e city lights blurring into streaks of color. I clutched the fake passpo

vior. He was g

een lighting up with a group call. Carter' s na

u?" Carter' s v

re about forty minutes

e're already at the rest

?" I asked, m

is expression unreada

aker. "It's better she doesn't know. Just get her here

the loo

rescue. It was an execution. Noah wasn't my savior, he was my executioner,

" Carter said. "Father would be r

idn't think. I just acted. I unbuckled my seatbelt, threw o

m, and ran. I ran into the dark woods that border

It's not wha

a lie. Everyth

s and skin. Ahead, I saw the faint lights of the rest stop th

into the dimly lit parking area, a ca

, Blake, and Julian. They wer

," Carter said with a smirk.

hammering against my r

oah couldn't even handle one simple jo

uth to scream, but Julian was too fast. He clamped a cloth over my face. A sweet, c

was of Noah' s f

couldn't move. I couldn't speak. But I could

ison Julian used was obscure, d

sked, poking my motionl

onfirmed, checking my

lpless passenger in my own horror story. They drove to a d

d, holding the small,

mile spreading across his face. "A perma

tate-of-the-art panic room in the basement. I watched, a powerless ghost, as they mixed my ashes int

rn everything. The

preserved. Then, Carter commissioned a famous artist to create a besp

laced my skull. A trophy. A constant, s