“Hey,” I said sleepily, lifting my head from the side of the bed. While there was definitely enough space for me to have slept next to my sister last night, I’d instead fallen asleep in the recliner that Cassius had pulled next to the bed for either me or him to sit in. “I’m here.”
“Where . . .”
“You’re safe.” I squeezed her hand, watching her absorb what I’d said. Even when she’d woken up yesterday afternoon and ate, she’d still been so groggy from the cocktail of sedatives. She’d asked what had happened, but could barely keep her eyes open to wait for an answer—one the meds would probably make her forget anyway.
This morning, though, all that was cleared.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Rach . . .”
“Please.” She looked up, her green eyes glistening. “I need to know.”
Carefully, I walked her through what happened yesterday morning. Being brought to one of the cabins during the morning meditation where I’d found her. Matthew helping us escape. Hiding at the campsiteuntil the authorities arrived. I left out what happened with Ben. Today wasn’t the day for that conversation.
“Oh, Lara. I’m so sorry—” Rachel’s shock cracked open into grief, and I immediately slid onto the bed and held her to me.
“Don’t apologize, Rach. Please.” I cupped her face, brushing her hair back. “None of this is your fault.”
Her shoulders shook with quiet, gasping sobs, and even though I told her not to, all she would repeat was her apology. So I let her. I held her and I let her grieve for what had happened and for what she’d hoped, because sometimes, that was all you could do.
I hugged her until her breathing finally started to calm and she drew back to look at me. “I just wanted to be better—to feel better about myself. To do better for myself.”
“I know, and they took advantage of that. They took advantage of you and all those other women, and they won’t ever do it again.”
“Something wasn’t right. I knew something wasn’t right,” she said, wiping tears from her face. “But I wanted it to be right, Lara. For once. I needed it to be right ...”
“You’re going to get through this—we’re going to get through this,” I promised and handed her a glass of water.
She took the glass, but the way she stared at it ... She was seeing something else.
“What is it?”
“They gave me a smoothie in a cup like this for breakfast. That’s the last thing before everything gets fuzzy.”
I frowned. Well, they were certainly consistent with their delivery method.
“They mixed a sedative in the drink. Those drugs can cause retrograde amnesia, so you forget some of what happened before they take effect,” I explained, and she brought the cup to her lips like she wanted to swallow down the memory before it made her sick.
“Where are the other women?”
“Getting the help they need,” I assured her.
“And Dr. Julia? Adam?”
“Dr. Julia was arrested, along with the rest of the men of Eden’s Children, and Adam is in the hospital. But, Rach ... his name wasn’t Adam.” Her eyes only grew rounder as I elaborated on James Braun’s journey to becoming Adam Eden, and those he’d preyed on and sacrificed along the way. Including, by the end, even Dr. Julia.
“I just ... It almost still feels like I’m dreaming. That none of this is real—could be real.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe ... you found me. I can’t believe you went to Calder.”
I braced, heart pounding, knowing we had to get to this part eventually.
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
Her face was drawn as she admitted, “I know how that feels.”