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Rogue nods. “All right, well, I guess you’re fired.”

Kayla chuckles. “Actually, I quit.”

Rogue shrugs. “Tomayto, tomahto. Just be safe.”

Once they finish their goodbyes, Kayla and I leave. She speed-walks back to my bike, and as I catch up, I grab her by the arm.

“Hey, don’t shut down, talk to me.”

She turns to face me. “The cops are looking for him,” she hisses. “I turned a blind eye, while deep down knowing what Clay and Brawley did to him, but this is a lot to take in and it’s all hitting me at once. I need to process.”

Reaching up, I take her face between my hands and look into her eyes. “You have not seen Aaron since you left him. You have not spoken to him, nor do you know where he is. If they come sniffing around, we will lawyer up. Someone was bound to report him missing eventually. Just remember . . . you know nothing.”

“You’re very calm about this.”

I smile at her. “Someone has to be. Just please trust me on this, it will all go away.”

She exhales and nods. “Let’s go.”

I hand Kayla the helmet and put mine on, then her arms wrap around me a little tighter before I take off. We need to get back to the island; that is where we shine. Aaron is not the first from the island to vanish, and he won’t be the last. Our kind has a habit of screwing up, but the one good thing is, we all band together. In a few short hours, every trace of Aaron will be wiped from our system, but thankfully he was there under an alias, so it will be even easier. I should have done it sooner, and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t, but there is no way in hell Kayla will take the fall for any of this.

Chapter Nine

Kayla

The island comes into view, and Ares crosses the bridge as I keep my arms fixed tight around him. I try not to focus on the fact that the cops know Aaron is missing, but it sits heavy in my chest like a cement block.

Ares asked me to trust him, and I really have no other choice right now. His words ring through my head: “You know nothing.”

I know nothing.

Ares pulls up outside the house and cuts the engine. I slide off the bike and hand him the helmet. He stows it, then removes his own, his brows furrowing as he studies my face.

“You’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” I confirm, and I believe it . . . mostly.

He nods, then wheels his bike around the side of the house.

I stand there for a second and breathe—in through my nose and out through my mouth. The air smells like water and grass, nothing like the damp dirt of the cemetery. I have been memorizing smells since that day; it started without me even realizing it. From the burning metal and oil in Cipher’s shed, and Clay because he always smells fantastic, to the smell of the sea.

Anything but dirt.

I walk around to the back of the house instead of going through the front door, needing to get more fresh air before I spiral. When I reach the back porch, I find Vero sitting on the top step with his knees up, picking at the hem of Brawley’s hoodie. He hasn’t heard me approaching and has his head tipped back, peering at the sky. I haven’t seen him this calm; he usually radiates chaos.

As I sit down beside him, he doesn’t startle, simply looks over at me.

“Paper-cut princess,” he greets, his voice hoarser than usual.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“My brain has gone quiet but won’t switch off. Brawley calls it the in-between.” He picks at the loose thread on the hoodie. “I don’t like the in-between. There is too much room.”

I know what he means; I have my own version. Mine shows up at three in the morning, when everything I have been holding in during the day catches up to me, and it sits on my chest.

“Do you want to talk, or do you want company?”

“Both,” he replies. “Is that greedy?”