Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Well, that secret mountain town is just the beginning of what Ike Monroe actually controls. But I need to be absolutely sure you’ve never met him.”
“Never.”
“All right. Then this might work. You’re going to be my neighbor from back home.”
“Which is… where?”
“Kingfisher Flats. A place on the edge of the Rocky Mountains and underneath Colorado and Wyoming.”
“So.” I squint my eyes at him. “The whole ‘tunnels under the Denver airport’ conspiracy theory is real then, isn’t it?”
“No. I mean, maybe. But whatever tunnels are under that airport, they’ve got nothing to do with where I come from.”
“So you’re not an alien?”
He laughs. “What?”
“I’m pretty sure there’s aliens under that airport.”
“Whatever.” He shakes his head a little, but he’s smiling now. And it’s not a bad smile. “I’m not an alien. Now stop interrupting me. This is important. You’re going to be my neighbor from back home and your name is Hattie.”
“Hattie?” I make a face. “Why can’t I just be Clover?”
“Because Hattie is my actual neighbor and you’re pretending to be her.”
“Ohhhh. She’s real? Well, you left that part out.”
“Because it’s not important.”
“Oh, my God.” My face lights up. “You have a thing for Hattie.”
“What? No. Stop interrupting me. You’re Hattie Miller. You live next door to me—”
“Oh, that’s cute. You fell for the girl next door.”
“Do you want to die of starvation and thirst in your basement? Because it’s really starting to feel like you do.”
“Sorry. Continue.”
“My father loves Hattie.” His eyes narrow down as I hold in my snort. Because it’s so obvious that this Hattie and he were a thing. “She’s a prissy do-gooder, so it would be just like him to send her after me to make sure I don’t fuck up.”
“The good girl next door. I love it.”
“Clover.”
“Sorry. It’s just… very cliché. But cute, at the same time. I’ll shut up now, I swear. I’m Hattie Miller, and your father prearranged our marriage when we were… thirteen?”
“That’s it.” He gets up and grabs my arm, pulling me out of bed on his side. “Back to the dungeon.”
“I’ll stop, I swear. Let go of me.” But I’m laughing as I say this because this is all so obviously true. He had a thing with Hattie. I pull back and he lets my arm go, so he’s not really serious about throwing me back into the dungeon. But I am starting to piss him off, so I back down. “I promise, I won’t say another word.” Then I go back under the covers and wrap myself up, my body shaking worse now after the chill of being in the open air. “Continue.”
Riggs glares at me for a few moments, but he looks exhausted too. So he’s not really up to the task of dragging me down four flights of stairs and locking me up tonight. “That’s it. That’s the plan. You’re Hattie and you came to check on me. Hattie works above ground, so this explains why Ike didn’t see her come through on the trains. She would’ve met up with me up top. This little story explains everything. We’ll probably only be in the Blackberry Hill Colony for a few hours as we wait for the next train to Kingfisher. Once we’re on the train, we’ll ride it until we get to Lazuli Waystation. That’s the stop on the border of Kansas and Colorado. We’ll get off, I’ll take you somewhere safe, and after a set period of time, you will be released.”
My trembling body calms for a moment as my brain uses that energy to think about what he just said. “Hold on.”
“What?”
“You’re taking me away from my home just to drop me off and leave me at another place? Why? Why can’t I just stay here and promise not to leave until this set period of time is over?”
“Because you told me your boss didn’t know you were fired. She’s gonna come looking for you.”
“Yeah, but that’s gonna happen whether I go with you or not.”
“But if you come with me, she won’t find you.”
“So how long are you gonna lock me in this safe place of yours?”
“Three months.”
I sit straight up in bed. “Three months! What the fuck!”
“I need that time, Clover. I need it. And this is a true safe place, you’ll see. There’s plenty of food, and water, and stuff to do.”
“Stuff to do like what?” My eyes are still boggled wide, because I didn’t see this twist coming.
“Lots of things, you’ll see.”
“So what happens after three months?”
“The door unlocks and you leave.”
“What am I supposed to tell people when I finally come back?”
He shrugs. “It won’t matter by then. The job will be done.”
“Wait.” I narrow my eyes at him. “What job?”
“Story time’s over now. You’ve got all the information you need.” We stare at each other for a few minutes, just the moonlight coming through my childhood bedroom window to light us up.