“No. Do you feel like just driving?”

“Sure. Whatever you want.” She glanced at me. “Drink some more coffee. You’ll feel better with some caffeine in your system.”

I took another long gulp. Then another, and set the cup in the holder. I curled into the seat and rested my head against the passenger-side window.

My vision thinned and grew fuzzy on the edges. I shot upright. I really was exhausted.

Another sip.

Chloe stopped for a red light, and the traffic passing through the intersection blurred.

My eyelids grew heavy and winked closed. I shook myself awake again.

“If you want to sleep, go ahead,” Chloe said. “I’ll wake you up in a bit.”

“Yeah, maybe I will.” I scrubbed at my eyes. Maybe when I woke, everything would be right again.

I slumped in the seat, propped my head in my hands, my elbow on the armrest.

“Thanks, Chloe,” I mumbled as I let my eyelids win over and slip shut.

“No need to thank me.” She reached over and patted my shoulder. “Get some rest.”

And then I was out.

33

NICK

MY CELL RANG.

“Who is it?” Anna asked.

“It’s Elizabeth.”

We all looked at each other as the phone continued to ring.

“Answer it,” Sam said.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Chloe.”

I let out a breath. “I thought you were Elizabeth.”

“She’s here. With me.”

“She is?” I started to pace and then thought better of it when a shot of pain ran up my side. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah. A little tired. She’s sleeping right now. But…” She trailed off, and I clutched the phone harder.

“But what?”

“She texted me, all hysterical. And then when I picked her up, she didn’t want to talk about it. Did something happen?”

I glanced at Sam, then Anna. Cas and Trev were silent on the couch.

“Can you meet me somewhere?” I asked. “I just want to see her. Make sure she’s okay.”

“What happened, Nick?” There was an edge of suspicion in her voice.

“Something… with her mom. She’s back.”

“Her mom is here? Where?”

“I’ll explain it all later. Where can I meet you?”

She ran off an address for a park in a residential area. I hadn’t been there yet, but I had an idea of how to get there.

“Give me fifteen minutes,” I said.

“We’ll wait here for you.”

“Thanks, Chloe.”

“No worries.”

We hung up, and I relayed the conversation to the group as I tugged on some clothes Sam had given me.

I checked the bullets in my gun and slid it behind my back. “We should go. Now.”

“Wait.” Sam held up his hand. “You sure this isn’t a trap?”

“No. No way. Chloe is a friend of Elizabeth’s. They work together at a restaurant in town. She’s just some girl.”

Sam and Anna shared a look.

“Stop it, you two. I’m going. And I’d like it if you came with. If you don’t want to, fine.”

I started for the door.

“Obviously we’re coming, Nick,” Anna said. “We just want to be sure we’re smart about this.”

I hated it when they ganged up on me.

I didn’t want to wait as we hashed out a plan or dissected all the ways this could go south. I wanted to get to Elizabeth, and I didn’t want to wait another second.

We found Chloe parked along the curb in front of the park. An iron fence surrounded it, with an arched gate on each of the four sides. This park was quieter and smaller than the town’s main park. There was no playground here. No fountain. Just a lot of flowers, bushes, and picnic tables. A couple was spread out on a blanket in a patch of sunlight.

I could make out Elizabeth in the backseat, pressed against the door on the passenger side, her face buried in her hands.

Chloe met me halfway to the car. “She’s really upset right now. When she woke up, she started bawling. She keeps asking for you.”

I pushed past Chloe.

“Wait,” she said, and caught up to me. “Please, just be gentle with her.”

“I’ve never been anything but gentle with her,” I said. “I need to see her.”

I opened the back door and slid inside. It was silent. Elizabeth was folded in on herself, her hand covering her eyes. Her head lay against the door.

“Elizabeth? Talk to me.”

Nothing.

She didn’t even move.

I inhaled. I’d already proven to her that I sucked at consoling, but I had to try something. Otherwise I’d just look like a jackass.

I reached out to her, slid my fingers around hers, and pulled her hand away from her face.

Her eyes were closed. Her arm was limp in my hand.

“Elizabeth?”

Chloe opened the driver’s door, pinned herself in the crook of it, and pulled something from the seat.

I saw the flash of silver too late, heard the gunshot next. Heard Anna scream to Sam. Heard the pop of a tire.

“What the—” I started, but I wasn’t quick enough.

Chloe reached over the seat and pistol-whipped me in the face.

Everything went black.

“You are the worst bad guy in the history of bad guys.”

I blinked.