When The Grave Calls (The Veil Diaries #9) - B.L. Brunnemer Page 0,52
Ordin to hug you again?” My own voice cracked. “What if you couldn’t hold me? Would you have walked away then?”
He shook his head, his brows drawn together. “I would have waited forever.”
His calloused fingers moved to my face but stopped just before he touched me. I reached up and pressed his warm hand against my cheek. “And so will I.”
He shook his head. “Baby, I don’t know if I ever will.”
“Then I’ll be happy with just being near to you.”
“Really?” He stroked my cheekbone with his thumb. “Could you really be happy like that?”
Love filled my heart as I nodded. “Just don’t give up on us, okay?”
He bent down and lifted me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hand cradled my butt. I buried my nose in his neck and took a deep breath of engine grease. I held him and he held me. As long as we had each other, we would be okay.
A few hours later I knocked on Miles’ bedroom door. A muffled voice called me in.
I found him on his bed, over the covers, staring up at the ceiling. Without a word, I went to one of the bookcases around the room and found Robinson Crusoe before I sat on the bed beside him and plumped my pillows behind me.
“I thought it was Ethan’s night tonight?” he asked in a low murmur.
“It was. He decided that you needed me more.” I opened the book, turned to the page where we left off and began to read out loud. “‘Never any young adventurer’s misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow …’”
It wasn’t long before Miles scooted closer, resting his head in my lap as I read to him, my fingers playing with his curls without thought between turning pages.
Eventually, he lifted his head. “Do you think my mother will be at the funeral?”
I closed my eyes. Why couldn’t he ask an easy question? “I don’t know.” My fingers continued to run through his hair. “I hope so.”
“Do you think she’s dead?”
My chest grew tighter as I tried to figure out how to say what I wanted to say. “I don’t know, Nemo.” I looked down at him and saw the lost look on his face that he tried to hide. “But no matter what, we’re here. And we’re not going anywhere.”
His arm slid around my hip and held me tight. I went back to reading. Eventually, his breathing deepened, his body relaxing, though his grip never eased.
Chapter 10
Jade and the others left before dawn to attack the location Miles’ sources had found.
We were waiting in the living room, hoping to hear good news, when Jade walked through the foyer with a bundled figure in her arms. Her face was like stone as she passed the doorway.
Uma came into the living room before we could follow.
“We found her. The girl,” Uma announced, her face lined with worry. “And others.”
Bile rose in my throat at the thought. “Others?”
Uma’s face was haunted as she turned to me. “The people who were missing.”
“What did they do to them?” Ethan asked, his voice rough.
I reached over and took his hand. He squeezed my fingers.
“They set up shop, just like in New Orleans,” Uma said before turning and starting out of the living room.
Like New Orleans? Fuck. That meant they were experimenting on people, blowing their channels wide open. “How many survived?”
Uma stopped at the door and turned back to us. “Everyone we found was alive.”
But how many had already died? The question hung in the air.
“How many, Uma?” I asked again, refusing to be sidestepped.
She sighed. “We found four teenagers.”
Zeke stepped forward. “But no adults?”
Uma shook her head.
No, that wasn’t right. “With how many people are missing there had to have been more.”
Brody walked into the hallway and joined us from the foyer. “Do you think they had another location?”
Miles shook his head. “They haven’t found any shipments to other locations that look suspicious.”
“They’re probably dead and buried on the property,” Brody bit out. “There was a rotten stench about the place.”
Uma cursed. “There’s no way to know. The police will be all over that place by now.”
“Why are the police there?” I asked.
“We had to call in a tip,” Brody explained. “To get those kids back to their parents.”
Okay, that made sense.
“Were all of the survivors’ channels blown?” Brody asked. “You didn’t say earlier.”