EVIL VILLAIN (The Royal Court #3) - Rebel Hart Page 0,46

“There were lots of hallways,” Brayden said. “Twists and turns, but there will be a door first.”

We got to the bottom of the stairs and all stopped dead in our tracks. All at once, each one of us deflated entirely. It wasn’t that there were no twists and turns.

There was nothing at all. It was a big, empty room that stretched in all directions for probably two blocks.

“Do we have the wrong place?” I asked.

Nathan shook his head. “No. We’re in the right place. My dad just made sure it was totally cleaned out before he moved on. Even had the walls torn down. That’s just like him.”

“He tore the walls down?” I asked. “That’s excessive even for him. Are you sure?”

Kyle walked a little further into the room and pointed down. There were bright lines cutting through the floor, dividing it into halls and rooms like some sort of blueprint. “Here’s where the walls used to be. The dirt and grime is significantly less here.”

Nathan looked at me. “You shouldn’t underestimate my father. We wouldn’t be in this position if he wasn’t a lunatic.”

“So what do we do next?” Brayden asked.

“Nothing,” I replied. “We just hit another dead end.”

14

Deon

“You have to go get the fire extinguisher!” I screamed at Felicity. “Hurry up! Everything is burning to the ground!”

“I don’t know where it is,” Felicity barked back.

“On the counter over there! Hurry!”

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”

“Felicity!” I screeched.

“Shut the fuck up! I’ve got it! Move so you don’t catch on fire.”

On the screen, big, bright red letters that said ‘mission failed’ appeared. I turned and looked at Felicity, who was still flicking the button on her controller that operated the fire extinguisher as if we hadn’t already lost.

“I think you can stop,” I growled.

She held her hand up in my face. “Don’t look at me like that, you brat. The kitchen caught on fire because of you.”

My jaw dropped. “How was it me? You were supposed to be watching the fries!”

Felicity was sitting in her favorite spot on the couch, while I was sitting in the comfortable armchair. Concrete was curled up in a ball next to Felicity on the couch, and his ears flicked every time we yelled back and forth at one another, like he was irritated we were disrupting his nap.

“You were supposed to be watching the fries,” Felicity whined back at me. “I was doing the pizzas.”

“The ovens for the pizzas aren’t even on your side,” I argued. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

All the playful frustration left Felicity’s face as she stared at the course layout on the television. “Oh… Yeah, you’re right.”

“Okay. I’m going to try again. Please don’t let the fries set the whole kitchen on fire.”

She side-eyed me. “Don’t get lippy with me.” Just as I was about to hit the button to restart the level of the co-op cooking game we were playing, Felicity’s phone rang. She glanced over at it on the table next to the couch, and then sat up a little straighter. “Oh. Hang on. It’s Nico.” I sat up at attention too as she brought her phone up to her ear. “Hello? Hey.”

She stood up and walked out of the room and though I was tempted to follow her, I let her go. She preferred to have conversations isolated, I’d noticed. It was less about keeping information from me, because she always told me everything, but more about being able to focus her thoughts. All I could do was hope that his call was a sign that he’d found something.

“Concrete.” I tapped my leg. “Come here, boy.” Concrete turned his head in my direction and looked at me, but didn’t move. “Come here.” He offered a couple of blinks, but stayed in place and I snickered. “Fine. I guess I’ll come to you.” I stood up and his tail immediately started to flap, growing more excited as I closed in and sat down where Felicity had been moments before. I sat down and he did move then, but only enough to scootch forward and set his head in my lap and bear his belly. “Brat.”

I started to scratch his stomach, and in no time at all his tongue rolled out of his mouth and to the side and his eyes drifted shut again. As I laughed at him, I realized how difficult it would be to leave him when the time eventually came. I’d have to get a dog of my own as soon