Where Silence Gathers (Some Quiet Place #2)(34)

I sigh, leaving all my notebooks and textbooks because I know there’s no chance I’m doing homework tonight. “Isn’t there an easier way not to see Billy while actually seeing Billy?” Slam.

She ignores this, scanning the kids walking past us. I know the instant she spots Billy, because her entire face brightens. “The lake in ten minutes, or we’ll hunt you down!” she tosses over her shoulder, flouncing away. Her perfume lingers even when she’s gone.

Scowling, I start to compose a text to Missy. Halfway through, a new message comes in from Mark, saying he won’t be able to make it to the bonfire but do I want to grab a cup of coffee next week? Resolving to respond later, I let my glance flick back to Georgie, at the end of the hall. Billy has his arm wrapped around her and she isn’t fighting him. I wonder what changed. Just a couple weeks ago, her only interest was L.A. It seemed like nothing would distract her from that. Is attraction so inevitable? Or just that powerful?

Yet Revenge seems to have no trouble resisting me.

Text forgotten, I yank my jacket on so hard that the teeth of the zipper catches the skin of my palm. I suck in a breath. “Are you coming?” someone asks, rushing past. Briana. I nod, forcing a smile, and she beams. “Good. Meet you there in a little bit.” Once again I have no chance to respond, because she’s already at the doors, pushing them open, walking into the sunlight.

I stay where I am, watching the Emotions and my classmates hurrying by like some ocean made of limbs and hidden pains. I close my eyes … and when that familiar scent of chocolate washes over me, they snap open again.

Revenge smiles. “Hey.”

That’s all it takes. Just the sound of his voice. Suddenly I’m transported back to the attic, and those words he said surround me: I will never give up on you. For the thousandth time I lose myself in the fire of Revenge, and for the first time since I opened the flash drive, I forget about the shroud of mystery hanging over my father and the past.

“Hey,” I say back, softly. Never before have I been so tempted to touch him, to finally give in to wanting him. Images come hard and fast—us facing each other on my bed that dark night, the sweat beading our skin when we moved to the music on the record player, the way his eyes glowed that first night at Nate Foster’s.

He thought I would choose him. Instead, I torture him. I’m a yo-yo, a metronome, a pendulum, everything vacillating and restless and infuriating. Maybe I’ve known all along why things have been changing between us. By not making a choice myself, I’ve left him no other choice.

Choice. My fingers twitch, just moments away from reaching for him. But then Forgiveness’s face flashes in my mind, and I stop.

I tell myself there’s no way Revenge can know what I’m thinking. It must show on my face, though, because his countenance darkens. A third chance to speak slips through my fingers like sand. Before I can repair what I didn’t mean to break, he vanishes.

“Damn it!” I swear. Faith Carson gives me a funny look as she passes. She doesn’t know what it is, to have someone and then begin to lose them. To believe that nothing can ever come between you, only for it to actually happen. Sighing again, I head for the parking lot.

Gray clouds gather above the mountain, great frowns in the sky. Wind flattens my shirt against my front. Hopefully it will start raining soon and Georgie will let me slip away. I point the unlock button at my car and the headlights flash. The smashed stump where the mirror used to be reminds me that Franklin isn’t as safe as it once was, so I make sure to lock the doors again when I settle behind the wheel. Briana and Georgie are in Briana’s car, already pulling out. Georgie leans out the window, her bright hair flying, and whoops. Billy honks his horn, and an amused smile tugs at the corners of my mouth.

One by one, like some kind of parade, they all get onto the road. I’m slower to follow. Every instinct urges me to turn the opposite way and find Dr. Stern. There’s a line behind me, so I eventually turn, but once I’m on the county road I keep glancing in the rearview mirror, in the direction of Green River. The horizon has darkened even more. Is there really a point going to the lake?

There’s no sign of the others; they must have sped ahead. Briana and Georgie are probably standing around the fire, talking and drinking and enjoying being young and alive. Maybe they wouldn’t even—

In the mirror, something glints where before there was only trees and road. Frowning, I do a double-take.

There’s a brown Taurus following me.

My heart stops. Once again Fear pays a visit, his freezing hand brushing the back of my neck when he tugs at my ponytail. As usual, he’s there and gone in the space of a few seconds. Quickly I reach over and take the gun out of the glove box, my hand shaking. Then I press on the gas. Gravel spews under my tires and dust flies, filling the mirror and hiding the Taurus from view. My best chance is to get to the lake. Everything else is too far away. Distantly, I’m aware that Elvis is singing on as he always does. The world could end and Elvis would still be singing.

A sound rips through the chaos, a smattering of rocks against the side of the car. I jerk my head and see the Taurus alongside me, dangerously close. The man behind the steering wheel is wearing a ski mask. All I can see are his eyes, crinkled and bright as though he’s smiling. I go faster, and he does too. Suddenly the Taurus veers and slams into me.

I scream, clutching the steering wheel tight. Some part of me realizes that my hands are empty; I must have dropped the gun. There’s no chance to reach down and feel for it, because I know he’s going to try to push me off the road. There’s no ditch to cushion my fall, only hard, merciless trees. For a wild moment I consider slamming on the brakes or trying to surge ahead, but there’s no time. The Taurus swings away and comes back with all the force of a battering ram.