Page 120 of Séance

I’m not sure what’s worse—that she refuses to speak to us because she thinks we’re responsible, or that she’s not even aware that we’re here.

My fingers twitch for my knives, desperate to cut the bindings away…or carve up the officers who are preventing us from reaching her. It takes all my control not to hop in theambulance and drive off with her before they are aware of what’s happening.

“Orders,” the police officer says bluntly, looking even more unhappy. “Even though she surrendered herself, thehospitalstaff” —he spits out the words in disgust— “insisted that she’s dangerous and needed to be restrained. They sedated her because she has a history of hurting herself and others. The restraints are for her protection as well as ours. There is nothing I can do.”

From his scowl, I suspect he tried.

The man is only a few years older than us, but there is a hardness to him that says he’s seen stuff like this way too often. Even as I step toward the ambulance, watching them load her up into the back, he steps in my path, his shoulders pressing into mine. “Don’t. You’ll only get arrested. She needs you on the outside more than she needs you sitting in a jail cell.”

“Her jewelry.” I turn toward him, knowing how important her jewelry is to her. Without it, she would be vulnerable. My fists clench at my sides, and I’m seconds away from launching myself at the fucker. “Why did you remove it?”

“The young lady opted to remove them herself when the orderlies said they would remove them from her.” He reaches into his pocket and produces a small baggie that clinks when he hands it over.

Nestled inside is every single one of her warded rings.

I take the bag mutely, my chest feeling like it’s being cracked open when the doors to the ambulance slam shut. I’m barely conscious of Hicks’ voice rising as he talks faster and faster into his phone, my focus cemented on the attendants as they jump into the front of the vehicle and it slowly creeps down the driveway.

“Pookie!” James leaps over the railing, devastation in his scream as he runs after the ambulance. The police give chase, but Gunner steps down the stairs, blocking them with his bulk.

Knowing my brother wouldn’t do well in jail after losing Rue, I charge after him, barely able to hold him back as the ambulance pulls onto the street.

“You promised you would never leave me!” he yells, everything inside him crumbling as the ambulance disappears down the road, and he sags in my arms.

My chest pangs at my brother’s declaration. It’s only been the two of us for so long. Letting the guys in was hard, but I eventually learned to tolerate them.

It was different with Rue.

She is like my heart living outside my body.

It’s the most terrifying, thrilling thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. As I hug my brother to my chest, I vow to get Rue back no matter what. There is no place she can go where we won’t follow, no place they can hide her that I won’t infiltrate. It’s only a matter of time before I break her out.

After all, it’s what I do best.

“Son of a bitch,” Ellis curses, pushing his glasses up to squeeze the bridge of his nose. “It’s her father. He’s trying to get her back. He’s using the incident at the police station and the social media reports from last night to prove she’s mentally unstable.”

“Do we need to call Mrs. Killaghan? Can she do anything to stop them from taking her away?” Gunner asks, and I turn to discover the rest of the guys have followed us, leaving us standing in the middle of the street as the police cars pull away.

“It’s already too late,” Hicks says as he lowers his phone, his eyes hard as he gazes down the empty road. It’s been twenty minutes since they took her away from us, but none of us have moved. “That was Mr. Hollis. There is no RueKillaghan or Farthington in the system at St. Mary’s Hospital, or anywhere for that matter. The psychiatric ward is defunct. It was discontinued in the eighties when it was discovered that the doctors were experimenting on their patients.”

Jameson’s head snaps up at the news, vengeance darkening his pale blue eyes until they turn stormy. “Then where the fuck did they take my pookie?”

A muscle ticks in Hicks’ jaw, and he shakes his head. “That’s what I intend to find out.”

To be continued…