Page 70 of Walking in Darkness

Aria sniffled as she shucked off her sweats and dragged on a pair of jeans. “Yeah. I’ve always known she lives in Oregon, but I got her address the other night. She lives in a small suburb outside of Portland.”

“Shit.” That was almost a two-day drive straight through.

I paced the floor, roughing my hands through the mess of my hair as I toiled through my thoughts. I turned back to Aria, who was pulling a pink sweater over her head.

“Maybe he’s manipulating you, Aria. Sending you on a wild-goose chase so you’re distracted from your purpose.”

“And you know I can’t take the chance that he’s not.” She turned toward me, her hands fisted on her chest, agony whittled into every gorgeous line on her face. “This is Dani, Pax. My mentor. The one who was there for me through my entire childhood. The one who tried to prepare me for what it was going to be like when I first descended on Faydor. My friend. Mysister.”

It was horrible what was happening with our Laven family. To all Laven. But I knew there was a special bond between Aria and Dani, just like there’d always been one between me and Timothy.

There was no way Aria would turn her back on her. And I wouldn’t be the asshole who tried to stop her.

“Do you have any idea when? What his intentions were?”

Dejection roiled in her spirit. “I just saw him outside her house ... waiting for her. It was in the middle of the day. What day that was, I don’t know, and I can’t take the chance of waiting to warn her tonight.”

My head bobbed as I calculated, and I knew there was only one thing we could do.

“Hurry and get your things together. We’ve got to go.”

An hour and a half later, we were speeding along a remote narrow road that cut through snowed-over fields that lay dormant in the middle of winter. We were about fifty miles outside the city.

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, spraying pinks into the dusky gray sky, and every so often, we passed by the sporadic farmhouse tucked within the croplands.

Everything was quiet and still.

It felt like we’d gotten lost in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Aria murmured as we flew down the road. Lines weren’t even painted on the asphalt.

“Yeah.”

Seemed crazy that this threat loomed so distinct, yet here, in this moment, there was peace. Like the world hadn’t gotten the message that things were about to go to shit. We had to keep it that way.

“In a quarter of a mile, you will reach your destination.” That generic, generated voice came from the speaker of Aria’s phone, and in the distance, we could see the metal buildings rising on the left. A few evergreens poked up around them, and in the emerging morning light, a small prop plane took flight, its low whine filling the air as it slowly ascended.

“Do you think this is going to work?” Aria asked, fidgeting with the hem of her sweater.

We couldn’t take the chance of booking a flight on a commercial airline. No way we could leave evidence of us flying across the country. Not after I’d broken Aria out of that facility and the pictures on the news of her had been easily identifiable—not to mention the fact that we’d left a trail of bodies behind us.

“Don’t know. Hopefully, if you’re convincing enough.” I quirked a teasing brow at her. A slight prodding question.

She huffed. “I doubt that I’m much of an actress—but I’ve had to tell plenty of lies in my life, so I suppose I’m pretty good at it.”

I reached over the console and took her hand. “The lies you told were never malicious, Aria. They were told for your survival. Both for yourself and the ones you love.”

“I know,” she whispered.

I slowed as we approached the entrance to the regional airport, and I took the left onto the short path that led to a squatty building with a slightly pitched metal roof. It was fronted by glass and two double doors. There were only four cars parked in the lot. We took the fifth spot, and I killed the engine before I shifted to look at Aria. “Are you ready?”

She gave a clipped nod. “Let’s do this.”

She tossed open her door at the same time I did mine, and I rounded to the trunk, grabbed our two bags, then followed behind Aria, who was already jogging toward the entrance.

A slight edge of hysteria was wound into her demeanor. I doubted she had to dig too deep to find that facade, her anxiety from last night easy to exploit.

She burst through the door and went straight to the counter, since there wasn’t a single person in the lobby except for an older woman behind a desk. She was dressed in jeans and a floral button-down top, her thin gray hair cropped at her chin.