Page 62 of Truth Revealed

Answer, dammit!

But every time it rang and went unanswered, her heart sank a little more. Then it went to voicemail.

“I’m sorry, but the voicemail box you are attempting to reach has not been set up y—”

“Dammit,” she hissed and hung up the phone, slamming it face down on Persy’s desk. “Pull up the cameras.”

What are you doing? She wanted to ask him, but he wasn’t there for her to yell at.

Persy refrained from responding, but her hands flew into motion over the keyboard nonetheless. The screen flickered back and forth before she finally pulled up a camera near Truth’s location.

“Wait, watch. He’s about to come through this intersection,” Persy said, her finger pointing.

Pain’s car flew under the camera, too quick for them to see, but Persy did something and made the footage rewind. It stopped, angled perfectly so they could clearly see Truth’s face, his brows pinched in worry as he gripped the wheel.

Daria’s mind raced in circles. Why would Truth take Pain’s car without telling them? Why would he slip out unannounced? The camera footage was clear enough to show the passenger’s side of the car empty, which meant Truth was acting alone.

“His weird phone calls—all the errands he’s been running.” Death’s voice was as dark as his namesake as his gaze flicked to Betrayal. “And that kid—Youth—mentioned that he’d been talking to one of us.” Death raked a hand down his face and groaned in frustration. “I forgot until now. But that explains how Pandora’s demons knew where we’d be the night of laser tag.”

Daria’s throat closed up, dread and sorrow almost swallowing her whole. “No. That’s not what’s happening. He went to—to…”

“Daria, stop,” Misery whispered, his arms wrapping around her from behind. The pity and hurt in her dark demon’s tone were enough for tears to well in her eyes. “He’s heading toward the other side of town.”

Daria glanced toward the computer screen again. The blue dot of Truth’s tracker was still moving toward the edge of town, away from all the other dots.

“He’s not playing us,” she hissed through gritted teeth as their faces all swam together in her vision. Wiping off the tears in jerky motions, she stood up straight and stared them down. “Truth is better than that. We’re just going to have to track him down and figure out what the fuck is going on.”

“I thought I was being paranoid, but something did feel… off about him lately. I don’t know about this tracking him down business,” Betrayal mused, tone wary. “What if it is a trap, and we walk right into it?”

Her heart sank lower. If Betrayal had a bad feeling… that meant he was feeling betrayal. From Truth.

“Then we’ll kick ass and walk right out, just like we did at the warehouse. If he’s being coerced somehow, we can… we can fix it.”

From the glances they shared, they didn’t think that was the case, but Daria didn’t give a shit. “I’m going with or without you,” she declared, voice so low it was almost a whisper.

“Now, hold on,” Death pleaded, palms lifting in the air in surrender. “We need to think about this for a sec—”

“What is there to think about?” she exploded. “Truth is either kidnapped, or… or working with them for whatever fucking reason. Either way, I’m dragging his ass back here, alive, with or without your help.” Her breath came out in angry huffs, her heart pounding too fast for her to catch a breath, and that was when it came to life.

Chaos, deep inside, tumbling and twisting like vines. Those vines were growing thorns, and those thorns stabbed and prickled at her insides, demanding their release. They were urgent, demanding, spinning just as quickly as her thoughts were.

“Well?” she prompted. “Are you coming or not?”

“Are you kidding? We’d follow you anywhere,” Misery whispered into the back of her neck.

Her heart thumped. “I would follow you guys too,” she admitted, and then glanced at each of her demons. The steady, beautiful enigma that was Death. The bright but stormy contrast of Hope. Even Betrayal, with his strength and cockiness. And Misery with enough affection and love to balance out his darker tendencies. “All of you. Which is why we’re going after Truth.”

“I’m going too,” Sofia demanded in a soft voice.

Wrath made a noise that died in his throat, but Death nodded.

“I don’t think we should split up anyway. We don’t need a repeat of this evening. We need to stay together so they can’t attack us separately.” He turned to Daria, the violet in his gaze becoming violent.

“Lead the way,” Death commanded.

PANDORA

“Where is he?” Pandora demanded, glaring at Deceit. “He needs to explain what the hell happened at that house.”