Page 70 of Edge of Control

Something wasn’t quite adding up, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I glanced at the feathers on the floor again.

“So you know who’s at the top of the blackmail ring? And do you know who Nevermore is?”

Theo was about to speak but swallowed his words. He bit at his tight fist, eyes snapping shut. What the fuck was going on? I rubbed his back, feeling like I suddenly needed those three shots of tequila he had taken earlier.

“I… I don’t know,” Theo said. “I just think I’m getting close.”

“How?”

“I think you should go.”

“What?” I was becoming extremely confused and extremely worried. Something about this felt off. Theo wasn’t telling me everything. But what didhe have to hide? It sounded like we were after the same thing, so what was he being so fucking cagey about?

And why did that scare me? Nothing about Theo scared me, but this situation, it made a shiver crawl up my spine.

I couldn’t imagine sitting on a subway train to get home, crammed with people, flying through the underground tunnels curling and slithering through the city. I took an Uber. It’d get me home faster. I lowered the window and looked out at the blur of lights and people, my mind racing faster than the car.

Theo was involved. How long had he been involved? Why wouldn’t he tell me from the start?

Why did this all feel so wrong? Why was there a sinking feeling in my gut that wouldn’t go away?

My thoughts were consumed by Nevermore, by the blackmail ring, by Theo. His own sister had been involved.

The feather.

Nevermore.

Marielle… the poems. He didn’t mention her name being in the poems. Why?

“Sorry, can you pull over?”

The driver inched toward the sidewalk. I leapt out of the car and ran to the trash can, where I threw up everything in my stomach. She leaned out of her window.

“Dude, are you okay?”

“I’m good,” I said, face still in the trash can. “I can walk from here.”

“You sure?”

“Mhmm.”

I stood up, wiped my mouth with my forearm. Had I been tricked this entire time? Was it all right there, right in front of me?

Something else was tickling the back of my brain. I had to get home. I started to run. It felt good, my feet slamming against the concrete, the wind pushing against me. All this energy inside me had to come out somehow. Someone shouted at me as I almost pushed them to the floor. I ran across the streets, earning honks and more shouts.

Holy fucking shit.

I reached my apartment building. I ran into the elevator bay and frantically pressed the button, as if that would make the ancient elevator move any faster.

The scratched and dented steel doors dinged open. I ran inside and hit my floor, willing the door to close.Hurry. Please.I had to get inside.

I ran down my hallway and into my apartment. I went to my computer and turned it on.

My stomach gave another twist. I gagged. I swallowed. This couldn’t be happening. Could I have been that fucking stupid? Had I really made such a colossal mistake?

I opened up my files holding all the evidence I’d collected on the Nevermore case.

Went to the poems. Opened the first one. There was Marielle’s name. Opened the second one. Then the third.

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