“We need to leave,” I say, wanting to get her as far away from this vile place as I can. Once we are safely away, we can talk more.
She nods as I lead her to my car. We both jump in, and I drive just as hard and fast as I did to get back to her. My hand finds hers, and we hold hands, not speaking, letting the car engine do all the talking.
After speeding away and seeing no cars following us, I pull over into an alleyway and park the car.
Then I look over at Liesel.
“What happened?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I won the game. I told them I had already taken my prize and then I left. They have no reason to come after Rose now. I won.”
I nod. There’s a heaviness in her eyes. What isn’t she telling me?
“Rose is safe with Enzo and Kai. I didn’t see any injuries, and her spirit hasn’t changed. I don’t think they hurt her.”
“Thank god.”
I grab the base of her neck and rub my thumb over her swollen cheek. I want to know everything that happened, and yet I’m not sure my heart can take it. She can’t keep putting herself last. She can’t keep taking all the pain while shielding the rest of us. She has to let some of us take on the danger too.
I’m about to ask her more questions when my phone buzzes in my pocket.
I can feel Liesel’s heartbeat in her neck skip when I reach for my phone.
“It’s Siren,” I say before I answer. “Hello.”
Liesel grips onto my hand so tight that my knuckles start turning white.
“Hey,” Zeke says.
“Did you win the game? Did you get Atlas?”
There’s a long pause. Too long of a pause.
“What did they say?” Liesel asks.
I shake my head. “Zeke? Siren?”
I hold the phone out, thinking that the call must have dropped, but it still shows that we are connected.
“We won the game. We got Atlas,” Zeke says, his voice sounds strange when he should sound happy.
“Good, let’s all go to my island house. Meet there. We can protect ourselves there.” I look to Liesel, who nods her head in agreement.
Another long pause before Zeke answers. “See you there soon.”
The call ends. That was strange.
“Atlas is safe?” Liesel asks.
“Atlas is safe.”
More tears water her eyes as she almost collapses with relief against me.
Two down, one to go.
We are back to where we started.
“I—”