Page 83 of Jessica's Hero

Does he know I’m missing?

Is he on his way?

Or will he only realize I’m gone when he comes to pick me up?

Poor Kane. He’ll blame himself. Even though it’s not his fault in the least.

With every footstep, the ache in my head intensifies.The throb in my swollen cheek makes my teeth hurt and my eyes water. The rope keeps rubbing at my wrists, like a fire licking at my skin.

“I didn’t want to gag you,” Adam says in a conversational tone. “Not with the risk of you vomiting and choking on it. But I couldn’t take the chance of you waking up and yelling. Not when I had to travel on some busy roads to get here.”

As he tromps through the woods, he keeps up his one-sided conversation. “I’ve been waiting for this chance, you know. Ever since you hooked up with that cop. Before that, I didn’t think it was necessary. Not sad little Jessica who keeps to herself. But then you changed. And so did my plans.”

What plans?

This doesn’t make sense.

Adam wasn’t living in Sleepy Hollow back when I was in high school. He didn’t know Liam.

Did he? Or is he some distant relative who’s been biding his time, waiting for revenge?

I have to know. Have to try to reason with him. Convince him this is a mistake. That I don’t deserve whatever hethinkshe has in store for me.

I shove my tongue against the wadded up fabric and push it as hard as I can. And in a stroke of luck, it pops out and lands on the ground. “Why?” I croak. “Why are you doing this?”

A beat later, I realize I’m doing this all wrong.

Drawing in a deep breath, I scream, “Help! Help! I need help!”

But the only response is his laughter.

“Oh, Jessica,” he says. “It doesn’t matter now. There’s no one around who can hear you.”

“Help—”

But my voice cuts off as he throws me to the ground, driving all the air from my lungs.

Leaning down, he gets right in my face. His lips peel back in a malicious sneer. “Just because no one else can hear you doesn’t mean it’s not annoying to me,” he snaps. “I don’t like you screaming in my ear. So stop it. Or I’ll knock you out again.”

As I’m still gasping, he lifts me again, more roughly this time. Then he sets off again, down what I’m realizing is an old and overgrown path.

“Anyway,” he adds, “you’d be better off saving your energy for later. You’ll need it.”

“Why?” I whisper. “I don’t understand. What did I do?—”

“Shhh. I’m trying to find the marker.”

Adam stops to scan our surroundings for a moment before moving again. “I haven’t been up here in almost a year,” he says. “So some of the rocks I left are covered up. Makes it harder to find where we’re going.”

Less than a minute later, the trees start to thin. I keep turning my head, trying to see things from a sideways angle at least, rather than upside down. So that’s how I see it—a small building in the woods, set on its side, no more than the size of a small shed.

Of course, it’s not really sideways, but right side up. It’s only me seeing it the wrong way.

“Ah, here we are,” Adam announces. “Perfect.”

He approaches the building and produces a small key from his pocket to unlock the shiny metal padlock on thedoor. It’s clearly new, unlike the rest of the building, which is made of water-stained concrete. Once the door opens, he lets out a harsh laugh before stepping through it. “Perfect,” he repeats. “Just perfect. No one will find you in here. Not for decades, at least. Maybe never.”

Panic blossoms inside me, a raging inferno taking over my body.