Page 65 of Nitro

“What happened to her?”

“He killed her two months later.”

“Oh, no.”

“You can’t save everyone. Only those who want it. Come on, let’s go home.” He wraps an arm around my waist and leads me toward his bike. We wave at our jump partners who are already working with a new group of tandem skydivers.

During the ride home, I go back to what he said about feeling so trapped he couldn’t see a way out of Blackstone’s place. I’m curious about what changed. How did they finallyescape? I wait until we’re snuggling in bed before I ask him this burning question. He sighs and holds me closer.

“I told you we all have special gifts, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Scar has the ability to see people’s plans.”

“He’s psychic?”

“Not exactly. Like the rest of us, he can’t control his visions. None of us have ever mastered our powers. They come and go without any rhyme or reason.”

“That sucks.”

“Yep. But we got lucky. One day, Scar had a vision that Blackstone was preparing to attend a charity gala in San Francisco. He would be gone for several days.”

“He left you alone?”

“God, no. There were guards all over the property. But he took most of them with him when he left. Only a few stayed behind. Since we were locked up in the basement, they didn’t think we could escape.”

“The basement? I assumed you had your own rooms.”

“Hell no.” His bitter laugh chills my spine. “There’s a dungeon under the mansion. It’s not on any of the building permits. Matrix checked. Blackstone kept us down there when he wasn’t using us.”

Tears fill my eyes. He’s never told me exactly what Blackstone did to him, but I don’t think I want to know. I can’t have those images in my head. It wouldn’t change my opinion of Nitro in any way, but I couldn’t bear it if I knew the details. I wouldn’t be able to purge them from my mind.

“How did you get out of the dungeon?” I ask softly.

“We’d been watching the guards’ rotations for months. Talon can talk to animals, so birds flew the perimeter and reported back to him.”

“Wait, what? He speaks to animals? And they answer back?”

“Yep. It’s great until he asks a predatory bird to take a shit on your head.” He rubs his hand over his hair.

“Did you deserve it?”

“Maybe.” A ghost of a smile appears then vanishes just as quickly.

“That’s cool. Not the part where they poop on your head. But being able to get an animal’s help had to be instrumental in your escape.”

“It was. We couldn’t have figured out a way off the ranch without Talon’s birds.”

“What happened on the day you escaped?”

“Everything went according to plan. It was almost too easy. But right before we made it into the forest, the guards realized something was up and started shooting. We got lucky. No one was hit. Once we were inside the tree line, we ran like we were being chased by demons.”

“In a way, you were.”

“True.”

“Did you leave during the day or wait until nighttime?”