Page 109 of Vows of Silence

Then another message appeared.

Luca:Isabelle, answer me.

A horrible laugh escaped me, quiet and breathless and dangerously close to a sob.

I gripped the phone tighter, every instinct in me screaming to reply, to tell him everything, to let him be the voice in my ear because that was what Luca did. He made the unbearable feel manageable. He took my panic and rearranged it into something I could survive.

Isabelle:If you have to ask, you already know. I don’t care how you know, just fucking help me.

Luca:I can’t help you. Not with this. You’re going to get caught, little ember. There is no escape.

As soon as I was done reading the words, I heard the sound of dry leaves crunching under shoes behind me.

Chapter 36

The Flame

My heart stopped.

It felt as though every last drop of blood in my veins instantly chilled. The sounds of crunching leaves grew louder, closer, steadily creeping towards me.

And then Silas began to whistle. A low, leisurely tune that seemed so out of place when my entire body was shaking with fear.

The entire forest grew quiet—even the insects quietened their chirping, leaving me with nothing but an eerie silence. I vaguely remembered a documentary I watched that said if the forest goes deathly quiet, you’re in danger. There’s an apex predator nearby. That couldn’t have been nearer to the truth.

The next crunch of leaves broke me out of my trance, and I took off again, no longer paying attention to where I was running or what I was running past.

All I cared about was putting distance between me and Silas.

I ran because I didn’t know what else to do. It didn’t matter that every logical part of my mind understood how pointless it was. It didn’t matter that my feet were already sore, that my lungs were burning, that the cold air was cutting through my throat every time I dragged in another frantic breath. Running was the only thing my body understood.

Put some distance between us. Keep moving.Survive!

Those were simple enough concepts, even if the reality was laughable. I had no shoes, no plan, no idea where the forest ended, and somewhere behind me Silas fucking Falcone was whistling as though this entire thing was nothing more than an amusing way to spend his morning.

My phone buzzed again, and I almost screamed with fright.

Luca:Stop running, little ember. It will be better that way.

A breathless, disbelieving laugh escaped me. It would definitely not be better! Silas would make me pay for this. He would see to it that I never ran again.

The thought of ending back up in the basement made me want to hurl. Because I knew this time, I wouldn’t be there as a pampered prisoner.

Isabelle:Fuck you, Luca.That’s not helpful.

Luca:Neither is what you’re doing. What is your end goal here? You’re going to get caught.

“Fantastic,” I muttered, pushing past another branch as it clawed at my sleeve. “Really comforting, thank you.”

My end goal was to escape. Wasn’t that perfectly fucking obvious?

The whistling drifted through the trees again, sounding far too close for comfort. It didn’t sound as though he was gaining much ground on me. There was no rush of movement, no frantic crashing and snapped branches. But he sounded close. He sounded relaxed and casual.

He didn’t sound as though he was hunting me. He sounded as though he was allowing me to run because it entertained him. Because he knew there was nowhere I could go.

It wasn’t the best thought to have at a time like this.

Why isn’t he more nervous? Why doesn’t he believe there’s the smallest possibility I could actually escape?