Page 254 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
Fear tangled with the desperation that surged through her body.
Fightandflight taking hold.
She had to get out of there. Find some way to safety.
She would figure out a way to bring him to justice.
She would. She had to.
But she had to survive first.
She flew back out the front door.
Then she froze.
Nelly.
Oh, no, Nelly.
Gulping for air, she darted for the side gate, praying that she was okay. That he didn’t know where to get to her.
She threw it open.
Relief slammed her when she saw Nelly rushing up the walkway, confusion on her face. “Piper? What’s going on?”
“Nelly. Nelly, oh, God. We have to go. Hurry.”
“What? Where’s your mother?” Her grandmother started to turn course and follow the sidewalk that led to the back door, then stalled when she noticed the blood on Piper’s shirt.
“Piper?” Fear slithered out with the single word.
Piper bolted forward and grabbed her by the hand, yanking at her. “We have to go. Right now. You have to trust me.”
Trust her.
When she had the worst judgement? When Nelly had been the one who was wise? The one who had seen?
But Piper would never allow herself to be in that position again.
She would fight with everything she had to make sure Nelly was safe.
She ran with her toward the car. Nelly fumbled along behind her, confusion and fear gushing from her in waves. “What’s going on, Piper? You’re scaring me.”
Piper hurried her into the passenger’s door and shoved her inside. She didn’t take the time to answer before she slammed it shut.
Horror gripped her when she saw Justin stagger out the front door. “Gonna bleed you slow. Both of you.”
She could feel her grandmother’s eyes go wide with shock. With grief. She didn’t need to see the scene inside to know what had happened.
Piper flew around the front, gulping for oxygen as she turned the key in the ignition. She rammed down on the gas pedal the second it started.
Tires screeched as she jerked out onto the road, then she flew.
Flew toward the nothingness.
Into the vacancy.
Refusing to slow.
