EVIL VILLAIN (The Royal Court #3) - Rebel Hart Page 0,25

all, I’d settled into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep.

By the time I woke up the next morning, Nathan and Nikita were no longer in the room. I took my time waking up, took a few minutes to text Ciara, my parents, and Gus that I loved and missed them, then I dragged myself off the couch and down to my bedroom. I changed into a pair of plain blue jeans and a black t-shirt to match a pair of my favorite combat boots, then I fluffed up my hair, starting at the brown roots and dragging my fingers down to the blond tips at my shoulders, then I left the room.

A murmur of voices got louder as I made my way downstairs, and just like the day before, everyone was sitting around the kitchen island, helping themselves to a new collection of breakfast foods, this time pastries and fruits. I took a seat next to Avery and dropped my head to her shoulder.

“Good morning,” she said, kissing my forehead. “How’d you sleep?”

I looked across at Nathan and Nikita. “Much better with a couple friends close by. Thanks.”

They didn’t respond, but each gave me warm smiles, and I was happy some of the discomfort was shaking loose and I was feeling better being around my friends. Sicily had gone home the night before, but just before I had a chance to ask if he was planning on coming back, he came wandering into the kitchen.

“Hey!” he called out.

“Hey!” everyone called back like we were on the set of a sitcom.

His jaw dropped. “Oh wow. I didn’t think that would work.” He looked across the kitchen at me and pointed. “There’s my girl.”

“Hey, Sis,” I greeted with a warm smile.

Sicily sat down at an open stool and helped himself to a few fruits and pastries.

“How did ping checking go yesterday?” Nathan asked.

“Really good,” Sicily said. “We still got a couple thousand left to go, but we can get it done in a week, maybe, with everyone’s help.”

“That’s good,” Nathan said. “Brayden was helpful, but we didn’t get a whole bunch of information to trace since he was always blindfolded when he traveled to meet with my dad. Nikita had an idea though.”

“Well, Jaxon and I found Brayden walking out in North Postings. If we work with him, we may be able to find where he was before he got to where we found him. Maybe if we just drive back there, a sound, a pothole he might have felt, anything that could steer us in the right direction,” Nikita explained.

“Ooh, ooh, yeah! Like that sense memory thing,” Sicily said.

Everyone went silent and stared at him, so I said, “Explain.”

“Sometimes when people get robbed or raped or assaulted from behind, cops will use sense memory to try and help someone remember details they don’t think they have. There was a point at which you weren’t blindfolded, right?” Sicily asked Brayden.

“I’d meet the two guys, usually outside of school, and then they’d put the blindfolds on me and take me to whatever car and hand me over. I’d have the blindfold on then until they took it off of me in Connor’s office or wherever he was,” Brayden explained.

“When you were walking out where Jaxon and Nikita found you, were you blindfolded until you got there?” Sicily asked.

“Uh…” Brayden screwed his face as he tried to think backwards. “Yes.”

“Did you walk or did they drive you there?”

“Walked,” Brayden said, “Well, they dragged me there. They didn’t even take the blindfold off, just stood me there and unbound my hands. Eventually, I pulled the blindfold off myself and then a few minutes later, Nikita and Jaxon found me.”

Sicily put a hand on Brayden’s shoulder, and it seemed to bolster Brayden’s confidence. “That’s awesome. So all you guys have to do is take Brayden to about where he started, blindfold him again, and see if you can remember which directions you turned in and stuff. Like Nikita said. Try and feel a pothole, remember if you heard anything. You’d be surprised what your brain took note of.”

“Okay,” Brayden replied immediately. “I’ll give it a try.” He looked over at Kyle. “Will you come?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said with a smile. “I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

“Well, it can’t be a whole lot of people this time either,” I said. “I’d like to go, and Nikita and Jaxon should go, since they found Brayden.”

“Can I go?” Avery asked. “No offense, Sicily, but the ping