As we entered a small clearing near the overgrown path leading up to the fire tower, Vader barked back at us from where he was circling Titan. Maisey’s horse neighed a nervous greeting. She’d left him there, untied, because you didn’t tether a horse in the forest. If they were attacked by a cougar or other wild animal, they needed the freedom to run.
“Maisey!” I shouted. The sound rebounded through the rain and clouds.
Fallon and Parker repeated my call.
Vader’s nose hit the ground near Titan’s hooves and then sprinted through the brush toward the rocky incline before I could stop him.
I slid down from the saddle and headed after my dog at a dead run.
Chapter Thirty
Maisey
LET YOUR TEARS FALL
Performed by Kelly Clarkson
ELEVEN YEARS AGO
HER: I don’t know how to thank your dad for helping me sort through all the bills.
HIM: He was happy to help. But he was also frustratedyour dad hadn’t taken care of it himself.
HER: Sometimes, I’m not sure it even occurs to Dad there are bills to pay.
HIM: It’s not like he married your mom right out of high school. He was an adult with bills to pay long before he met her.
HER: But he’s so…lost right now, Beckett.
HIM: And you’re not? You’re fucking fifteen. And why isn’t Chelsea helping? She’s going to be moving out next year when she goes to school. She should be more prepared than you to handle this shit.
HER: You’re more upset than I am.
HIM: Someone needs to be upset on your behalf.
HER: It won’t change anything. It’ll only give you heartburn. Believe me. I know.
PRESENT DAY
I shivered in the relentless rain. The downpour wasn’t pelting me like daggers any longer, but it was still a steady stream. What had happened to summer? The heavy humidity that had been in the air for over a week had finally and truly broken, leaving behind a raging thunderstorm. It didn’t have the iciness of our winter storms, but it was still cool—biting, even—as it whipped through my drenched clothing.
Lightning cracked, landing just above me on the mountaintop andcausing me to nearly jump out of my skin.
This was stupid.
I had no weapon. No protection.
Beckett would be furious.
But the text had been very clear—come alone to the old fire tower, retrieve your father, and then leave town for good.
Another tremor ran up my spine, not only because of the wet and cold but because someone hated me this much. Wanted me gone so badly they’d risk my father’s life. Risk mine.
I moved slowly through the trees, using the trunks as cover as I strained to see through the clouds drifting low over the path that led up to the abandoned lookout. Was the person who’d done this there? Waiting for me? The tower hadn’t been used since before I’d been born. Aerial cameras and drones had long since replaced the human watch. For as long as I could remember, it had seemed like nothing more than an abandoned lighthouse sitting amongst the forest.
As kids, Fallon and I had ventured up to it once or twice, but like the caves where bandits had lived in the eighteen hundreds, the danger of it had kept us from risking it often. We’d gone just enough to satisfy childhood curiosities.
My phone vibrated once again. The slew of texts that had come in from Beckett and Fallon made my chest ache. They’d be angry I’d come on my own. But I couldn’t risk Dad’s life by not following the orders given to me. And hopefully, Fallon would remember she could find me on the Find Family app. Hopefully, they’d bring help while I still did what this unknown enemy wanted and came by myself.