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This is fucking insane. And yet, underneath the turmoil, a bubble of relief remains in my chest.
I’m not crazy. The shadow in my home? That’s real.
Someone is targeting me. Maybe it is just some thief trying to make a quick buck off of my life. Maybe it’s something more serious.
Whatever the reason, I know I’m not crazy.
“Will do, thanks.” Finn ends the calls, slides the phone back into his pocket and then he stands.
“Do you have a suitcase nearby?”
Wiping a few tired tears away from my eyes, I sit up and nod. “What? Yeah, I do. Why?”
“Where is it?”
“Why?” I track Finn and he strides to the door.
“Because I’m not letting you stay here for another minute. We’ll pack, and then you’re coming to stay with me.”
32
CASPIAN
“I’ve come to take you out.”
Emma cocks her hip against the door and looks me up and down. “Assassination or date?”
“Do you think your exams went that badly?”
She steps away from the door, inviting me into Finn’s apartment with her body. I follow her, closing the door behind me. We walk into the lounge where a movie sits paused on the TV and a half-eaten bowl of popcorn rests on the table.
“I can honestly say I don’t remember my last exam,” Emma says. She flops back down onto the couch, nestling into a pile of pillows she’s created around her form. “So those results will be one hell of a mystery.”
“Did Finn talk to you about extenuating circumstances?”
She nods. “I don’t want more people to know. It’s bad enough that Finn won’t let me go home, and all three of you have been doing everything you can to keep an eye on me. I don’t need the college knowing my business either.”
“Even at the expense of your future?” I don’t intend to push her. Her decisions are her own, but I have to satisfy my own desire to understand. Everything that’s happened this past week has been, frankly, insane. Finn, Asher, and I silently decided to watch over Emma until the stranger in her apartment was caught, but the police weren’t as determined as we were, it seemed.
“You misunderstand how much I care about my degree,” Emma groans. She flops one arm to the side, stretching for the TV remote. “You wanna watch this movie with me? We could order some food, make a day of it.”
“We’re making a day of it alright,” I chuckle softly, stepping forward and snatching the remote out of sight. “But not with this. Come on, get up.”
“I don’t want to,” Emma whines.
“Trust me, you do. Get up, get dressed. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“Where are we going?” She calls after me as I turn away and head back to the door.
“It’s a surprise!”
Emma perks up during the drive. I know all too well how comforting it can be to settle into a slump and stew in your bad feelings. Sometimes, all it takes is one pull to dislodge the train from that self-deprecating track.
“What is this place?” Emma peers out the windshield as I park up in front of a small white house nestled into a corner of the countryside.
Opening my door, the fresh sharpness of sea air immediately swirls into the car, and I breathe deeply with a smile.
“This is one of my favorite places in the world.” Stepping out of the car, Emma follows and casts her eye around us. In the distance behind me, the ocean twinkles like a thousand gemstones. The nearest neighbor is only two minutes away, but trees and flowering bushes block everything else from view.
