Page 26 of The Secrets We Bury

“What?” I demand. Several feet away, both Lex and Gio are standing, watching us.

“You’re with us,” Nolan reminds me. “No one is going to come after you.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Stepping back, I pull my arm from his hold. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re acting like you’re waiting for ghosts to jump out and snatch you at any moment.” Brown eyes rimmed with a circle of red bore into me.

I scowl, a defensive emotion coming to the forefront. “I’m fine,” I snap.

Nolan arches a brow. “You’re fine?” he repeats my words, but somehow, coming from him, they sound like a challenge. I glare at him. He shakes his head. “It’s okay to be nervous,” he says. “You were grabbed from this parking lot. It’s only natural?—”

“You’re not a fucking therapist, Nolan.” I bite out the words. “I said I’m fine, so that means I’m fine.” I push past him and stomp towards the others, calling over my shoulder, “Drop it.”

The guys remain silent from then on as we close the distance to the cars, but I can sense their attention lingering on me. Their concern. Their watchfulness. It prickles at my nape almost like a primal warning. No one says another word as the doors are unlocked and I climb into the back of Lex’s SUV while Nolan takes the front.

Gio slides in next to me, his Firebird having been left at home that morning since he spent his weekend at Lex’s carriage house. Despite knowing that I’m acting like a bitch, I ignore them as the vehicle rumbles to life and we finally, blessedly, pull out ofSilverwood Public’s parking lot. The second the wheels leave the school grounds, I release a slow breath and relax into the seat.

Minutes later, I sit up straight and frown at the streets that pass by. Instead of heading towards the edge of town where Lex’s aunt lives, we’re heading towards the north side.

“Where are we going?”

Lex’s eyes meet mine in the rearview, but Nolan is the one that answers. “We’re meeting Vikson.”

“Now?” I gape at him.

Nolan turns in his seat. “Morpheus Calloway didn’t get what he wanted and now he’s trying a different tactic.” Goosebumps rise along the skin of my forearms, but I don’t respond. “We need to know what our options are and Vikson has been staying in Silverwood for just this reason.”

“He’s expecting us,” Lex tells me, and at least he doesn’t sound happy about the fact that he’s driving us to a man that we’re not exactly sure if we can trust—family relation or not.

I sit back against the seat again, all of the air in my lungs rushing out. The sight of Morpheus standing in the front office of Silverwood Public creeps back into my mind. Dressed like a man preparing to walk the New York runway, he’d been every inch the community saint in looks.

It’s cruel. The prettiest stars often hide the ugliest souls. If only it was easy to rip the mask from a monster’s face. Then everyone would know—Morpheus Calloway is no savior. He’s a wolf disguised as a lamb. To him, we’re all prey.

Me most of all.

10

JULIET

Ihaven’t been back to the north side of Silverwood since I moved into my apartment. A large part of me hadn’t wanted to return. There are too many memories and few of them remain untainted by the way my time ended here.

The night I left, I never intended to return. I had to burn the bridge because if I didn’t, then I feared I would go back to a place that no longer had space for me, to a place that would only hurt me in the end.

Still, I press my forehead against the cool window and watch the shops and roads pass us by, recognizing that I once knew these buildings. The boutiques I used to shop at with my friends. The gated neighborhoods that I trick-or-treated in as a child. The cafes I stopped at on the way to school.

It’s like watching old reruns on a grainy television. The images are familiar, but blurred. I remember them, but no matter how I connect with the fact I used to live here, I don’t feel anything for them. Not sadness. Not even nostalgia. It just exists and I once existed side by side with them.

Lex turns off the highway and slows at a stop sign directly across from the recognizable bleach white columned structure of Silverwood Preparatory Academy. My gaze trails over theornate sign anchored to the half-moon pale brick outside of the entrance.

Everything is the same and yet, it’s like looking into a mirror where everything is also slightly off. Gone are the cracked empty shop windows on the southside and in their places are well-lit strip malls with cutely painted signs hanging in the windows. Despite the fact that we’re far closer to winter now than we are to summer, there are strips of well-manicured lawns in front of law offices and million-dollar homes.

I belonged here once. Now, I belong nowhere.

Lifting my legs up onto the edge of the seat, I wrap my arms around my knees and watch the world go by outside. The guys are quiet and though I want to ask how Lex even knows where to meet this Vikson guy, I realize that they had to meet with him over the weekend. Of course they know where he’s staying.