Why did he look so angry?
“He looked mad,” I tell Quinn. “Darin was upset I was awake. He asked me what I was doing out of bed. He said I needed to get back to sleep. He looked at his watch. Then he looked at my dad, who shrugged.”
“He shrugged?” Quinn makes a shrugging motion. “Like this? Why would he do that?” I only shake my head. I don’t know. I don’t know why he would have done that, why he would have looked so confused at the fact that I was awake. “What happened next?”
“And then I nodded, and said they were right, and I turned to go back to my room. It was late, and I didn’t need to be up so long past my bedtime.”
“You have a bedtime?”
“All females on Mirroean do,” I tell him, and Quinn rolls his eyes.
“Primitive,” he mutters.
“It’s for our own safety,” I parrot, but now I wonder if that’s true.
“What happened next, Fi?” He asks, using the nickname my childhood friends used. Fi. I haven’t been called that in years. The word brings back memories of running and laughing and playing. The word brings back memories of having fun with my mates, having fun just exploring the planet and being away from the watchful eyes of the adults.
“I went to go back to my room,” I say slowly. “I walked into the hallway and turned back to my room, but then I heard a noise. Someone was boarding the ship.”
“Who was it?”
“Two men in masks,” I say. “They headed straight for my room. I hurried inside and closed the door, but they seemed to know right where I was going. They came in after me and took me.”
“Did they break the door down?” He asks. “How did they get inside?”
“No, they…”
I can’t speak the words as I realize what secrets my memory holds. I can’t speak the words as I remember what really happened on that ship. I can’t speak the words as I realize my family isn’t dead at all, that none of them were ever in danger.
“They used the password to open the door,” I say quietly. “And then they took me.”
Chapter 11
Fiona
My family had me kidnapped.
They had me taken.
They’re the reason I was sol
d.
It was my family.
“There’s no other explanation,” I say, glad that Quinn isn’t freaking out because I’m about to. “There’s no other way to explain it. There’s just nothing.”
He’s silent, steadfast. He stands there as I make all the mental connections.
“I always take a pill, Quinn. Always. And that night, everyone seemed really distracted and weird, so I went to bed early. Everyone was a little snippy and short. I went to bed and read and passed out without taking my pill. That never happens. They were counting on it.”
They knew it was going to happen.
The situation was too perfect.
The plan went off without a hitch except one: I was never supposed to realize they were still alive. My captors laughed when I was thrown in the cell at the auction house. Someone said I was lucky to be alive because no one else was, but I didn’t really believe it. I kind of clung to a little bit of hope.
Wasn’t that stupid?