all you.”
The way she said it made it sound like I was somehow special to him. I knew he’d said as much to me, but hearing it from someone else, someone who knew him before, made it all the more real.
“Secondly,” she continued, “you have to have eye contact to compel someone, dummy.”
Levi had been whispering in my ear, not looking into my eyes. It was his words, his voice, and his strength that had calmed me, not some mystical power vampires possess. I looked back at him and shot him an apologetic smile. He shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re freaking out, or else you’d have realized… Now, I need you to go back to your cabin,” he said.
“What? No.”
“Piper, please. Time is running out. Go back to your cabin and stay with True and your campers. Micah will tell me where to find Sarah and your mom. I will get her back. I promise. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
I nodded, my head moving in short, jerky motions as his grip tightened on me. His lips pressed against my forehead before he pushed me away, nudging me toward the door.
“Go. I’ll be back with your mom before you know it.”
I walked back to Saka’am alone and terrified, wondering why I’d just gone along with Levi’s plan. I felt weak, useless, letting the vampires do all the work while the frail human went to hide in her cabin.
Maybe I should’ve asked Levi to compel me to forget for a while. Things would’ve been so much easier.
“Where the hell is he?”
I grumbled the words under my breath, and True’s grip on my hand tightened. She whispered something about everything being okay, trying to keep me calm so I wouldn’t freak out and wake the girls. We were sitting on my bunk, where I filled her in on what was happening, and my eyes had been trained on the closed door for the last hour.
I shouldn’t have agreed to stay here. I should’ve been out there, helping Levi rescue my mother. I tried to stand, but True squeezed my hand and pulled me back down.
“You can’t go out there, Piper,” she hissed.
“I have to do something,” I whispered back.
Her eyes darted around the dim cabin before landing back on me. She leaned in close, bringing her mouth to my ear.
“They’re vampires,” she stressed, “and you’re human. Having you there would only put more pressure on Levi because he’d have to protect you and your mom. Please, give him some more time before you charge in like a bat out of hell.”
I opened my mouth to argue, to tell her Badass Piper could take care of herself, but two swift knocks on the window cut me off.
“Levi,” I gasped, jumping up to rip open the shade.
Micah’s frowning face greeted me instead. She motioned for me to come outside, and I started for the door. True’s strong fingers wrapped around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.
“It might be a trap,” she mouthed, knowing Micah would hear her if she actually said it.
I shook my head and whispered, “I trust her.”
I didn’t know when that became true, but as the words passed my lips, I realized they were. Levi trusted her, and I trusted him. And luckily, True trusted me, because she released her grip on my wrist and motioned for me to lead the way.
I opened the door, we snuck out, and I closed it quietly behind us. As I turned, Micah popped up in front of me, and I barely smothered my scream. She was so freaking quiet, not a single board on the porch popped or squeaked.
“Don’t do that,” I hissed.
“Sorry,” she said, smirking for a moment before letting it drop. “I had to come. Levi’s in trouble.”
“What do you mean?’ I asked, panic filling my voice as she pulled me off the porch and away from the sleeping girls in the cabin.
“Sarah got the drop on him,” Micah hissed. “She has him and your mom in some cabin about three-quarters of a mile from here.”
“Why are you telling us?” True asked, suspicion evident in her voice. “Why not Dean Purty or the other vampires?”
Micah rolled her eyes. “I did go to the dean first,” she said. “He told me to stay put and went to The Society to get help. The other counselors prefer to stay out of it. Too much is at stake.”
Her eyes landed on me, and even in the dark I