Page 90 of Rebellious Reign

I stand in the doorway, surveying the scene. Markoff is frantically working on Ruby. Wryn is hovering at her side, her hand clenching Ruby’s to her chest. She’s screaming this odd wailing sound, devastation written across her face. The monitor has flatlined, the stark beep that never cuts off ringing out over the keening noise and general pandemonium in the room.

Markoff checks the bandage and then starts to yell at Wryn. He’s telling her to let go. He has to shock Ruby, but she’s not moving. She’s paralyzed, stuck to Ruby, unwilling to release her hand.

I see my mother lying there, a younger Markoff working on her. I’m paralyzed too, transported back to another time. I’m a boy, watching my mother’s body convulse with manipulations not caused by her own brain impulses. She wasn’t alive, and everyone knew it.

Just like now. Ruby is gone, and I know it. But Wryn won’t let go. She won’t give her another chance. I jump to action, rounding the table, wrapping Wryn in my arms and pulling her. She screams again, letting go of her hold she had on Ruby to beat against me.

“Put me down. Let me go,” she yells between punches and slaps.

Meanwhile, the monitor still sings its song, one long, shrill beep. I turn her, caging her between my body and the wall, pressing against her until she stops wiggling. She deflates, sagging beneath me. Her shoulders shake with sobs.

The wail of the monitor continues. I can hear Markoff behind me, moving, working. But it doesn’t stop. Not until he reaches up to turn it off, bathing the room in stark silence that so contradicts life.

Wryn’s entire body heaves against mine with her quiet sobs. I watch Markoff pull the cover over Ruby’s face, a red stain where her bandage bled through.

I see the same scene through an open door as someone exits my mother’s room. Her sheet being placed over her, hiding her from view.

I shut my eyes, my head dipping until my forehead lands on Wryn’s, her scent leaking into my every breath. We don’t move for what seems like forever. And then she slowly sinks, her body sliding down the wall, landing in a heap at my feet. I catch myself before falling forward, bending to scoop her up and striding from the room. I can’t be in there anymore.

I walk until we are outside. Wryn’s head is tucked against my chest. She’s unnaturally still and quiet. Like a doll. Without thoughts or emotions. She’s not mentally there. My feet hit the grass, and my knees buckle. I land on them with force, pulling a grunt from my chest. Wryn doesn’t make a sound.

We sit like that, her cradled against me as I kneel on the ground. There’s nothing to say. No words that will change the outcome. Ruby isn’t coming back, and we can’t amend that.

I don’t know how much time passes, but the sun is dipping below the horizon before Wryn speaks. At some point, she moved from my arms and spread herself on the grass, staring up at the sky.

“I want to take her home,” she says.

I look at her. All the anger I felt toward her has melted away in this moment. Grief does that. Death does that. Changes perspective and lets you see that there’s always a worse outcome. I might not be over what she did, but I don’t want to kill her for it anymore.

The entire reason she did it is lying in the house behind us, unable to breathe anymore. It doesn’t really matter now.

“Okay,” I say. I can do this at least. I do have control over some things.

“I can’t live without her,” Wryn whispers, a tear leaking from the corner of her eye.

“You have.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I know.”

I get up, unable to sit there any longer, and let thoughts of everything that just happened wander freely in my mind. I cut them off, giving myself a purpose. “I’ll get the plane ready.”

29

WRYN

Life doesn’t seem real anymore. It’s a fever dream, unrelenting in the twists and turns it throws at me. It’s unpredictable, and I fucking hate it.

The steady hum of the plane engine drowns everything out for me as I sit, cocooned in a plush chair, trying not to think about my best friend lying in the bed in the back. I know she’s not there anymore, but I couldn’t leave her body behind. I had her back for a few short minutes, and I’m going to do everything I can to lay her to rest somewhere she would have loved.

Lilliana and Connor are talking quietly, and Geo is lost in his own thoughts. He finally met us at the plane once he knew that Miss Lulah was stable. My heart aches that I couldn’t see her before we left, but we had to get out of Chicago.

None of them bother talking to me. I know I’m the reason they are here in the first place. Connor must hate my guts. Geo must as well. I can’t fuck things up for them anymore. Our agreement is over. Connor got access to his father’s files and money, and I got answers about Ruby. There’s no need for us to continue this charade.

I fight not to let my mind drift to any of the good times. They were sprinkled throughout the stressful and scary times, but we had them. And now, I don’t want to lose my nerve, so I’m going to remember the look in Connor’s eyes when he found out about my betrayal. I’m going to remember his cutting looks. I’m plotting it all out. I need to figure out how to get Ruby’s body without anyone knowing, but then I immediately laugh when I realize she won’t be at Connor’s house. I’m sure she will be taken to a morgue.

I glance up, seeing Connor’s eyes on me, a frown on his face. He is no doubt confused about why I was laughing. I school my features, returning my gaze out the window. Now that I’ve figured out that problem, it’s a matter of me packing my things, getting the keys to my car, and getting the hell out of this godforsaken place.

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