“I need the keys to your bike,” Claire said, holding out her hand to Bex.

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because I have to follow him, and he knows my freaking car! Give me your keys!” she said, jerking her hand toward Bex, impatient.

In one swift movement, Bex handed his motorcycle keys to his big, little sister. She wheeled around, sprinting down the stairs.

“Don’t forget the helmet,” he called after her.

“Shove it!” she yelled before slamming the door.

I walked to my vanity, sitting hard onto the delicate pink cushion of the bench. “This is bad.”

Jared took slow steps to stand beside me. “Ryan is the least of our worries.”

“That makes me feel much better,” I said.

Bex left us alone to sit on the stairs, and Jared pulled me from the bench to sit beside him on the bed. He didn’t speak for a long time, lightly brushing the skin of my arm, from wrist to elbow, with his fingertips.

“Do you understand what could happen?” he said softly, his eyes still focused on my arm.

After a short pause, I took a breath. “Yes.”

He meant my death. Dying at the hands of the most inhumane, cruel beings on three planes wasn’t peaceful, in my sleep as I had planned, but it was an end. I wondered what would take place in that moment, and what ways Jared would suffer in the days following my death.

His eyes were dark, the skin around them tight, but tired. The helpless feeling surrounding us was suffocating.

“I know what Father Francis said,” Jared said, his voice breaking. “But, I can’t believe that. I have to see the book for myself to be sure. There has to be a reason our father’s wanted it so badly. Gabe must have known there was a way to stop it.

“Stay with me,” I said.

“I can’t,” he replied.

“Just for a while. Just until I fall asleep?”

Jared met my eyes, and I could see that he would let me win.

We lay together above the sheets, silent and thoughtful. I imagined Jared was carefully plotting a way around Donovan and Isaac in his mind, praying for a conclusion. Shax had stayed one step ahead of Jared—even Kim, his secret weapon—and he was frustrated.

Jared’s arms tensed. Bex’s light footsteps rushed down the stairs, and the door opened. After a few moments, another set, heavier, returned with him, and Kim appeared in the doorway, out of breath and wide-eyed.

Jared sprung from the bed, pulling on his jacket. “Stay with her, Bex.”

“I should go,” Bex said.

Knowing they were going to try to capture the book, I jumped from the bed, pulling on a pair of sneakers. “He should go. I’ll go, too, and if anything happens, Bex can help.”

Jared frowned while he made his decision. “Nina….”