Page 95 of Lock

The only question was who.

13

KELLAN

It was almostmidday and I was still in Lock’s room.

Ember had poked her head in earlier, but I’d pretended to just be waking up. It was almost noon. I was showered and dressed, but instead of leaving the room and finding her like she said, I paced to the door and back again.

I wasn’t really in the mood to deal with everything beyond Lock’s room today. It all felt like too much.

I took two steps out, glanced down the hall, then went back into the room.

Something hit the floor behind me.

I turned and saw a remote by the leg of the sofa, half under the coffee table. A couple of books lay nearby.

I crouched and picked them up. How had I missed that? They hadn’t been there yesterday. They must’ve been stacked on the sofa, balanced just enough to stay put until they didn’t.

I picked one up and read the title out loud. Then I glanced at the rest in uneven piles. Most of the spines were cracked. Romance. Mystery. A couple of thrillers. Nothing matched. Nothing curated.

They clearly belonged to people.

It was like someone had gone around grabbing whatever they could find.

I straightened and looked back at the TV.

I guess I could put something on. Maybe the noise would help. Maybe it would keep my thoughts from circling the same place they’d been stuck all morning.

I grabbed the remote and hit a button.

Netflix loaded.

Then immediately threw up a message.

No internet connection.

Of course.

I backed out, irritated, and that’s when I noticed the folder sitting on the screen.

PLAY ME.

My brow lifted.

I clicked it.

A list filled the screen. Movies. Old ones. New ones. Random, but still somehow intentional. Like someone had tried without really knowing what I liked. Someone had gone through the trouble of loading them manually. Probably because they didn’t want me online.

My chest tightened.

I stared at the screen longer than I needed to.

Lock, maybe.

The thought landed somewhere I’d been doing my best not to look at too closely.

Because it was thoughtful.