Perfect Lies
Page 16
No. No no no no. I couldn't be this wrong, not about someone. If I am this wrong about Pixie, what about James? "You did the same thing, you did everything he asked you to. Are you telling me you didn't really like me? Don't really love me?"
"Of course I love you!"
"Then why couldn't she? Why is it so impossible that she'd be loyal to me, really be my friend?" I hang my head, ashamed of the hot tears sliding down my cheeks. She's my friend. She is. I know she is. I would know if she weren't. Wouldn't I?
"That's not what I'm saying."
"It is. And you're right. No one who could hear my thoughts would want to be around me. Not even you." She must hate me, she has to hate me. She's one of them.
"Shh. Stop. I know you, Fia, and I love you." His voice is fierce, and fierce James is my biggest comfort. "All I'm saying is, you have to be sure she won't tell. Are you sure?"
I wipe my face, miserable and alone. So very alone. All I have is James. He's the only one I can trust. "What did you find in North Dakota?" I ask, stalling.
His voice is dark and strained. "Another complication. I'll tell you later when you're free to think. You decide what to do about the Sadie situation. Fast. And then call me. Do not talk to my father or anyone from Keane until you've called me."
"Okay."
"And don't kill Mae yet," he says casually, like it's an afterthought. "We can only get away with that so many times."
"I-" The line is dead. I turn back toward where I left Pixie, the "yet" echoing in my skull.
I am not lost, I never get lost, my sense of direction is perfect, but oh, I am so very very lost. I drift back toward the sidewalk where I left Pixie. She's sitting, legs tucked under her chin. She doesn't look up as I sit next to her.
I don't know what to think. Not for myself and not for her.
"We can't take her back with us," I say.
"All right."
"We have to lie about why."
"All right."
"Really? Just like that?"
She pushes her sunglasses on top of her bleached hair and looks at me. Her eyes are dark, rich brown. It's the first time I've actually noticed their color behind all the eye makeup. They're pretty. I like them.
"Just like that," she says. "I trust your decision."
I hang my head and laugh. "Why?"
"Because when we were on a sidewalk ringed with men holding guns, you only thought about getting me out safe. I don't trust you to take care of yourself, but I trust you to take care of me. And I trust you to take care of her." She jerks her head in the direction of Sadie's house.
"What if all this is me taking care of me?" I whisper.
"You wouldn't even begin to know how." She stands and holds a hand out to help me.
I take it.
I hope James is wrong. But I don't know. I don't know how to feel a friendship. I only ever had Annie, and what we have is so much more than friendship. Is this how friends feel, this give-and-take, this sharp fear tempered with hope?
"Let's call for a pickup at that cafe. It's too freaking green out here." Pixie glares at the spiky grass and abundant, bright flowers around us like they are personally offensive, then replaces her sunglasses as a shield against nature.
I take a step to follow her but
There is something
Something big
Something very very big very very wrong so wrong-
I turn in time to see a large white van with no windows pull into Sadie's driveway. Two men get out and walk straight up the front porch and into the house without knocking.
"Pixie," I say, but I don't wait for her to respond, I sprint. Wrong wrong wrong wrong, I have to get there first, I have to stop them.
I'm five houses away. The driver rolls down his window and meets my eyes. I know him. How do I know him?
Sandy blond with the gun! The one who worked with Lerner!
Someone slams into me from behind, tackling me to the sidewalk. I roll, pulling my attacker with me and pinning the person to the ground, my forearm against a throat. Pixie's throat. Why?
"Stop!" she gasps. "Stop! You have to stop! He's thinking about Annie! If you take Sadie, they'll hurt her. He knows I can hear him, he's telling me what he'll do to her, it's . . . oh please please stop." She sobs, and I lean back, watching as the two men who went inside walk out with Sadie, holding her elbows. She doesn't fight them, but hangs her head as though she's being marched to the gallows.
Sandy blond with the gun smiles at me, tips his head.
"I'll kill you," I scream, and I mean it, I do, I will kill him I will I will I will.
He laughs. Closes the door. Backs out of the driveway and drives right past us, because he can, and I can't do a thing to stop him.
Chapter Eighteen
ANNIE
Four Weeks Before
COLE LETS OUT A LONG, LOW STRING OF SWEARWORDS. "There's a Bentley parked in front of her house. They're already here, it has to be them."
My stomach sinks. They're right there, right inside. James, that monster, and Eden-whom I miss so much it hurts. Why is she still working with them?
I snap. "Wait! What time is it? Sarah, look up where her school is! In the vision, she got home after James and Eden were already there. Then Fia came a few minutes after Sadie walked in. So it was James and Eden, then Sadie, then Fia."
"Adam needs to stop texting me," she mutters. He was desperate to come when he found out it involved Fia, but Rafael agreed it was best for just the three of us to make this trip. "Okay, go two blocks east and pull over. The high school gets out in five minutes, and she's close enough she'll probably walk. This will put us right in her way, unless she goes a strange route home."
Cole parks and we get out of the car. I tell them again what Sadie is wearing, though we've gone over the vision so much we all know every detail.
I lean against a wall, my cane in the car so we don't draw attention in case there are any other Keane employees out and about. Eden is right down the street. James is right down the street.
And Fia is here, somewhere.
I wish we could abandon Sadie and kidnap Fia instead.
"Sadie?" Sarah says, and I stand up straight.
"Yeah?" The girl sounds wary.
Sarah actually starts crying. "We did it. We found you first. I didn't think we would."
"I need to go home."
"You can't," I say. "There are people there. Bad people." Eden isn't bad. Fia isn't bad. She's not, she's not. "They want to take you to a private school. They'll say it's to help you, but they want to take advantage of you, use you for your abilities."
"What abilities?" Her voice is cautious, with an edge of fear.
"Do you see things? Things that haven't happened yet? Or maybe you can feel what other people feel. Or know what they're thinking without them telling you."
I can hear her breathing getting faster and more ragged. "I-no. No. I can't. No. I have to go home. My mom wouldn't send me to the school. They invited me already, and we said no."
"She's going to sign the papers, Sadie. I've already seen it. I went to the school. Please believe me that you want to stay as far away from it as you can."
"She said-my mom said-no, I'll go tell her." I feel the air shift as she walks by me and I am so desperate to keep her here, away from that house, that I reach out for her. If she goes home, if she meets Fia, we have lost our chance forever, I know it. I put my arm out too high, though, and my hand brushes her neck, her hair tangling in my fingers.
"Sadie, wait, please-"
She stumbles, then something bangs on the car hood next to us.
"Sadie? Are you okay?" Sarah asks.
"She's having a seizure." Cole grunts, then I hear the car door opening.
"What are you doing?" I ask, my hands fluttering uselessly in the empty space in front of me.
"I'm putting her in the car. We're exposed here, and if she seizes for too long, we need to get to a hospital fast."
I wait, frozen, in the middle of the sidewalk. This is all a mess. It's broken. We were supposed to convince her. I wanted to kidnap Fia, not Sadie. "What if she still wants to go home?"
Sarah answers. "It's not up to her anymore. Cole, take care of her. There's one more piece we have to fix." She grabs my arm, starts pulling me down the sidewalk.
"Did you see something?" Cole shouts.
"I saw everything," Sarah says, an unfamiliar ragged edge to her voice, but it's so quiet I'm sure Cole couldn't hear her.
"Where are we going?"
"Fia shows up after Sadie, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, don't you want to talk to her?"
"Of course, but is that a good idea? She's with James, and-"
"Oh, I am very well aware that she's with James. We'll wait next to the house. She'll know we're there. Her perfect instincts will tell her something is wrong."
Sarah's going too fast, and I stumble several times trying to keep up. After a few minutes she pushes me against a splintered wooden fence. I rub my arm where her fingers dug in so hard I can feel bruises.
"Sarah, please tell me what's going on."
Her footsteps continue in front of me, back and forth, pacing. I think she's whispering to herself, but I can't make out the words.
And then she says, "Well hello, Fia. So nice of you to join us."
"Fia?" I stand up straight, holding out a trembling hand. Fia's here. She's right here.
"What are you doing?" Fia hisses, and it feels like a slap in the face.
"We're saving Sadie."
"No, Annie, what are you doing here? You can't be here! You're dead, you have to be dead! I thought she'd be safe with you! What are you thinking, bringing her where you know Keane's people are?"
There's a metallic click. Sarah's voice sounds calmer than it has for the last few weeks. "You need to stop."
"You have the safety on," Fia says. "If you're going to point a gun at me, take the safety off first."
"You're pointing a gun at her? Are you crazy?" I grab for where Sarah was, and then she's behind me, her arm around my neck, the barrel of the gun against my temple.
"You have to stop," she says again.
"I can't," Fia whispers, and she doesn't sound scared. I am scared. I am so scared I can't move. "I have to finish it or all this . . . everything is meaningless. Put the gun down."
"You think you're the only one willing to go that far? If it means stopping you, I'll do it. I'll do anything."
"It's not about Fia," I say, swallowing and swallowing against the pressure at my throat. "It's about Keane. Put the gun down, Sarah."
"Do you see Keane anywhere? Because I don't! All I see is Fia, snatching girl after girl after girl before I can save them. Do you know what else I see? Broken girls floating lifeless in the river. So many. All the ones that fail him. I don't see anything else, not anymore. Every vision, every time, dead girls. And she is helping him. She is making him so much stronger than he used to be. If I have to see one more body, one more pair of lifeless eyes-I won't. I can't. I know you, Fia. You're not untouchable. You need Annie safe in order to function." Her arm tightens, and the barrel digs into my skin. "Well, she's not safe anymore."
"Please," I whisper. How did I not see this coming? How could we not notice how unhinged Sarah had become?
"I'll give you a choice. Kneel on the ground and let me kill you, or I'll kill Annie. Either one will finish this. You or Annie. It's that simple."
"Of course I love you!"
"Then why couldn't she? Why is it so impossible that she'd be loyal to me, really be my friend?" I hang my head, ashamed of the hot tears sliding down my cheeks. She's my friend. She is. I know she is. I would know if she weren't. Wouldn't I?
"That's not what I'm saying."
"It is. And you're right. No one who could hear my thoughts would want to be around me. Not even you." She must hate me, she has to hate me. She's one of them.
"Shh. Stop. I know you, Fia, and I love you." His voice is fierce, and fierce James is my biggest comfort. "All I'm saying is, you have to be sure she won't tell. Are you sure?"
I wipe my face, miserable and alone. So very alone. All I have is James. He's the only one I can trust. "What did you find in North Dakota?" I ask, stalling.
His voice is dark and strained. "Another complication. I'll tell you later when you're free to think. You decide what to do about the Sadie situation. Fast. And then call me. Do not talk to my father or anyone from Keane until you've called me."
"Okay."
"And don't kill Mae yet," he says casually, like it's an afterthought. "We can only get away with that so many times."
"I-" The line is dead. I turn back toward where I left Pixie, the "yet" echoing in my skull.
I am not lost, I never get lost, my sense of direction is perfect, but oh, I am so very very lost. I drift back toward the sidewalk where I left Pixie. She's sitting, legs tucked under her chin. She doesn't look up as I sit next to her.
I don't know what to think. Not for myself and not for her.
"We can't take her back with us," I say.
"All right."
"We have to lie about why."
"All right."
"Really? Just like that?"
She pushes her sunglasses on top of her bleached hair and looks at me. Her eyes are dark, rich brown. It's the first time I've actually noticed their color behind all the eye makeup. They're pretty. I like them.
"Just like that," she says. "I trust your decision."
I hang my head and laugh. "Why?"
"Because when we were on a sidewalk ringed with men holding guns, you only thought about getting me out safe. I don't trust you to take care of yourself, but I trust you to take care of me. And I trust you to take care of her." She jerks her head in the direction of Sadie's house.
"What if all this is me taking care of me?" I whisper.
"You wouldn't even begin to know how." She stands and holds a hand out to help me.
I take it.
I hope James is wrong. But I don't know. I don't know how to feel a friendship. I only ever had Annie, and what we have is so much more than friendship. Is this how friends feel, this give-and-take, this sharp fear tempered with hope?
"Let's call for a pickup at that cafe. It's too freaking green out here." Pixie glares at the spiky grass and abundant, bright flowers around us like they are personally offensive, then replaces her sunglasses as a shield against nature.
I take a step to follow her but
There is something
Something big
Something very very big very very wrong so wrong-
I turn in time to see a large white van with no windows pull into Sadie's driveway. Two men get out and walk straight up the front porch and into the house without knocking.
"Pixie," I say, but I don't wait for her to respond, I sprint. Wrong wrong wrong wrong, I have to get there first, I have to stop them.
I'm five houses away. The driver rolls down his window and meets my eyes. I know him. How do I know him?
Sandy blond with the gun! The one who worked with Lerner!
Someone slams into me from behind, tackling me to the sidewalk. I roll, pulling my attacker with me and pinning the person to the ground, my forearm against a throat. Pixie's throat. Why?
"Stop!" she gasps. "Stop! You have to stop! He's thinking about Annie! If you take Sadie, they'll hurt her. He knows I can hear him, he's telling me what he'll do to her, it's . . . oh please please stop." She sobs, and I lean back, watching as the two men who went inside walk out with Sadie, holding her elbows. She doesn't fight them, but hangs her head as though she's being marched to the gallows.
Sandy blond with the gun smiles at me, tips his head.
"I'll kill you," I scream, and I mean it, I do, I will kill him I will I will I will.
He laughs. Closes the door. Backs out of the driveway and drives right past us, because he can, and I can't do a thing to stop him.
Chapter Eighteen
ANNIE
Four Weeks Before
COLE LETS OUT A LONG, LOW STRING OF SWEARWORDS. "There's a Bentley parked in front of her house. They're already here, it has to be them."
My stomach sinks. They're right there, right inside. James, that monster, and Eden-whom I miss so much it hurts. Why is she still working with them?
I snap. "Wait! What time is it? Sarah, look up where her school is! In the vision, she got home after James and Eden were already there. Then Fia came a few minutes after Sadie walked in. So it was James and Eden, then Sadie, then Fia."
"Adam needs to stop texting me," she mutters. He was desperate to come when he found out it involved Fia, but Rafael agreed it was best for just the three of us to make this trip. "Okay, go two blocks east and pull over. The high school gets out in five minutes, and she's close enough she'll probably walk. This will put us right in her way, unless she goes a strange route home."
Cole parks and we get out of the car. I tell them again what Sadie is wearing, though we've gone over the vision so much we all know every detail.
I lean against a wall, my cane in the car so we don't draw attention in case there are any other Keane employees out and about. Eden is right down the street. James is right down the street.
And Fia is here, somewhere.
I wish we could abandon Sadie and kidnap Fia instead.
"Sadie?" Sarah says, and I stand up straight.
"Yeah?" The girl sounds wary.
Sarah actually starts crying. "We did it. We found you first. I didn't think we would."
"I need to go home."
"You can't," I say. "There are people there. Bad people." Eden isn't bad. Fia isn't bad. She's not, she's not. "They want to take you to a private school. They'll say it's to help you, but they want to take advantage of you, use you for your abilities."
"What abilities?" Her voice is cautious, with an edge of fear.
"Do you see things? Things that haven't happened yet? Or maybe you can feel what other people feel. Or know what they're thinking without them telling you."
I can hear her breathing getting faster and more ragged. "I-no. No. I can't. No. I have to go home. My mom wouldn't send me to the school. They invited me already, and we said no."
"She's going to sign the papers, Sadie. I've already seen it. I went to the school. Please believe me that you want to stay as far away from it as you can."
"She said-my mom said-no, I'll go tell her." I feel the air shift as she walks by me and I am so desperate to keep her here, away from that house, that I reach out for her. If she goes home, if she meets Fia, we have lost our chance forever, I know it. I put my arm out too high, though, and my hand brushes her neck, her hair tangling in my fingers.
"Sadie, wait, please-"
She stumbles, then something bangs on the car hood next to us.
"Sadie? Are you okay?" Sarah asks.
"She's having a seizure." Cole grunts, then I hear the car door opening.
"What are you doing?" I ask, my hands fluttering uselessly in the empty space in front of me.
"I'm putting her in the car. We're exposed here, and if she seizes for too long, we need to get to a hospital fast."
I wait, frozen, in the middle of the sidewalk. This is all a mess. It's broken. We were supposed to convince her. I wanted to kidnap Fia, not Sadie. "What if she still wants to go home?"
Sarah answers. "It's not up to her anymore. Cole, take care of her. There's one more piece we have to fix." She grabs my arm, starts pulling me down the sidewalk.
"Did you see something?" Cole shouts.
"I saw everything," Sarah says, an unfamiliar ragged edge to her voice, but it's so quiet I'm sure Cole couldn't hear her.
"Where are we going?"
"Fia shows up after Sadie, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, don't you want to talk to her?"
"Of course, but is that a good idea? She's with James, and-"
"Oh, I am very well aware that she's with James. We'll wait next to the house. She'll know we're there. Her perfect instincts will tell her something is wrong."
Sarah's going too fast, and I stumble several times trying to keep up. After a few minutes she pushes me against a splintered wooden fence. I rub my arm where her fingers dug in so hard I can feel bruises.
"Sarah, please tell me what's going on."
Her footsteps continue in front of me, back and forth, pacing. I think she's whispering to herself, but I can't make out the words.
And then she says, "Well hello, Fia. So nice of you to join us."
"Fia?" I stand up straight, holding out a trembling hand. Fia's here. She's right here.
"What are you doing?" Fia hisses, and it feels like a slap in the face.
"We're saving Sadie."
"No, Annie, what are you doing here? You can't be here! You're dead, you have to be dead! I thought she'd be safe with you! What are you thinking, bringing her where you know Keane's people are?"
There's a metallic click. Sarah's voice sounds calmer than it has for the last few weeks. "You need to stop."
"You have the safety on," Fia says. "If you're going to point a gun at me, take the safety off first."
"You're pointing a gun at her? Are you crazy?" I grab for where Sarah was, and then she's behind me, her arm around my neck, the barrel of the gun against my temple.
"You have to stop," she says again.
"I can't," Fia whispers, and she doesn't sound scared. I am scared. I am so scared I can't move. "I have to finish it or all this . . . everything is meaningless. Put the gun down."
"You think you're the only one willing to go that far? If it means stopping you, I'll do it. I'll do anything."
"It's not about Fia," I say, swallowing and swallowing against the pressure at my throat. "It's about Keane. Put the gun down, Sarah."
"Do you see Keane anywhere? Because I don't! All I see is Fia, snatching girl after girl after girl before I can save them. Do you know what else I see? Broken girls floating lifeless in the river. So many. All the ones that fail him. I don't see anything else, not anymore. Every vision, every time, dead girls. And she is helping him. She is making him so much stronger than he used to be. If I have to see one more body, one more pair of lifeless eyes-I won't. I can't. I know you, Fia. You're not untouchable. You need Annie safe in order to function." Her arm tightens, and the barrel digs into my skin. "Well, she's not safe anymore."
"Please," I whisper. How did I not see this coming? How could we not notice how unhinged Sarah had become?
"I'll give you a choice. Kneel on the ground and let me kill you, or I'll kill Annie. Either one will finish this. You or Annie. It's that simple."
