Itossed on the first things I found in my closet and then flew through my bedroom door.
Evelyn’s door was unlocked, her bed unmade. Whoever had taken her had snatched her from sleep, because she always made her bed. I touched the creased pillow-cold. And then I crouched next to the bed. The fabric smelled faintly of menthol but also of something else-cold smoke.
Evelyn didn’t smoke.
Which meant her captor did.
My phone vibrated in the back pocket of my shorts. I straightened up, staring at the unknown number flashing on my screen. Could it be the kidnapper?
Slowly, I slid my finger across the screen to answer the call. “Hello.”
“Ness? It’s Frank.”
His voice shrink-wrapped my hope.
“McNamara,” he added.
As though I could’ve forgotten… “What is it, Mr. McNamara?”
“We’d like you to meet us at your father’s old factory. The one the Watts took over.”
Blood beat against my skin, making every inch of it tingle. Just what I needed. A trip down memory lane. “Why?”
“We need to discuss a…developmentwith the pack.”
I looked toward the sash windows that gave onto the employee parking lot. When we’d arrived, I’d tried exchanging my room with Evelyn’s so she could have a better view, but she insisted that being on the ground floor was better for her. I didn’t see how it had benefited her in any way considering she so rarely went out.
The edge of Evelyn’s curtain fluttered. I lunged forward and drew it open so briskly a handful of tiny hooks ripped off the metal rod.
Heart twitching, I stepped into the parking lot.
“Ness? Are you still there?” Frank’s voice sounded tinny.
“Yeah. I’m here.” I shaded my sore eyes from the sun spiking through the fir trees lining the lot and scanned the premises.
“Liam came to speak with us.”
My stomach knotted like a climbing rope. Had Liam asked them to cancel the last trial? Had he told them I was ready to concede? What would happen to Evelyn if they voided the contest?
“We need you to come see us. The pack is waiting for you. Your uncle said he could take you.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
His firm response made my fingers curl hard around the phone. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The warm air smelled of car exhaust, rancid garbage, and evaporated dew. Dark stains dappled the asphalt. My heart gave a shudder. Forcing my stiff legs to bend, I crouched and sniffed.
Oil.
Not blood.
My phone vibrated with a message from an unknown number. Frank must’ve forgotten to tell me something.
The message said:Tick tock.
Not Frank.
A car honked so shrilly I bounced onto the balls of my feet. A black minivan with the Boulder Inn logo backed into the employee lot. Another honk. The strident sound shrilled in my skull.
“I tried to call your room,” Jeb said, leaning out the driver’s side window to peer at me. “What are you doing out here?”
“I stopped by to see Evelyn.”
I watched his face as I said this. He glanced toward the open window, but didn’t ask me how she was doing. Did he know she wasn’t there?
“Did Frank get ahold of you? The pack’s expecting us at the Watts’s warehouse.”
“I had him on the phone.”
“Are you ready to go?”
No. I wasn’t ready, but did I have a choice? I threw open the passenger door and got in.
Tick. Tock. The words echoed through me at the same time as a deafening deliberation. My aunt was a heavy smoker.
“Where’s Lucy?”
“She’s with Everest.”
“Where?” My voice was so brusque my uncle frowned.
“I don’t know, Ness.”
Could Lucy have taken Evelyn? Forcing me to compete in a death match would be a convenient way of getting rid of me. I stuck my elbow on the door handle and cradled my pounding forehead.
“I wish you’d listened to me.” My uncle’s voice broke, and a thick sob lurched out of him. “I wish you’d never entered this contest.”
I pried my head off my fingertips.
My uncle was crying.
Over me
He was crying over me.
Surprise momentarily displaced my raging edginess.