Page 100 of Hide and Seek
“It’s always best to be prepared,” he says casually. “But circling back to what you said.” His tone is serious again. “You froze because that’s a normal human reaction to having a gun pointed at you.”
“You didn’t freeze.”
“Because it wasn’t pointed at me.”
“And if it was?”
“I wouldn’t freeze,” he concedes. “But I’m also not normal. I don’t react to things the same way as other people, so you can’t judge yourself based on what I do.”
“Felix is pretty normal, and he didn’t freeze,” I point out.
“He also just dealt with multiple attempts on his life,” he reminds me. “It’s desensitized him to that sort of thing.”
“I suppose.”
“Did what happen trigger memories from when you were kidnapped?”
I lift my head and stare at him. “You know about that?”
He nods.
“How?” I ask. “I wiped all the records and sealed the police file.”
“Xave found a hard copy of an article in your student file. He showed it to me and Jace, and Jace found the police record.”
“He solved my code?” I ask incredulously. “Is there anything your brother can’t do better than me?”
He huffs out a soft laugh. “Jace didn’t figure it out. I did.”
“You did?”
“Like I said, I know a lot about you. I know how your mind works, so I was able to use that to find the key.”
“Did it at least take you a while?” I ask hopefully. “Maybe a few days?”
He grins.
“A few hours?”
His grin turns into a smirk.
“You figured it out right away, didn’t you?” I ask in a flat voice.
“Maybe.”
“Of course you did.”
“Tell me what happened, Myles.”
The low timbre of his voice helps calm the momentary surge of emotions that hits as snippets of memories come rushing back to me, and I pull in a deep breath so I can tell him what happened.
“I was walking home from school, and this black van came out of nowhere and stopped in front of me when I was crossing the street. Two guys jumped out, and one of them pointed a gun at my face while the other tossed me in the back of the van.”
“The police report didn’t mention any witnesses, just the 911 call. But it happened on a busy street around rush hour?”
“Oh, there were witnesses,” I say bitterly. “But the bystander effect is real, and no one did anything to help except call it in.”
“Then what happened?” He rubs slow circles into my back that help me relax again.
