Page 28 of The Queen of Nightmares

I swallowed back the nausea churning, threatening to come up. “I’m fine, Jack!” I called out, unable to control the shakiness. “Kara and I are just around the corner.”

I could hear him curse and Doc reassuring him that the place was secure. I wished that was true, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the barrel of the gun. I stumbled over a root, making Kara jerk me upright. She turned a corner and sped up her steps, dragging me along as I bit my lip to hold back a whimper.

“Please don’t do this,” I begged.

She didn’t answer my plea, just firmed her jaw as she dragged me around another corner.

“Why?” It was all I could think. Why had she pretended to be my friend? Why had she taken so much time to get to know me? Was everything a lie? “Where are you taking me?” I guess there was another question I needed answers to.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she muttered, ignoring my second question completely.

“I thought you were my friend.”

My whispered words made her scoff.

“Iwasyour friend, Sally. I tried to convince you to leave Bones. But you just can’t see how he controls you. He bruises you, for god’s sake.”

I shook my head. “I told you, he doesn’t. I know it may look like it, but he loves me. He would never hurt me. Is that what this is all about? If we stop, we can discuss this. I can prove that Jack isn’t hurting me.” If she was doing this to protect me, I could forgive her, even though the method was a little extreme.

“No,” she snapped, “That’s not what this is about. I was trying to protect you. If you would have just left him, there wouldn’t be a reason to use you as leverage against him. But you just wouldn’t listen. Now, I have no choice.”

I blinked back tears as her words settled on me. She pulled me further and further away, traversing the maze as if she had it memorized. I didn’t know where she was leading me, but I knew it was somewhere I really didn’t want to go.

“Please tell me why you are betraying me this way,” I pleaded. My eyes were bouncing from the gun still pointed at my side to the trail in front of us, hoping that she wouldn’t trip and accidentally shoot me in the stomach. I knew my baby would never survive that.

“Things aren’t always about you,” she snapped, turning to glare at me. She huffed out a breath. “I have no choice. My brother is the Boogeyman VP. He called me home from college two years ago. Once I do this last thing for them, I can go back to my own life. I never wanted to be here. I grew up in Texas with my mom, while my brother lived in the next town over with his dad. I hate this place. But as soon as I hand you over, I’m out of this frozen hell hole.”

“And my life will be over,” I muttered, the sense of betrayal making my heart ache.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” she scoffed.

“Dramatic? You think that me being offered to the Boogeyman MC on a silver platter to be violated is being dramatic?” My voice rose with my words as I stared at her, incredulous.

“Lower your voice.” She hissed as she thumbed off the safety. I held out my free hand, begging her again.

“Please. Put the safety back on. I will do what you say, but please, put it back on.” More visions of her tripping and me ending up dead danced in my frantic mind.

We turned another corner to see a Christmas display in an alcove decorated with tinsel and toys around the base. But someone had painted them to look like a bloody massacre had happened in the scene. I shuddered as we passed it.

“You know, Sally, I don’t think I will. I don’t trust you not to grow a backbone and try to fight me for it.”

My heart dropped. She wasn’t wrong. I had been contemplating that very thing. I knew if she managed to get me to our destination, it would be all over for me. Would it be better to fight her now and risk being shot? I wasn’t sure Jack would be able to save me this time. I chanced a glance over my shoulder, but there was no sign of him. As I tried to listen, the only footsteps I could hear were Kara’s and mine, along with our heavy breathing.

Our steps crunched over the frozen roots that were lying across the path periodically. For the most part, the path was clear. It was obvious it had been worn down with so many people having gone through the maze before us. There were also patches of ice and snow. Seeing the snow there in little drifts along the bases of the stalks reminded me of how cold it was outside. I was trembling from fear but also from the frostiness in the air.

After walking quite a distance, passing different twisted Christmas displays, I heard Jack faintly as he called out to me. I opened my mouth to respond, but Kara jabbed me in the side with the gun. “Don’t even think about opening your mouth.” I held my breath in terror.

“Please,” I whispered, almost too quiet to hear. “Please be careful with that gun.”

“Then shut up and do as I say,” she snapped.

A tear slid down my cheek, and I wiped it away furiously with my gloved hand. “You were like a sister to me,” I muttered as my heart ached. “You were the first real friend I had.”

She let out a heavy sigh, and for the first time, she sounded truly sorry. “I never wanted to do this. You’re a nice person. When I started talking to you, you were just another girl who worked at the bar. I liked you, Sally. But then Bones moved you into his house.” She shook her head. “That’s when everything changed.”

I sniffled at her words. “And there’s no way you will just let me go?" She scoffed. "What about Daisy?" A thought crossed my mind. "Were you in on it together?"

"I never knew her. As I said, I grew up in Texas. It doesn't surprise me, though. Oogie likes to cover as many bases as he can. He was pretty fucking pissed, though, when he found out your man killed his sister. Not that he cared about her or anything. He just hates to lose."

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