Page 139 of Pretty Savage: Defy

“Don’t,” Thomson warns.

I pull the catheter free. Blood rises from the puncture and drips toward my wrist.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Finding clothes.”

I push myself upright, but Thomson catches my arm before I can stand, his grip biting.

“I already watched you stop breathing this week. Watched while they pounded on your chest so your heart would beat.” The anger in his voice can’t disguise the fear underneath it. “I’m not doing it again.”

“I can breathe.” I shake free.

“Barely.”

My feet meet the floor, cold tile to bare skin. The room tilts, and Thomson shifts closer, ready to catch me. I bite the inside of my cheek, refusing to give in.

“The eastern tunnel is where we start,” I continue once the floor becomes level again. “Map every exit and work outward. I want the name of every missing Sister, the last location of each phone, and every vehicle that left Ashford property after the fire.”

Thomson releases my arm but remains between me and the door.

“Traffic cameras,” I add as the plan takes shape. “Between the house, Rosewood Hall, the chapel ruins, and every road leading out of Ashport.”

“The police are already investigating.”

“The police know only the tunnels the fire exposed. They don’t know Silas has been watching Laurel, that he blocked her tracker before, or that Jack will do anything to hurt my father and me.”

Thomson dips his head in acknowledgement. He knows I’m right.

I straighten, waiting for my lungs to punish me. The pain comes, but it doesn’t put me back in bed.

Memory returns more clearly now. My father trapped beneath the beam. Thomson and me pulling together while Jack and the remaining members continued through the tunnel.

“Is Father alive?”

“They released him yesterday. Two cracked ribs, a burn along his left arm, and enough smoke inhalation to keep him furious for the next week, but he’ll recover.” Thomson watches me before adding, “He’s at Rosewood Hall.”

Relief comes tangled with shame.

My father is alive because I went back for him.

Laurel is missing because I went back for him.

“Jack?” I ask.

“He made it out with the others. Uninjured. He’s at Rosewood too. So is Jackson.”

Of course Jack escaped untouched. He demanded the sealing, watched it, and left the destruction without so much as a burned sleeve.

I move toward the door.

Thomson blocks me. “You aren’t walking out of here in a hospital gown.”

“I don’t care what I’m wearing.”

“I do. No one needs to see your ass while we search for Laurel.”

Any other day, the comment might get a response from me. Today it barely reaches the surface.