Page 15 of Ravage
“It’s so cute! How did you learn to make this? Can you show me? Can you do any other animals? Can I keep it?”
I blink slowly at her while taking in her reaction. The flush of her cheeks as she studies it from different angles with excitement. The rapid words falling from her lips as if she can’t wait to get all of her questions out before taking another breath. The clear blue of her eyes that are wide in amazement.
“Sure.”
Her smile grows as her hands wrap protectively around the paper bird to keep from crushing it. “Thank you…?”
“Jackson. Or, Jack.”
“I love it, Jack! Thank you!”
I made hundreds more origami animals for her after that day, and now I can’t make one without thinking of her. But then, she’s never been far from my thoughts.
I would gladly share this one with her now, but it’s too soon.
If I’ve learned anything over the last two weeks of watching her, she no longer trusts anyone. Least of all, those of us from her past.
I don’t blame her.
She needs time to process seeing me again and what, or who, she’s already realized will follow. I need to use the time I’ve lured her here for to prove myself to her. The others can do what they want, but this time, I’m not letting her go, no matter what it takes.
Raegan finishes cleaning herself up and leaves out the main door without ever looking up.
People never look up.
I swing forward and push air beneath my feet to help me switch from a sitting to squatting position on the metal bar I’ve been perched on since following her here. I pocket the crane and walk steadily across the one-inch bar to the high window I left unlocked for myself. Even if my body starts to lean to one side, I easily shift the air around me as a buffer to keep myself balanced.
Once I’m outside, I stick to the rooftops as I follow my little one. The buildings are close enough together that it barely takes any of my gift to keep me aloft and complete the jump.
She returns to Hype, where she’d been last night. I wouldn’t trust this type of location for her to be in without someone watching her back, but it’s the nightclub owned by Elias Thorton.
She’ll be safe here.
The monster in me stirs at the thought of Elias touching Raegan, and I let its hunger for violence swell in my chest and spread through my veins like poison. My eyes close, reveling in the darkness as I soak it all in. I won’t hurt Elias, not tonight, because I haven’t even begun to prove myself to Raegan to be worthy of her. But I can feed the monster what it wants to keep it sated for now.
It's time to get back to work.
The guy’s already cold when I get back to the warehouse, even though it’s only been a couple of hours since I left. I should have cleaned him up first and then caught up to follow Raegan, but the thought of her wandering this area of the city, unaccompanied for even ten minutes, didn’t sit right with me.
It was a chance worth taking for her.
If anyone found this place while we were gone, I’d have taken care of them and any trails that led back to her or me.
The cabinet in the corner contains a small portion of my clean-up supplies, so I grab what I need and stalk over to the body. The recruiter scum’s eyes are still wide open, but they’re glazed and empty now.
He deserved far worse than a simple headshot. I’d saved a four-year-old girl from GE’s clutches when I grabbed him. Who knows how many others he’d taken in his time with the company? One little girl out of possible hundreds means this isn’t really a win for our side.
They have so many recruiters that they’ll hardly notice the loss of one.
I’ve taken out enough of them over the years to have slowed their progress substantially but not stopped it.
They’ll never stop so long as those in charge are still there to brainwash and coerce others to join them.
It’s why we’re now aiming for the top.
After we escaped the island, we took some time to adjust back into society. Two years ago, we realized that we may have gotten off the island, but GE was still around. We, and other people with gifts, would always be hunted by them. There are other islands and other gifted people who didn’t get the opportunity we did to escape.
The least we can do is help free them and end this group before they achieve their goal of controlling the world from the shadows by using people like us to do it.
