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"Oh good, for a moment there—"
"We should get to the safe house," Knox said. "We don't have much time."
"Right. Lead the way." I melted into the shadows with the rest of them, Bain and Kerina in the lead, Yard and Conor at the rear. Latika, Devlin, and I in the middle.
I begged Hades to help us avoid being seen. This many of us wouldn't go unnoticed.
"You've given me an idea," Bain said over his shoulder.
"Should I be worried?" I asked.
"Potentially," he replied. "But it will be worth it."
"You better be right," I said.
"Shhh," Kerina hissed. "Guards."
We all dropped to a crouch beside a tall, thick hedge.
I didn't dare to breathe as footsteps approached. Not many, but wearing heavy boots. Kerina's assumption they were guards was probably accurate.
They passed us by without stopping and headed in the direction of the Residence.
We waited until the sound of their steps had gone before we all rose and kept on walking.
"Either they've given up looking for us, or they're counting on this trap tomorrow," Devlin mused.
"Or both," I said. I had a bad feeling about all of this. At the end of the day, I couldn't assume Viva wasn't in on this trap. She might want to lure us as much as Seth did. And why not, the hemitheos were her people.
No, I told myself. We were her people. Me, Bain, and Knox. I saw the looks Devlin gave her too.
Now Gwen was gone—
That was a conversation for another time. Right now I would focus on her and I. She was mine. I told her that in the past, and I would remind her the second we had time alone together. I would show her.
And every chance I got between now and the end of time. She would never doubt, for a minute, how I felt about her.
26
Viva
"It's this way."I gestured.
I hesitated for a moment. "Or is it that way?" I toyed with the end of my hair. "No, it's definitely this way. I think."
Seth looked like an animal who came out of a safe hole in the ground to feed. His eyes shifted this way and that. He was visibly trying to appear relaxed, but every bit of him was on edge.
I would have found it amusing, if I wasn’t as anxious. It was a while since I was here, and I hadn't paid full attention to the direction, or any landmarks along the way.
That said, I wasalmostsure I led him the right way. So far.
"Be sure," he snapped. "You won't like the consequences if you’re not."
"I'm sure," I replied. "I'm well aware how outnumbered I am."
He seemed to have hand chosen every hemitheos in the Residence to accompany us. Apparently he didn't trust them to stay behind. He was becoming more and more unhinged by the day. Paranoid. Not a sign of a good leader.
"Yes, don't forget that," he said absently.
