“I’m putting her in the car. We’re exposed here, and if she seizes for too long, we need to get to a hospital fast.”
I wait, frozen, in the middle of the sidewalk. This is all a mess. It’s broken. We were supposed to convince her. I wanted to kidnap Fia, not Sadie. “What if she still wants to go home?”
Sarah answers. “It’s not up to her anymore. Cole, take care of her. There’s one more piece we have to fix.” She grabs my arm, starts pulling me down the sidewalk.
“Did you see something?” Cole shouts.
“I saw everything,” Sarah says, an unfamiliar ragged edge to her voice, but it’s so quiet I’m sure Cole couldn’t hear her.
“Where are we going?”
“Fia shows up after Sadie, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, don’t you want to talk to her?”
“Of course, but is that a good idea? She’s with James, and—”
“Oh, I am very well aware that she’s with James. We’ll wait next to the house. She’ll know we’re there. Her perfect instincts will tell her something is wrong.”
Sarah’s going too fast, and I stumble several times trying to keep up. After a few minutes she pushes me against a splintered wooden fence. I rub my arm where her fingers dug in so hard I can feel bruises.
“Sarah, please tell me what’s going on.”
Her footsteps continue in front of me, back and forth, pacing. I think she’s whispering to herself, but I can’t make out the words.
And then she says, “Well hello, Fia. So nice of you to join us.”
“Fia?” I stand up straight, holding out a trembling hand. Fia’s here. She’s right here.
“What are you doing?” Fia hisses, and it feels like a slap in the face.
“We’re saving Sadie.”
“No, Annie, what are you doing here? You can’t be here! You’re dead, you have to be dead! I thought she’d be safe with you! What are you thinking, bringing her where you know Keane’s people are?”
There’s a metallic click. Sarah’s voice sounds calmer than it has for the last few weeks. “You need to stop.”
“You have the safety on,” Fia says. “If you’re going to point a gun at me, take the safety off first.”
“You’re pointing a gun at her? Are you crazy?” I grab for where Sarah was, and then she’s behind me, her arm around my neck, the barrel of the gun against my temple.
“You have to stop,” she says again.
“I can’t,” Fia whispers, and she doesn’t sound scared. I’m scared. I’m so scared I can’t move. “I have to finish it or all this . . . everything is meaningless. Put the gun down.”
“You think you’re the only one willing to go that far? If it means stopping you, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.”
“It’s not about Fia,” I say, swallowing and swallowing against the pressure at my throat. “It’s about Keane. Put the gun down, Sarah.”
“Do you see Keane anywhere? Because I don’t! All I see is Fia, snatching girl after girl after girl before I can save them. Do you know what else I see? Broken girls floating lifeless in a river. So many. All the ones that fail him. I don’t see anything else, not anymore. Every vision, every time, dead girls. And she is helping him. She is making him so much stronger than he used to be. If I have to see one more body, one more pair of blank eyes—I won’t. I can’t. I know you, Fia. You’re not untouchable. You need Annie safe in order to function.” Her arm tightens, and the barrel digs into my skin. “Well, she’s not safe anymore.”
“Please,” I whisper. How did I not see this coming? How could we not notice how unhinged Sarah had become?
“I’ll give you a choice. Kneel on the ground and let me kill you, or I’ll kill Annie. Either one will finish this. You or Annie. It’s that simple.”
“Nothing is simple,” Fia says, her voice dead.