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“Ooh, that sounds a bit cute.” I send her a glare to show that I’m not in the mood to joke. She gets the memo and whispers a quiet apology.
I pull the keys from the pocket of my pants and hold them up so she can see. Her face lights up with excitement, “We have a new plan.” I speak.
“How did you get them?” she asks.
“Jasper,” I walk over to my closet and grab a jacket, hoping my nonchalant tone will prevent her from asking questions.
“And he was okay with this?” she speculates, clearly not picking up on my I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-this attitude.
“It’s complicated,” I say, trying to act like I’m okay with whatever just happened between Jasper and I downstairs. “The moral of the story is that we can drive out of here. Are you ready?” I ask.
“Yes,” she sings, her melodic voice filled with anticipation.
“Are you certain, Lu, because if you want to stay here-”
“I’m going, Em. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my entire life. I need to go.” I nod. Her mind has been made, and there is nothing I can say or do to stop her from coming with me. Not that I would want to. I need to fix what I didn’t do last time I was here; I need to bring her home. Back to Beast Eye.
I sling a bag over my shoulder, carry another and Luna does the same. We close my door and hurry out of the room. “The hardest thing now is to make sure that we don’t get caught. People are going to want to ask questions about why we have so many bags.”
I start to head down the stairs and Luna gasps, “What about the elevator?”
“That’s too risky. People might see us. Plus, we would have no place to escape people’s questions.”
“That’s a lot of stairs,” she gasps, looking behind her and then back down at the long descent of stairs.
“You’re either with me or you’re not, Luna. We’re going down the stairs. Are you coming?” I say, my voice coming out harsher than intended. My conversation with Jasper has put me in a bad mood. Luckily, she either doesn’t notice or she doesn’t take offence because she nods and follows me down, her eyes focused and determined.
When we reach the bottom, we stop for a minute so Luna can catch her breath. It isn’t as hard for me considering I’ve been brought up in a fast-paced environment. Everything I’ve done, I’ve had to do it running, to save getting caught. But for a girl who has never even had the opportunity to run outside, she doesn’t have the same level of endurance as I do.
“We. Made. It.” she pants through staggered breaths.
“We’re almost there,” I grab her by the arm and pull her towards the same navy-blue car as before. As predicted, it was unlocked. When Jasper gave me the keys, I wasn’t sure which car they would work for. But this is the car where we first went to see Annabelle, the car that he taught me to drive in. It makes sense that he would choose this one for me. “Get in the passenger side and put the bags on the backseat.”
“Do you know how to drive?”
“A little,” I reply, wanting to give her confidence but also not wanting to give her a false sense of security. I do know how to drive, thanks to Jasper, I just suck at it. Since he’s not here to guide me, I’m going to have to learn how to not suck pretty quickly.
“Well, that’s comforting,” she replies as she hops in her seat. I do the same on the driver’s side and find the hole just as Jasper had said. I slam the door shut and put the key in the hole. Sure enough, in the middle of the car it comes up with a screen to put in a password.
I put in the code 9233538. At first, I was unsure if I would remember it, but how could I forget? As much as he irritates me, I can’t seem to get him out of my head. Every word he has spoken has etched itself into my mind and refuses to be rubbed away.
The engine roars, and I know that means Albert has been alerted. I line up the lever with the letter D and start to drive forwards. The carpark in front of me is empty from where Jasper drove away. An annoyingly small part of me wonders if he did that on purpose. It’s like he somehow knew that I wouldn’t be able to reverse. Like he already knew that I wouldn’t be coming with him.
But maybe I’m just overthinking it. Maybe it was for no reason at all.
We go out of the garage, and we head outside. I hear Luna gasp next to me, her eyes full of awe. I find the button to let down the window and I let her breathe in the cool air. It is like watching her take her very first breath. She is finally alive.
She is giggling with excitement, and I have to reluctantly draw my eyes away from her to make sure I am focusing on the road. Her expression is hypnotising, and absolutely beautiful.
It almost seems too good to be true, too easy for it to be real. That’s when I realise that it is. I realise that I haven’t even considered needing to get past the soldiers. We pull up to the first gate, and there is a man guarding it. “Keep your head down,” I tell Luna, winding up her window and keeping my voice as steady as possible. “And don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
I pull up to the gate and put on the brakes a bit too suddenly. We both fly forward. “Sorry,” I mutter. A middle-aged man who is guarding the gates walks over to us and taps on the window. I don’t open it. I know the moment that he sees us, he is not going to let us through. The only way for us to get through is if we press the button ourselves.
After a few taps on my window, he turns around and walks over to his control desk, picking up a radio transmitter. This is my chance.
I open the door of the car and run over to him, slapping the radio out of his hand before he has the chance to contact anyone. I reach for his gun, but he is quicker than I expected. He grabs my arm and twists it so that my back is pressed against his stomach. He takes the gun out of the holster and points it towards me, “What do you think you’re doing, ma’am?”
“I’m picking flowers, what does it look like?” I retaliate. He releases me, but the gun is still cautiously aimed at my head.
