Page 99 of The Shadow Sanctum

SAWYER

The horn still echoes in my skull as Angel and I join the flood of bodies moving toward the square. Feet slosh through snow, confused voices murmur low. Everyone wants to know what it means this time, but no one dares ask. If I hadn’t just been at the Hearth, I might be worried, but the antibiotics are working. Not immediately, not enough, but working.

No child has died, so this is to announce something else. I have my fingers crossed for some tragic end for their Chief Elder.

The square looks different when it’s full of dread. Like the whole Sanctum is holding its breath in one place. The air carries a mix of stale sweat and human heat, the noise of shifting feet and whispered theories.

I fold my arms as I scan the crowd, but Angel doesn’t bother trying to solve this mystery. His head is somewhere else. It’s been there for days.

“Your head’s gonna explode if you keep thinking that hard.” I nudge him with my elbow.

He blinks several times as he returns to the present. “What?”

I frown and lean in closer. “We just left a building full of kids smiling because they feel better than they have in days.”

“Not all of them,” Angel deadpans, his face so much more hardened than I know he feels.

“Enough of them.”

Angel turns to me with a glare. “This isn’t one of those glass-half-full kind of times, Sawyer.”

I let my shoulders sag and glance around. No one is paying attention to us. “Enough to know what we’re doing is working. Enough to know it’s going to be okay. It’s treatable. Everyone’s gonna be all right.”

Angel doesn’t say anything. I hope that’s because he’s giving my words credit.

He’s been sick for days over this, and if one single child leaves this world, I fear what that’ll mean for him. He’s the type of man to carry demons.

“I’ve known you a long time,” he says, eyes drawing ahead. “You expect me to believe you became an optimist since the island?”

I don’t answer.

“You probably have twenty different scenarios mapped out in your mind.” He scoffs, but it isn’t angry. It’s sad. Defeated. Even if everything turns out okay, he’ll carry this with him.

I tip my head side to side. “Twenty-six. Give or take.”

One hundred three.

Angel’s lips tip up the slightest bit. No humor. Still sadness.

“How many of them involve me getting caught?”

If he knew all the contingencies I’ve made if that were to happen, I’m not sure he’d feel better. I’m pretty sure he’d feel worse.

No one is going to suspect Angel. We weren’t here when the Dregs started getting sick, and no one but Luna is smart enough to connect any dots.

But if they did… I have escape routes. Alternative theories as to what really happened, evidence planted that would acquit him. He’d be all right.

“How many do you want there to be?”

He doesn’t answer, but it isn’t because he’s thinking. He knows. I know.

I let out a deep sigh. “You know if something happened to you, I’d have to take care of Liberty… I hope you’re not thinking about sticking me with that vicious bitch.”

He shoves his hands in his pockets and flicks his eyes at me. “You couldn’t handle her back then. You really think you could handle her now?”

“After dealing with ‘the Guardian of the Night’ the last few months, sure, I think I could take her.”

Angel’s chuckle turns the head of the woman in front of us. When I nod at her, she turns back around.