Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,122

You need me.”

I stood there, about ready to hit her again, but she was right. I had a much better chance of getting out of here with her.

She refilled the water bottle that I’d spilled when I threw it, and I stalked back into the bedroom, throwing on the underwear and bra she gave me. I didn’t put on the clothes yet, because if I faced the guys again, they’d wonder where I got them.

I pulled on Aydin’s Oxford and tied up my wet hair into a ponytail with a rubber band I’d snatched from the asparagus in the fridge.

“Listen…” Alex entered the room, stuffed the bottle into the bag and tossed the duffle into the passageway again. “We guessed Will was sent here several months ago—maybe a year or more, we don’t know exactly. He’d been using and drinking, and we figured with his grandfather’s re-election coming up, Senator Grayson took matters into his own hands before Will became a liability.”

A year… So, he had been here that long. At least.

“We couldn’t get him out because no one would tell us where it was,” she told me, “but we could get someone in.”

Me?

But no. She said she didn’t know why I was here.

So, that meant they sent her?

“Michael, Kai, Damon…” I rattle off, “and they sent you?”

She stared at me, but the hesitation in her eyes said it all.

“No,” she finally admitted. “Michael was coming. I… I micked him before the pick-up.”

I narrowed my eyes. She roofied him? “Why?” I searched for words. “Alex, why would you volunteer for this? A woman would be in so much more danger. It’s crazy.”

Her gaze faltered, and she didn’t answer me. Why would she put herself in such unnecessary risk when anyone could’ve come for Will?

Unless…

Unless she loved him.

That was the only reason she’d come in Michael Crist’s place. She thought only she’d be able to bring Will home.

My stomach coiled and jealousy rolled through me, making my heart pound. It was my place to save him. Not hers.

But it was ridiculous for me to have such a thought, I knew that.

I was jealous, though. I knew their history and I liked Alex—more than I wanted to—but somehow it hadn’t hurt until now, because she just had this way about her that made you all warm and want to be wherever she was. It was impossible to hate her.

And I’d been kind of glad he had her at his side. As long as I didn’t let myself wonder if she was better for him. If she made him happy.

But now I couldn’t keep the thought from my mind.

She’d come for him. I hadn’t.

She was better for him.

I opened my mouth. “Alex, I—”

But she pressed her finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

The hallway outside my door creaked, and she grabbed my hand, pulling me into the secret passageway.

She closed the painting, and we stood there quietly as she dug in the bag at our feet for something.

“Do they know about the passageways?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t think so,” she told me. “I’ve been able to skulk around undetected.”

“Seems weird,” I said. “There’s a secret room off Aydin’s bedroom with a two-way mirror. They should suspect there’s more disguised rooms and tunnels.”

She rose, and then I heard a winding, the rechargeable flashlight illuminating as she pulled out a large, folded-up piece of paper that looked like a map.

I dropped my eyes, noticing it wasn’t paper. Not normal paper, anyway.

I grabbed it from her, the feel instantly familiar. It was vellum. This was a blueprint.

How did…? Where…? I snatched her flashlight and turned away to inspect the plans.

“If I’m being punked, I’m going to kill you,” I hissed, studying the floor plan. “If this is someone’s idea of a prank, and we’re in Thunder Bay…”

“And they imported that waterfall you saw outside?” she spat out. “Think, Em.”

She snatched the blueprints and flashlight out of my hands and walked past me, down the tunnel. I couldn’t help but glare at her back as she flipped over the folded document in her hand and studied it while we walked.

No, there wasn’t a waterfall in Thunder Bay. But there were plenty throughout New England and possibly more on the hundreds of islands dotting the coast.

I needed to see that blueprint again. I could read it a hell of a lot faster than she could.

A faint light caught my eye, and I stopped. “Alex…” I whispered, inching toward the wall and closer to the light. “What’s the plan here?”

If we