The Boy and His Ribbon (The Ribbon Duet, #1)(39)

“We are happy,” I snapped. “Now open the door.”

The waitress stood from her chair beside the principal’s desk. “You’re free to leave, Ren. Go and call your parents and let them know how urgently we need to see them. But Della needs to stay here. I’ll look after her. I promise.”

Della blinked up at me, her eyes huge and hurting. “Ren…don’t leave me.”

My ribcage squeezed, making it hard to breathe. “Never.”

A ghost of a smile twitched her lips, trusting me even though I had no idea how I’d keep such a promise.

My mind raced, charging ahead, doing its best with its limited knowledge and teenage capabilities to figure out a way to stop Della from being taken and to give us enough time to disappear.

A thought popped into my head.

A risky, terrible idea but literally the only one I had.

I wished I could tell Della.

I wished I could warn her.

But there were too many eyes and ears in the room. I just had to hope she forgave me once it was all over.

With gritted teeth and pounding heart, I pried her hand from mine and pushed her back toward the chair. “Sit down. Stay here. I have to go.”

It took a moment for my voice to worm its way into her ears and drill a hole into her young understanding. “What?….No! No, you said you wouldn’t leave me. No!” She launched herself at me, sobbing wet and loud. “Ren! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry I told them about the rabbit. Please. I’m sorry! Ren, please!” She dissolved into tears, wrapping her shaking arms around the top of my thighs. “No. Please. Please don’t go. Please, please, don’t leave me.” She looked up with blotchy cheeks and gut-wrenching sadness, and my heart literally cracked in two.

I bled a river inside, hot and red and painful.

I swallowed back the guilt and the all-powerful desire to stop her tears, and forced myself forward with the plan.

The only plan.

“Our parents arrive back today, remember?” I cupped her chin, willing her to understand. “The Social people will bring you to the farm, and they’ll sit down with Mum and Dad, and this will all be fine, okay?”

Normally, Della would read between the lines—her whip fast intelligence picking up on my lie and realising, if not completely understanding, that this was a lie and lies were our weapons.

But today, her panic had overridden her ability to see, and she’d bear the brunt of believing I was about to abandon her for the second time.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I just needed time.

Time to get things ready.

And even though it butchered me to press a sobbing Della into a cold wooden chair and leave her with people who didn’t love her, I did.

I glowered at the principal, gave him the location of our farm, and promised that my parents would be there to meet him when he dropped off Della with the government officials.

He promised he’d be there at four p.m. sharp with my sister, and we’d get this nasty business sorted out.

I had forty-five minutes to pack up our life.

Forty-five minutes to figure out a way to steal Della, stop them, and vanish.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE





REN



2005




IT TOOK ME twenty minutes to sprint home.

Ten minutes to zoom around the house, grabbing toothbrushes, clothes, towels, and food that would travel.

Five minutes to stuff the sleeping bag, tent, and every other belonging I could fit into my khaki and navy backpack, and another two to curse the zipper as it kept getting stuck on a sock shoved down the side.

My breathing was ragged and torn. My stomach knotted and coiled. My body covered in sweat from fear as well as exertion.

In the remaining eight minutes I had, I holstered every knife I owned down my boots, jeans, and back pockets, then jogged to the barn and opened the gate for Snowflake to leave her stall. She normally grazed in the field during the day, but now, I unlocked every fence and removed every obstacle, hoping she’d wander to a new home just like she’d done when she’d wandered into ours.

The chickens would survive without us. The house would still stand. The veggie patch would suffocate beneath weeds. And in a few short months, the farm would look just as abandoned as it had when we’d arrived.

I wished I’d had more time to steal thicker trousers and better jackets for us. I wished I’d thought up better travel arrangements and double checked the waterproofness of the tent.

I should’ve been more prepared for this.

I’d been stupid, and now, we were about to pay the price.

Gravel crunched as a car drove up the driveway for the first time in years. The house seemed to puff up in pride to accept visitors after so long of being cast out of society, hating me as I stood barring entry with my arms crossed on the front porch.

I forced my shallow breathing to become calm inhales. I clamped down on my jittery muscles and embraced ferocity instead of panic.

Panic that Della wouldn’t be with them.

Panic that she’d been taken already, and I’d never see her again.

The headmaster climbed from the vehicle first, followed by the waitress who turned to open the back door and help Della out.

My heart kick-started again, revealing that it hadn’t pumped properly since I’d left her forty-five minutes ago.