Page 3 of Petals of Blue: Part Two
Am I stressing her out, or is it the situation?
Pulling up Violet's name in my phone—we've kind of inserted ourselves in V's life as emergency contacts and for support—I presscall.
At the first ring, my muscles clench, but calming myself down at this point is futile.I have to find Blue.
Ring...
"Felix."
Ring...
Violet grabs the sleeve of my sweatshirt. "Felix!"
"Shhh!" I growl, focusing on the phone call.
Ring...
"FELIX!"Violet screeches, yanking the phone from my ear, effectively pissing me off.
"What?!" I snap, ready to shake her off, but she's pointing at a bright light on the sidewalk near the theater's brick wall. A soft twinkly sound reaches my ears, but it carries a daunting tune that makes me nauseous.
"That's—" Violet gulps, digging her fingers into my arm. "That's my phone."
I don't think I quite register her words even as I call her phone again. The device by the building lights back up, and time stands still as Roman makes himself known and grabs it.
It feels like slow motion as my friend walks toward us, the twinkling ringtone getting louder. The fact that it matches the ringon my phone almost solidifies the fact that something is seriously wrong.
Then the ringing stops, and Roman shows us the wallpaper. Blue and Violet's smiling faces stare back at us from the edge of a cliff. Their arms are spread wide above their heads in achievement.
Tremors wrack Violet's small frame beside me, but I'm too frozen to help her. Of course, with the evidence staring me right in the face and Declan and Jared shaking their heads from inside, saying they haven't found her in there I freeze.
Then it begins. The unbridled fear. It floods my veins, clenches my heart, beats on my soul, and lights my nerve endings with so much adrenaline I can't contain my base response.
I break and let the surrounding area know I'm shattering. "BLUE!!!"
Two
VIOLET
This is all my fault.
Every anguished shout from Felix stabs me in the skull. Each strand of hair Roman tugs free from his scalp feels like an attempt to yank my heart from my chest.
For once, Declan's quiet and looking shell-shocked watching Felix sprinting down the rows of cars. He looks like he might throw up, actually.
It makes me wish I could numb myself.This is all my fault.
Jared, God...Jared'scrying! I match each of his tears with two of my own. Then, as if something strikes him, Jared rushes for the spot where my phone lay cracked against the cement.
Crashing to his knees, Jared pulls his cellphone out and turns the flashlight on. He scans the area slowly, then he falters. I seem to be the only one who has noticed, so I inch toward him.
Fear makes me hesitant to uncover whatJared has found. It's so selfish of me to want to avoid the truth that something happened. The ache in my heart and the guilt bruising my brain feel like all I can handle.
Can I survive what Jared has found?
My answer comes quickly and unrelentingly right up my freaking throat. Bile burns my esophagus, and my neck kinks as I jerk away from the bloody scene in front of Jared.
Vomit forces my lips apart and spatters the area around my feet. There's cursing and a gentle hand keeping my hair from touching the drool dangling from my mouth.
