Page 30 of Forged in Flames (Made of Steel 2)

Not a single person looked up from the street below. Not a single person heard me. Not a single person cared. I let my knees collapse, put my face in my hands, and cried uncontrollable, ugly tears. It could have been for hours for all I knew. I couldn't seem to stop.

A whooshing noise made my eyelids fly open.

An arrow was sticking out of the concrete in front of me, pierced directly in the middle of a handwritten note.

Have Eli meet you in front of the diner at 8. I'll take care of him. And then I'll give you what you want.

-V

I glanced over my shoulder. There was no one there. And I had this overwhelming feeling that the vigilante didn't exist. That I had made the whole thing up in my head.

It didn't matter either way. I was done playing other people's games. I grabbed the arrow and tried to pull it out of the concrete, but it wouldn't budge. Instead, I gripped the edge of the note, tore it from the arrow, and crumpled it up in my fist. It was about time I was the one calling the shots.

Chapter 14

Sunday

It wasn't 8 o'clock, it was only 7. And I wasn't standing outside the Corner Diner, I was standing on the steps of one of the entrances to Central Park. Eli was supposed to be meeting me any minute. The electricity I felt earlier was back, running through my body in strides. I wanted to jump up and down. Maybe I should have used some of my pent up energy to go for a run. But it almost seemed like that's what the vigilante wanted. He liked pushing my buttons. He liked making me feel on edge. It was as if anger was the main fuel for being a superhero. I didn't buy it.

I needed to figure out what was happening by myself. I didn't need superpowers for that. And it felt good to defy the vigilante. I looked across the street, trying to see if Eli was coming. Knowing exactly when he'd arrive would give me the upper hand, at least in my chaotic mind. What I didn't expect to see was Sadie Davis. The real one. The one that looked just like me. Standing across the street staring at me.

The similarities really were uncanny. It was like my new appearance was made to mimic hers. My hair was dyed the exact same color and cut to the same length. Our eyes matched. We were the same height. She even had my nose. I couldn't seem to move. It was like I was staring in a mirror, aged slightly with time. How was that possible? It wasn't like I had a relative I just didn't know about. There was a reason I had entered foster care. Yet, she had my face. Or maybe I had hers?

It was as if she knew what I was thinking, and was enjoying my confusion. A thin smile curled over her lips as she lifted her hand in the air. For a second I thought she was waving at me. But her fingers were spread apart, almost as if she was telling me to stop.

I hadn't moved at all. I hadn't done anything. We both stood completely still, staring at each other until my eyes burned. I blinked. And in that fraction of a second, she disappeared. I took a step forward, but I had no idea which way she had gone. The sidewalk was almost completely empty. It wasn't like she could be hiding in a crowd of people. I'm imagining things. I put my hand on my forehead. I'm losing my mind.

"Hey," Eli said from behind me.

I knew I jumped. Especially because when I turned toward him he had concern written all over his face. Fake concern. Everything about him was fake. It was just like Liza had said, his facade was too perfect. And I was about to find all the holes.

"You okay?" he asked.

I had a whole speech planned. I was going to tell him that I knew he was working with Don. My words were going to be angry, yet composed. I had a million things to throw at him. But as soon as he asked me if I was okay, all I could see was red. Of course I wasn't okay! How dare he lie to me? How dare he pull me out of my dorm and put me in danger? How dare he even show up here tonight, knowing all the shit he put me through? I walked up to him, getting angrier with each step closer to his stupid smile. And when I was just a few feet in front of him, I pulled my arm back. The smile faded from his face one second before my fist made contact with his jaw.

Fuck that hurts! I grabbed my hand, cradling it against my stomach.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He put his palm flush against his jaw.

"What's wrong with me?!" I cocked my arm back again.

He caught my fist in his hand and yanked my arm to the side. Before I even knew what was happening, he had spun me around so that my back was against the front of his torso and my arm was twisted behind me.

"Do you want to fill me in on what's happened in the few hours since I've last seen you?" he whispered into my ear.

I considered screaming. But there was no one around. Even if there was, no one ever cared about my pain. It would still make a good threat, though. "Let go of me, Eli, before I scream at the top of my lungs."

His put his free hand on the side of my neck.

I closed my eyes tight. Fire. There wasn't any air left in my lungs in order to scream.

"If I let you go, can we have a civilized conversation?"

I kept my eyes clamped shut.

"Summer?"

"Go to hell." My voice wasn't as forceful as I wanted it to be. The words barely came out at a whisper.

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