing with sleep problems.”

“I’m not—” I sighed, not able to push out the lie. “Do you want to talk about it?” She sounded like she had a better idea than I did of what she was going through. Not that it would be the same as my issue, but I’d rather be distracted by someone else’s problems.

Callie gave me a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Desperately.Her voice was the faintest whisper in my mind.

“No, but thank you,” she said. “But I promise not to tell, if you do the same.”

After being pissed about Finn’s secret’s last night? After mentally grumbling about how much Azzie was in denial? Keeping a secret like this would make me a hypocrite.

Or it would keep me from being locked up. The last thing I needed was Finn or Azzie looking at me with concern and pity or that haunted tortured look they shared if I mentioned I was seeing images of the fut— things I didn’t understand. “Deal.”

“I should get back to my hotel before someone sees me.” Callie turned away.

“Wait.” I pushed to my feet, and when I looked at the spot where she’d stood seconds earlier, she was gone.

What was going on? With me. With her. With Finn. With the world.

I returned to my own hotel, grabbed a bottle of overpriced ibuprofen from the gift shop, and made my way back to our room. Inside, I found tangled sheets and no sign of Azzie. There was a note on the bedside table.Morning stuff. Back in a bit.

She must have left before I did, because I couldn’t imagine her waking up and not being concerned I was gone. It was fortunate that sleepwalking me had the foresight to grab my room key before I left.

My head throbbed in response. I dumped a few pills into my hand, filled a glass from the counter near the bathroom sink, and swallowed the drugs.

Great. Now my ears were ringing.

No. Wait. That was my phone.

I headed into the bedroom and grabbed it from the nightstand.Diego.

Tell him.

“Hey,” I answered in the most neutral voice I could muster.

“Hey, yourself. How’s it going?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Totally good.” I needed to stop that. I was going to give myself away.

“Uh-huh.” Diego sounded anything but convinced. “Is this you not keeping the heavy shit to yourself?”

After I met Finn, after I’d climbed out of the dark hole I buried myself in, I spent a weekend with Diego and Astrid in New York. They made me promise not to let things get that bad again.

While I hated the idea of hiding things from my friends, drawing vaguely disturbing images in the woods wasn’t the same as a slow death by alcohol poisoning. “I promise, I’m not hiding deep, depressing secrets.”

“You’d better not be.”

I hoped I wasn’t. “What’s up?”

“I called to wish youhappy birthday,” Diego said.

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