Matt’s POVShe looked up at me. Her jaw dropped open at the frustration in his voice.“Until then, let’s hope we don’t continue like this,” I sighed, “I swear, the next thing we know, we’ll be walking in on Mordecai.”She grimaced, “I don’t think I would enjoy that.”I lifted an eyebrow and her face reddened. She looked away, “Well, I meant…”“You said what you meant,” I smirked. “I’ll be sure to… arrange more voyeuristic opportunities for us in the future.”She went to the door, “I’m going to change clothes.”“Let me know if you need help.”She looked back at me, “Help?”“Your shoulder. Isn’t it still tense?”Her eyes widened. She had likely forgotten about it. She nodded.“I’ll… try to find something easy to put on.”It wasn’t warm out, but there might be a button-up sweater somewhere in her closet. As soon as I changed, I went to find her.I knocked on the door and she opened it, grimacing up at me."Too much?"She nodded and stepped aside and I realized she hadn't even been able t
Glenda's POVI tried to fight, but the man who snatched me was fast and much stronger than me. I don’t know how far away he took me, but I couldn’t get a sound out around the hand he’d pressed against my mouth. Finally, he set me down."Glenda, what are you doing here?"I recognized the voice and looked at him. It was Frank, my mother's brother. He looked no different than he had years ago. My eyes burned with relief and hope. He was alive? Were there other members of my family alive too then?Alyssa growled and seemed wary. Something’s wrong."Uncle Frank!" I hugged him, crying into his shoulder, "I thought you were dead… How did you get here?""That's not important. What are you doing here?"His words struck me as off. Why wouldn’t that be important? Didn’t he know what had happened to Fluorite?Alyssa growled, We should go back to Matt."I–""Glenda!" Matt called from nearby. “Glenda, where are you?”I pulled Frank’s arm toward Matt’s voice, "Come on. I–"Something cold pressed aga
I reached the end of the corridor where a heavy locked door stood.“I need keys!” I cried back down the hallway.The guards came up behind me as Matt pulled me back. One of them shot the lock on the door and the door swung open. The damp scent of the basement gushed out along with Angelia’s scent and I ran in.My stomach roiled, memories I didn’t want to think about surfaced, but I ignored them.I smelled old water and molded bread. The stench of unwashed bodies, but I couldn’t focus on that.Angelia was here.I’d found her.Across the room, she lay on a dirty mattress on the ground, unmoving and unspeaking. I ran towards her as Alyssa tried to reach out to her and lifted her into my arms. She didn’t move. Her eyes stared out into nothing as if she would never speak again. She’d grown frail and thin since the last time I saw her. Her cheeks were drawn into her face and her eyes were a bit sunken. Her hair seemed dull and lifeless, but there was no mistaking her.“Angelia, say somethin
Matt’s POVI followed the guard out of the house to where another group was leaning together looking over a laptop. The screen showed drone footage of a large group of vehicles driving across the snowy tundra. They were heavily armed and unmarked for the most part, but the“What is it?”“There’s a force heading up from the south. They’ll be in Skyfall in a matter of minutes,” the leader of the group said. “We think they’re rogues, but they’re a bit too organized for that.”“It’s Ben,” Mordecai said.I looked at him, narrowing my eyes as he stared out into the distance as if he could see the coming forces.“You know, every man has a tipping point,” Mordecai said. “I think we’ve found his.”“What do you mean by that?”“Ben’s a sore loser,” Mordecai said. “We took Skyfall and Frost Melt from him and he’s pissed. He either planned to raid the place so there was nothing left or kill us here.”He smirked as something exploded in the distance and the guards started shouting orders through th
He shrieked in agony and rolled off me. The sticky heat of his blood coated my hand. The metallic stench of it filled the air and I turned, screaming, driving my knife into whatever part of him I could reach. He choked and cried out. The scent of the dungeon filled my nose. Blood and more blood came spurting out and I remembered the sight of my blood pooled beneath me, spreading across the ground.Two, three, four, five…He choked and thrashed. His body wiggled and jiggled, but I kept going, counting each thrust of my dagger as I heard his voice in my memories offering me candy, taunting me, ordering me to serve him. I heard Armina screaming in pain and fear. I heard Angelia whimpering. I heard the last breath rattling out of a young girl whose face I could no longer remembe
Ben’s POVSonia whimpered, clutching at my leg and rubbing her face against my leg, trying to restrain and convince me to spare the ungrateful little whelp on the ground. I should have listened to Mordecai years ago about Matt. While he was headstrong, had I kept a hold on him he would have never crossed me like this.At the least, he wouldn’t have been caught and cost me so much. Wade’s ambition overrode his sense.“Have you anything to say for yourself, you little shit? Huh?”He choked and curled up. His injuries from
Matt’s POVI collapsed into my seat and listened to Mordecai pour us drinks as the captain got ready to take off. If I didn’t have to stand in front of a news reporter again in life it would be too soon, but I was glad for it.Mordecai sputtered and laughed, “What a fucking dumbass!”I looked at him, “What’s going on?”He offered his phone, “Ben’s a dumber son of a bitch than I thought! Oh, moon. I didn’t think it was possible.”I sat up and took the