Journey
Givingyourself up for someone else wasn’t the worst thing you could do in your life. In fact, it was selfless to put someone else before you. So, why did I feel so guilty with every step I took down the darkened hallway of St. Mary’s? Gemma’s footsteps were as quiet as mine, both of us stealthy as could be.
I paused in the middle of the hallway. “Gemma.”
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”
I turned toward her and grabbed onto her scarred wrists. The skin was bumpy beneath my hand, but that didn’t deter me from squeezing tightly so she would meet my gaze. “I want to go alone.”
Her dainty wrists were pulled out of my grasp. “Absolutely not.”
My words were more of a plea. “You’ve been through enough. I’m not dragging you into…this.” Whatever the hell this is.
“And so have you. We’re going. The two of us. Together.”
I shook my head. “Tobias just got you back.”
“And he will still have me when this is all said and done.” Her sentence was final, as if we were done with the conversation. “Do you have your knife?”
I pulled it out of my pocket, nearly sagging in relief when I’d found it on my bedside table after Cade had left my room early one morning. “Yeah. Do you?”
“Yep.”
We walked a little farther down the hall, but this time, she stopped and grabbed onto my arms. “Just you and me, right? No one else.” Sloane popped in my head, and Tobias, too. And I didn’t want to admit it, but Bain was lingering in the background also. Could we trust him?
“We’re on the same page,” I said, swallowing back the lump of fear, and guilt, and everything in between.
She dropped my arms as I put my knife back in my pocket, clenching the piece of paper in my hand. Once we got to the end of the hallway, we listened for any movement of the duty teacher, and that was when I felt hesitation on my part. Cade. He would be furious. Isaiah, too. And Tobias?
What are we going to walk into?
“Gemma—” I paused mid-sentence when a tall shadow appeared in the boys’ hall, getting closer and closer until stopping mere feet in front of us. Bain’s shoulders came close to fitting the width of the opening of the hall, and his determined eyes were set on us like a cat catching a mouse in its trap.
“Bain, how interesting to see you.” Gemma crossed her arms and smirked. “It’s like deja vu.”
His attention shifted from Gemma to me and then down to my hand where the address still sat crumpled in between my sweaty fingers. His ambling pace made my heart drop, and before I could react, the paper was ripped from my fingers, and he was scanning the black ink quickly.
There were too many things on the tip of my tongue, but nothing came out. I just stood there, beside Gemma, dumbfounded at the situation I had found myself in.
Bain folded the piece of paper neatly and held it out with two fingers. I slowly raised my hand and snatched it back, as if it had my entire life written in code underneath the black smudges. And maybe it does.
He took a step back and threw his arm out, as if he was giving us permission.
“You’re not gonna try to stop us?” I asked, spinning around and staring at him after we walked a few paces forward. Gemma stopped right beside me, and her face showed nothing. There was no disgust like there had always been on Isaiah’s and Cade’s faces when he was near. She didn’t seem to hate Bain or fear him, even though he was the one that had propelled her into the Covens months ago.
“And why would I do such a thing?” he asked, standing nonchalantly with his back pressed against the intricate wood along the wall. “Because every guy you two seem to come into contact with thinks they need to save you? As if you two are damsels in distress?” He chuckled, and Gemma and I shared a fleeting look with one another.
“Journey,” Bain said, snapping himself out of his laughter. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’ve been on your own since you were barely old enough to open your eyes. If you think you need someone now, you’re wrong.”
I turned toward the direction of a faint sound coming from the boys’ hall, and I was certain it was the duty teacher. What will Headmaster Ellison do if he catches his daughter sneaking out of the school with me?
“Go,” Bain snapped. “Now. Before you miss your chance.”
I hesitated, but Gemma grabbed onto my arm, pulling me toward the stairs. I got one last look at Bain, and although his voice was low, I still heard it plain as day. “I don’t ask this often, but I need you to trust me on this. Just go. Go to the address.”
The stairs were never-ending, and I swore, all coherent thoughts were left on the landing with Bain distracting the duty teacher for Gemma and me.
“I don’t know what to think,” I said to Gemma, darting after her as we rushed down the unlit hall to the side door of St. Mary’s. Her phone was pulled out, and I saw that Isaiah had texted her multiple times, his name popping up at the top over and over again.