Page 2 of Enter if you Dare: Part Three

The two directly ahead rush me at the same time, and the first one gets both arms around my middle, trying to take me down at the waist. I step back so he loses his grip, then lock his elbows and twist him away. The second one tries to use that moment to get behind me, and he gets partway there until I rotate and block him with my shoulder, hard. It hurts, but he loses the angle and swears as I push him backward.

The two who slammed into a wall have recovered, though one of them now has something in his hand, a device which buzzes and crackles.

I don’t let him get the time to use it. Snapping my forearm forward, it connects with his, and the device goes skidding down the corridor. The other one tries to tackle me from the side, catching enough of my legs that I drop to one knee. I don’t stay down, bouncing back up with enough force that he loses his grip, then I catch the corridor railing with both hands, using it to swing my legs up and land back on my feet. He looks at me as if he can’t understand what he is seeing; like so many, he underestimates what I can do because of my size.

There are six of them and one of me, yet I can see how frustrated they are becoming at being unable to take me down. But I don’t have the time to enjoy the moment as a seventh man appears, walking toward me with no fear. People who are not afraid of me are rare.

I know his face, and the recognition hits me in the gut. Every part of me remembers him, and I’m back in that room, trapped. I freeze, unable to move, and the six men use that moment to regroup and close in.

The seventh man is older, but so am I. We haven’t seen each other for ten years, Evan Turner and I. He stops a few feet away, holding up his hands in front of his body. He says a name, one that isn’t Cave. The name I had before. I take a step back and hit the window as he takes a step forward.

Pure rage bubbles inside me, forcing the memories to resurface. The men close in, and I launch myself forward at the closest first as they step between me and Evan, getting through them my only goal.

I take the first one by the collar and swing him sideways into the wall, while the second snaps both his arms around me from behind. Throwing my weight backward, I slam us both into the corridor rail, and it breaks his grip as he falls down, gasping for air.

Evan hasn’t moved. The remaining four men rush me at once, the only smart thing they can do to take down someone my size. One of them goes low, grabbing for my legs, while another goes high, trying to get an arm around my neck. The other two grab at my arms. For a second, they almost have me. The one on my neck gets enough of a grip that my vision spots until I drive my heel down hard on the foot of the one at my legs and he screams. His grip breaks, and I use the opportunity to suddenly shift my weight and pull the one clinging to my neck forward, dragging him over my shoulder, so that he lands on his back on the floor in front of me.

That leaves three men breathing hard, looking somewhat defeated, until something sharp stabs me in the side of my neck. I didn’t hear him come closer.

Evan now stands there, near enough that I can reach him. But the floor tilts and my legs give out, then my arms tingle as I hit the ground. The ceiling above me blurs, and the last thing I see is Evan’s face looking down at me.

The only person who came for me when I was younger was Nixie, and I need her to do the same now.

The dark takes me, and what is left is no longer me. Once upon a time he came to protect me, and now he is back to do it again.

The Scarecrow.

Valli

I wake up and automatically reach for him, my hand moving across the bed to where he normally lies. We were at the hospital for hours, yet no one would tell us anything, so Nixie made us come back to sleep. She warned us we were going to have a fight on our hands, explaining that while Cave going to the hospital should be no big deal, as soon as they run his name in their system it will inform a certain doctor. When I pushed for more information, she refused to say anymore, only that we will get him back no matter what it takes.

My heart sinks when I realize he is not next to me. I have woken plenty of times before and he hasn’t been here, but those times I knew he had simply gone to his cornfield, as it’s where he goes to get peace and clarity.

Noa is asleep on his stomach beside me, with one arm slung over my waist, and his face mashed into the pillow. I love watching him sleep; he’s so peaceful. Cipher is already up, and I can hear him tinkering with something. I know he didn’t sleep much, the same as me. So I slide Noa’s hand from my waist and sit up slowly; he stirs but doesn’t wake. Once I find one of Noa’s shirts, I pull it over my naked body, then I take a deep breath and go find Cipher.

He is where I thought I’d find him, at his workbench tinkering with the small music box he has been working on for weeks. He looks up when he hears me, and his eyes run over the length of my body. It’s a feeling I don’t know if I will ever get used to—being looked at like I am the most beautiful and precious thing he has ever seen in his life.

“Hey.”

“Hey back,” he says, putting his tool down. “Did you sleep?”

“A little, you?”

He doesn’t reply, which is an answer in itself. I pull up a chair and sit beside him, though we don’t talk. I have learned with Cipher that simply sitting next to him is often enough and words can sometimes get in the way. I watch him work for a while before getting up and putting the coffee on, Cipher is too focused to do it, and Noa won’t be able to function until he’s had one. By the time it’s ready, Noa has surfaced.

“Is that coffee?” he asks, eyes still half-closed, and his hair is sticking up in all directions.

“Yes.”

“Fuck, I love you.”

I freeze at his confession of love, but he doesn’t seem to notice, coming over and pressing a kiss on my cheek.

“You look fucking sexy in my shirt,” he whispers in my ear, then wanders off to make his coffee.

My phone vibrates on the workbench. Cipher grabs it and hands it to me as Nixie’s name flashes on the screen.

“I need you all to come to Ares’s Bar. We have to talk,” she says as soon as I answer.