Page 84 of Lovely Darkness

“And nothing. I don’t care what you guys do.” I hold up a finger. “As long as Donovan comes out the other end intact, and alive, that is. So if you have plans to hurt him, I suggest you make other arrangements.”

Nick crosses his arms. “What about this nest? How is this”—he pauses to glance at Wendy, but then quickly looks back at me—“the cure?”

Wendy’s got this all mixed up. The cure is not about her. Or me. It’s not about us. We’re good. The cure of them. The girls. And if we can cure them, we can get answers. “We need to question them,” I say. “We need to find out what their purpose is. And we need to cure them to do that.

“Their purpose?” Nick asks. “What the fuck do you think their purpose is? They kill people.”

“Just like we do,” Wendy says. Her tone is light. Almost sing-songy.

Nick shoots her a funny look. “No, Wendy. Not the same at all.” But his tone is tired. Like he’s so over this argument.

This is an old fight between them. He kills girls like us. Like her. And she can’t wrap her big brain around it.

“How do you even know about this cure stuff,” Nick asks.

“What do you mean?”

He’s so done with me. His eyes go lazy and low as he sneers out his words. “Who told you about the cures?”

I think about this for a moment, because I don’t really know. Then I look at Nathan. But he gives me a little shake of his head. A little command to drop it.

Which is fine with me. Because I don’t know anything.

So instead, I say, “We don’t have time for this. We get one night with no Adam or McKay. One night, that’s it. And we need to make the most of it. So are you comin’ or not?”

I expect Nick’s answer to be an immediate, Fuck yeah, I’m coming or something of that sort. But he actually hesitates and looks back at the house.

“What?” Wendy asks, picking up on his hesitation.

“Do we really want to leave Merc, Sasha, and Maggie here alone with… that guy?”

“That guy?” I say. “That guy is Donovan. And he’s in a coma. I think they’ll be fine.”

Nick continues to hesitate and this apparently ticks Wendy off. “What?” she asks. “Do you want to stay behind with Sasha?” And oh, the sneer when she says that name. It’s thick. “Fine. Stay with her, then. But I’m going with Indie and Nate.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Nick says. He’s soft with her. Even and easy. Soothing. “I’m not staying here if you’re going. I’m just making sure.” Now he looks at me. “But if you’re certain, then I’m in.”

“You’re not gonna kill them,” Nate says. “Just so we’re clear.”

Nick puts both hands up in surrender. “It’s just a sightseeing trip, as far as I’m concerned.”

Nick and Nathan go tell Merc that we’re leaving while I go find Maggie. Wendy follows me into the kitchen where Mags and Sasha are just pulling some garlic bread out of the oven. Sasha looks like a mom. I like that about her. I like the idea that she was like me once upon a time and now she’s like this.

Like maybe, if I step on all the right stones and don’t fall in the river of gators and snakes, in ten years I could be the same way.

It lightens my mood, which had started to darken because of the cloud surrounding Wendy.

I tell Maggie that we’re going into town and could she please take a bath and put herself to bed by nine-thirty.

Sasha looks at me a little funny, but then she rallies. “I’ll make sure she does.” And she says it with a smile. Though she never does aim that smile at Wendy.

I think there’s a little tension between those two.

An interesting train of thought for another time.

After that, we all meet up at Nick’s truck. He has decided he’s driving this time. Nathan and I don’t argue. He gets in front with Nick and Wendy and I pile into the back.

About fifteen minutes in, we leave the heavily wooded countryside surrounding Old Home and get on a highway. This is the first time someone speaks since we left, and it’s Nick. “So, where are we going? Is it a secret?”