I tear away from the guy with black-pit eyes.
I dive.
The last thing I hear before the blue swallows me whole is my own scream, stretching thin and then cutting off as the water closes over my head like a mouth swallowing me down.
SIXTEEN
CALEB
I grabmy phone and pull up the tracker app Silas made me install on her phone before he gifted it to her.
Yeah, it felt like a violation at first—until we used it to find her at that truck stop about to hop in some random stranger’s big rig. Now I check it without guilt.
Her dot hasn’t moved far. Thank god.
I stare at the coordinates, and my brain automatically calculates: 2.3 miles from here. At 35 mph average with four traffic lights, twelve minutes. Call it fifteen with parking.
Fifteen minutes. 900 seconds. I can do this.
I zoom in, screenshot the coordinates, and snatch my keys off the desk.
But the second I hit my door, reality slams into me. Mom and Silas are downstairs. Movie night. They startedat 7:30 p.m. Movie runs 132 minutes. Should end at 9:42 p.m.
It’s 8:26 p.m. now.
If I walk past them, jingling keys, they’ll corner me. Demand answers. And then Silas will lose his shit when he finds out where Harper went and what she’s doing.
Rule #7: Don’t disappoint Mom.
Rule #681: Don’t take the car without permission.
Rule #2: Don’t lie to Mom.
I’m about to break all three. Probably about ten more, if I’m honest.
My hands are shaking. I shove them in my pockets. Thumb to index, index to middle, middle to ring, ring to pinky.
Can’t afford the time to calm down. Harper needs?—
I can’t waste ten minutes arguing while Harper’s in danger.
My eyes cut to the bathroom. The balcony. The oak tree.
Rule #156: Don’t take unnecessary risks.
Rule #203: Plan before acting.
Rule # —
I can’t remember the number—something about always having a backup plan.
The rules are screaming at me. My whole system is screaming at me.
But Harper is out there, and I’m wasting time.
Fuck it. I’m doing this.
I move.