Page 62 of The Songs of Fate (War of Fate)

I shivered. I needed to lie—something I never tended to do very well. “I was attacked by a mountain lion when I wandered past the intended trail. A kind fellow hiker stopped and helped me home. I wasn’t injured badly. Got lucky.” The words sounded mechanical to me. There was no way this guy was going to believe it.

The short, bulky man nodded. “Two men went missing there. Two sailors stationed in San Diego. I have a firm suspicion the same creature that attacked you took them. The same at the pier the night before.”

“How do you know that? How do you know about the creature?” I asked.

He shook his head stoically.

I cut my eyes back to the camera.

This isn’t going well. He knows I’m lying.

“Why did you decide to go hiking in the wave gorge?” He asked lightly, but his eyes made me want to crawl under the table.

He hunched closer to me, hesitantly.

“What did you do to that creature?” he asked, his voice like shards of glass.

They definitely saw my light. It was too late to deny it. I wasn’t getting out of here. I was never going to leave if they saw what my light could do.

“What do you mean?” I said, watching his hands.

He dipped his head as he sat on the edge of the table I remained chained to. “I’d love to tell you, but I can’t. You blinded our night vision. When we could see again, the creature was gone. How did you do it?” he asked again, pressing closer to me.

“I don’t know,” I muttered, peering down at my hands, gripping the chain.

He violently pushed back from the table.

Instinctively, I drew away from the movement. I thought he was going to slap me for lying.

“Just think about what I said, and we’ll talk when I get back.” It sounded like a threat.

My forehead hit the metal table as I sighed. I swallowed thick saliva down the back of my throat.

If there is anyone listening, a light, a god, the universe, please help. Please, please, please get me out of here.

Things were so screwed up, which was funny, because it had been nice to feel almost normal for a day or two. I’d stopped hating myself for wanting a man who wasn’t Jason, if only for a moment. I’d slipped into the warmth of Logan, talking, laughing, touching someone who was real. Not a figment of my imagination. The moments with Logan, his tenderness, it was so far away from here.

My teeth began to gnaw the inside of my cheek. I missed Logan.

I’ll never get to kiss him again.

A groan from deep in my chest crawled out of my throat.

I’m so sorry, Logan.

If he had only known how horrible of a mistake it was to try to help me, he probably never would have jumped over a boulder on the side of a mountain.

This emotion felt very familiar.

Grief.

It was a different kind of brutal pain. Different from the intense cold.

Logan didn’t deserve any of what happened to him. Why hadn’t the creature just killed me?

The door opened, and the pitbull of a man set a small paper cup of water in front of me. If it was poisoned, I would take my chances. I wrapped my hands around the cup and bent forward so my head could reach my hands.

The entire cup was two sips of water. I drank it all and set the cup gently on the table. The water barely wet the back of my dry throat.

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