Page 52 of The Night Calling
Her eyes widened. Dom frowned. “Whatever you’re doing, if it means our freedom, we’re in.”
Lucille nodded.
A sliver of warmth wrapped around my chest. Though these two had practically terrorized me my entire life, they had changed, and right now, they looked at me with a hope that choked me.
“It might take time,” I continued. “Don’t say or do anything for now.”
Dom nodded, but I could see in his demeanor how hope was already changing him.
Lucille’s lips curled in a small smile. “You aren’t so bad after all.”
I scoffed at that. “I was never bad. You were.”
“That’s what you say,” she teased. But then she grew serious and lowered her voice again. “You can count on us.”
I nodded, turning my back on them before the demons came to see why it was taking so long.
The questions, the comments continued even after Rue and I left the corridor and went back to the kitchen to clean up.
Now that I was away from them, I worried I had precipitated things by giving a hint to Lucille and Dom. But this thing had been bursting inside of me. I couldn’t tell Minsi, and I wouldn’t tell Rue yet. I tried remembering Lucille had been in love with Shane for as long as I remembered, and Dom had been Shane’s best friend. They would be upset with us if we left them out.
Despite the increased security, I couldn’t help but hope when I entered the library to check on Minsi. The girl had ditched her lessons and was sprawled on the rug in the middle of the library, her stomach on the floor, her feet up and crossed at the ankles, and her shoulders propped up by her elbows. If she heard me come in, she didn’t say anything.
An invisible hand squeezed my chest. We all needed this nightmare to be over, but Minsi would benefit more than anyone. The girl needed treatment for her panic attacks; she needed real help.
After making sure she was okay, I went to the drawer where I had found Shane’s note before, but didn’t see anything. I searched between the shelves, under the rug’s corners … there was nothing.
With the increased security, Shane wouldn’t be able to come in.
And I wouldn’t be able to meet him, even if he called for me.
My chest sank a little.
Whatever plan he was coming up with, I hoped he could act on it from the outside of the barrier, because it seemed we couldn’t help him from inside here anymore.